Water Resources, Agriculture and Pasture: Implications of Growing Demand and Increasing Scarcity

Water availability for irrigation is threatened in many regions by rapidly increasing demand for nonagricultural water uses in industry, households, and the environment. The scarcity of irrigation water will not only impact crop production, but also meat production, as much of the pasture used to feed livestock is irrigated. Grassland is caught between two countervailing forces: a requirement for increasing meat demand that boosts the need for additional pasture to support livestock production, and rapidly increasing water scarcity that makes pasture irrigation uneconomical. The most effective means of dealing with water scarcity is likely to be conserving water in existing water uses. Improvements in the irrigation sector to increase water use efficiency must be made at the technical, managerial, and institutional levels. Innovative water pricing policies that increase the prices for domestic and industrial water while preserving incomes for farmers and the rural poor will encourage water-saving innovation.