How to fight water scarcity and pollution through irrigation

Agriculture accounts for about 70% of water withdrawals worldwide, but about 90% in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Increasing scarcity of fresh water and growing competition, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, is a serious constraint on agricultural production.

According to the state of food and agriculture 2020 report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), approximately 1,2 billion people live in areas where severe water shortages and scarcity challenge agriculture, from very high drought frequency in dryland cropland and pastureland areas to very high water stress in irrigated areas. This means that about one in six people on the planet face severe water shortages