Practical approaches to enhance water productivity at the farm level in Asia: A review

The global population is constantly increasing, reached 8 billion in November 2022 and is expected to reach 9 billion by 2037. This increased population is expected to increase the demand for food, clothing and shelter, which in turn are heavily dependent on limited water resources. The available freshwater resources for agricultural use are further declining due to overexploitation and changing climate in the major food baskets of the world. This increasing water scarcity is exacerbated by expanding cities due to increasing urbanization. This calls for a new look at the allocation of water to agriculture. Therefore, the development of new strategies to improve agricultural water use may serve as an important adaptation strategy. This review attempts to include a comprehensive review of the literature on (i) the status and definition of water productivity and (ii) factors responsible for low water productivity (WP) in Asian agriculture. Furthermore, it contains practical approaches to enhance water use efficiency at the farm level covering all field crops and a range of soil types, which include (i) agronomic interventions; (ii) genetic interventions, such as the identification and cultivation of crop cultivars with high WP; and (iii) genotype, environment and crop management interactions for higher WP.