The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hosted the Rome Water Dialogue 2023 which focused on raising awareness on the interlinkages, synergies, and holistic solutions that relate water to soil, land, climate change, biodiversity, fisheries, agriculture, forestry, food security and nutrition.
Water in Agriculture
It is seen that water is not only crucial for food production but is also essential for food processing, preparations, and transportation. The UN has identified that safe drinking water is required in order to end malnutrition and hunger along with the idea of achieving food security.
Apart from that, agricultural practices rely on the availability of good quality water, which in turn impacts water systems in the form of agricultural pollution and overuse of groundwater.
FAO Director - General, Qu Dongyu
While emphasizing the importance of water, Qu Dongyu, Director-General, FAO, highlights that agriculture accounts for more than 70% of the planet's freshwater withdrawals. Therefore, it holds the responsibility to provide solutions to the global water crisis by increasing efficiency, reducing negative impacts, and reusing wastewater.
FAO supports countries in creating technical solutions for rainwater harvesting and storage, finding irrigation needs, providing water scarcity data, and assessing the impact of floods on rural areas.
The UN agency has indicated that this year’s World Food Day on October 16, 2023, will focus on the direct link between water and food security, highlighting ways to “produce more food and other essential agricultural commodities with less water, while ensuring water is distributed equally, our aquatic food systems are preserved, and nobody is left behind”.
