An investigation on water productivity in agriculture with evaluating Iran position

<p>Water has played the most significant role in development all the time and all over the world. On the other hand,<br>agriculture and natural resources section is considered as one the important economic functions due to its critical<br>role in supplying the needed food of a nation, providing food security, and realizing sustainable development.<br>Water is one of the most eminent scarce resources required for supplying agricultural products. Approximately<br>93 percent of renewable water resources (80 billion m3) are being used in irrigated farms; however the resultant<br>products (51 million tons) cannot meet the national food needs. Several studies have demonstrated that a large<br>amount of water is being wasted by different ways in agriculture section, so its efficiency ranges not more than 33<br>to 37 percent. Moreover, the index of water productivity in Iran agriculture section has been reported as 0.7 to<br>0.8 kg dry product per 1 cubic meter of consumed water which is far from international standards (1.5 - 2.5 kg dry<br>product per 1 cubic meter of consumed water). Increasing demand for water in industry and urban sections<br>together with environmental problems will lead to shortage of water for agriculture in future. One of the useful<br>corrective actions to avoid this problem can be realized through increasing productivity of water usage<br>(increasing quantity of product per each unit of consumed water).