AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT IN TURKEY: PAST-PRESENT-FUTURE

Water is an essential element in ensuring food safety. It is not possible to obtain food without water. The importance of water is gradually increased and nowadays raised to the top ranks among strategic resources. The use and increasing environmental threats by different sectors are increasingly limited available water resources. In the past years water was seen as an abundant and unlimited resource, and was used randomly. However today, global warming and drought have brought the importance of the water agenda, and has taken on a particular importance to the management of water resources. Therefore, one of the most important goals of agricultural water management is to ensure the efficient use of water by preventing water waste. Water management has quite a wide range of services included necessary activities in order to develop, distribute and use of water resources. Today this point of agricultural water management is to search the ways of saving water and put into practice. In the future such techniques virtual water use, water footprint of products will come to the fore in order to provide water saving in water management. In this study, the past, present and future of water management in agriculture are discussed and given suggestions