Water and Agricultural Sustainability Strategies

A compilation of peer-reviewed contributions, this book covers water management and agricultural sustainability in conditions of a changing climate, an increasing world population, and expected shortages of food and potable water. It brings together the expertise of agronomists, soil scientists, economists, and geneticists to examine the problems for water scarcity around the world and to offer appropriate solutions. The chapters discuss use of water management strategies to achieve agricultural sustainability, how irrigation to prevent or phytoremediate groundwater contaminated with arsenic, water management in different agroclimatic environments, and biotechnological applications that endow crops with drought tolerance.

According to the United Nations, 77 million people are expected to face water shortage by 2025, if people continue to use water at the current rate. More water than available would be needed to grow the world’s food during the next decade. As a result of scarcity of water, global annual food production losses could reach 350 million tons by 2025.

Divided into six main sections, this volume outlines strategies to conserve soil and water resources to help ensure both water and food security:
- Challenges to ensure water and agricultural sustainability
- Sustainable strategies for managing water and soil resources and groundwater recharge technologies
- Soil-quality issues
- Water-quality issues, with special reference to groundwater pollution with arsenic
- Management in different agroclimatic environments, with particular reference to rainfed agriculture
- Biotechnological applications for drought-tolerant crop varieties with improved water use efficiency, water conservation strategies, and sustainable agronomic alternatives.

This guide on agricultural sustainability is intended for scientists and advanced students in agronomy, soil science, agricultural engineering, agricultural economics, plant breeding, plant genetics, plant biotechnology, water resources, hydrology, geography, and other agriculture-related fields.