More Crop and Income per Drop of Water

Abstract

T he challenge for rice cultivation in the next 50 years is to feed more people while keeping prices low to benefi t poor rice consumers and reducing production costs to benefi t poor growers. At the same time, water scarcity, drought, fl ooding, and salinity increasingly threaten the productivity of ricebased systems (see map, right). How can we meet this challenge? Some solutions exist; others require more investment in research. No single solution will fi t all situations. Solutions need to be evaluated based on impacts on the poor, on the environment, and on the often unrecognized ecosystem services that rice landscapes provide (see At your service, opposite). Rice systems are also social systems. In many cases, they are based on hundreds, even thousands, of years of tradition. Unless solutions are designed and implemented with the active participation and support of the rice-growing communities, they will not be successful. Rice is currently the staple food of around 3 billion people, and demand is expected to continue to grow as population increases—by 1% annually until 2025 in Asia and by 0.6–0.9% worldwide until 2050. While the bulk of the world’s rice is grown and consumed in Asia, changing dietary preferences are also affecting rice consumption in other parts of the world. Rice demand is increasing the most rapidly in West and Central Africa—by 6% each year. So, where will the rice come from to feed these additional rice consumers? To avoid destruction of natural ecosystems, increasing yields on existing crop lands are the best option. This includes both irrigated and rainfed land, although most of the additional production will come from irrigated lowlands, which already supply 75% of the world’s rice.