Tackling Water Scarcity: Drip Irrigation To The Rescue

Water is depleting at a rapid rate across the globe

- Manmita Kamlapurkar

Being one of the most precious natural resources, the importance of efficient water use cannot be understated. While water is a basic necessity, irrigation alone utilizes nearly 4/5th of the available freshwater. Aggravated by the escalating population, demand for food will only keep on growing. According to the United Nations, by 2025, farmers will need to grow 70 percent more food to cater to the overflowing population. The existing water resources are thus shrinking, and water scarcity is already bothering most economies across the world.

Water management in agriculture is thus being identified to be a key concern. The dire urgency for water management is emphasised by recent events like the recent drought in California and briskly depleting aquifers. Several arid and semi-arid regions require effective water management strategies over a longer period of time. At the same time, agrarian economies are heavily dependent on water allocation.

Precision farming methods are one of the most feasible answers to these demands at present. Farmers and growers can productively manage resources, leading to improved yield, quality and quantity using precision farming techniques. A report by Transparency Market Research focuses on micro-irrigation, one of the most widely adopted precision agriculture methods.

Here are some aspects of the global micro irrigations systems market, which will prove to be significant trends in the coming years:

Use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS)