TY - JOUR
T1 - Decoupling crop production from water consumption at some irrigation schemes in southern Africa
AU - Wellington, Michael
AU - Kuhnert, Petra
AU - Lawes, Roger
AU - Renzullo, Luigi
AU - Pittock, Jamie
AU - Ramshaw, Peter
AU - Moyo, Martin
AU - Kimaro, Emmanuel
AU - Tafula, Miguel
AU - van Rooyen, Andre
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors
PY - 2023/6/30
Y1 - 2023/6/30
N2 - Improving crop productivity is crucial to food security and rural livelihoods in southern Africa. However, agricultural intensification at irrigation schemes may place greater demands on water resources, even where water use efficiency (WUE) is improved, due to the paradox of irrigation efficiency. We analysed trends in water use efficiency (WUE), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), evapotranspiration (ET), evaporation (E), and transpiration (T) at six irrigation schemes which received technological and social interventions. GPP was decoupled from ET at some schemes. For example, at the Landela sub-block of the Silalatshani irrigation scheme in Zimbabwe, GPP and T increased at 4.8% and 4.6% per year, respectively. Conversely, E decreased at 13.5% per year, giving a 3.6% decrease in ET per year from 2013 to 2021. This suggests that crop production can be decoupled from water consumption at southern African irrigation schemes, meaning it is possible to produce more food with less water.
AB - Improving crop productivity is crucial to food security and rural livelihoods in southern Africa. However, agricultural intensification at irrigation schemes may place greater demands on water resources, even where water use efficiency (WUE) is improved, due to the paradox of irrigation efficiency. We analysed trends in water use efficiency (WUE), Gross Primary Productivity (GPP), evapotranspiration (ET), evaporation (E), and transpiration (T) at six irrigation schemes which received technological and social interventions. GPP was decoupled from ET at some schemes. For example, at the Landela sub-block of the Silalatshani irrigation scheme in Zimbabwe, GPP and T increased at 4.8% and 4.6% per year, respectively. Conversely, E decreased at 13.5% per year, giving a 3.6% decrease in ET per year from 2013 to 2021. This suggests that crop production can be decoupled from water consumption at southern African irrigation schemes, meaning it is possible to produce more food with less water.
KW - Evapotranspiration
KW - Irrigation
KW - Southern Africa
KW - Water use efficiency
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85159449410&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108358
DO - 10.1016/j.agwat.2023.108358
M3 - Article
SN - 0378-3774
VL - 284
JO - Agricultural Water Management
JF - Agricultural Water Management
M1 - 108358
ER -