EFFICIENT AND ECONOMIC USE OF WATER IN AGRICULTURE- POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITS by

The agricultural sector is coming under growing pressure to make more efficient use of water. It has been blamed to be the greatest water user and have the lowest water use efficiency and lowest output per unit of water used of all sectors. Especially irrigated agriculture, the greatest water user of all, has been made responsible for inefficient water use and land degradation. The following article attempts to outline ways and potentials of efficient agricultural water use. It considers some basic questions on the role and potentials of plants in this context and points out possible ways towards technical and system improvement. It becomes clear that agricultural water use efficiency considerations should no longer be reduced to the farm or system level but should rather be extended to the whole catchment. Generally speaking, a more holistic approach should be adopted to solve the growing intersectoral water conflicts that are driven by the increasing scarcity of water resources. In the past agricultural research and practice only dealt with the subject of water for purposes of optimising water management to satisfy the plant water needs. It is only in recent times that the effects of agricultural activity on water resources have bee