The recently published document “Retrospective on lending for irrigation: 70 years of Bank Experience” does not address in an explicit manner a major issue confronting the world: a burgeoning food and nutrition crisis. The latest State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 or SOFI 2024 (FAO et al) offers some somber statistics. Over a third of the world’s population –some 2.8 billion people– could not afford a healthy diet in 2022, with the greatest numbers found in low-income countries. As of 2023, up to 757 million people were estimated to be facing hunger, or one in every eleven persons globally (and one in every five in Africa).
Indeed, the scale of the current global hunger and malnutrition crisis is enormous, made worse by several inter-linked factors, such as the degradation or decimation of agroecological capital driving the climate crisis. SOFI 2024 confirms the enormity of the challenge in reaching any of the seven global nutrition targets by 2030.
Irrigation allows for consistent supply of water for production, with an ever more important role in mitigating the impacts of climate change, in stabilizing food production. It contributes to about 40 percent of food production while covering only about 18 percent of the world’s cultivated areas
Several factors influence the effective contribution of the irrigation sector to food production. During the past several decades, irrigated area worldwide increased at an annual rate of 2-3 percent, improving production and productivity and helping avert a food crisis of even greater scale. This sustained increase in irrigation coverage was mainly due to the development of groundwater-based systems in large alluvial areas and others where groundwater is available and accessible at economic depths.
The total irrigated area is estimated at around 325 million hectares globally (using national data between 2012 and 2020). Figure 1 below shows that irrigated acreage is still increasing in Sub-Sahara Africa and Latin America; but these two regions only account for about 10-12 percent of the total worldwide. Countries particularly across Europe and Central Asia, Middle-East & North Africa, South and East Asia, have now reached their limits in terms of arable land, and a vast number globally have reached their surface water resource limits.
The consensus is that by 2050 additional food demand in a changing climate context will require an intensification of the existing irrigation schemes, as well as the responsible development of new irrigation programs. The issue is whether developing countries and donor agencies realize the urgency and importance of such projects and are ready to meet this considerable challenge.
According to the Independent Evaluation Group (2008), large irrigation projects have fallen out of favor at the World Bank, criticized for their high capital costs, their potential environmental impacts, the resettlement problems they may cause, and their poor sustainability record
Irrigation lending by the World Bank, declined sharply in 1986, and has stagnated at a low level of $600-800 million, in contrast with other infrastructure sectors (figure 2 above). Aside from policy lending, generally portfolio preferences appear to have shifted toward investment projects that may be prepared more rapidly and ideally at lower cost. During the last five years, there was no lending for irrigation in some regions. The upshot is that this lack of attention to requisite development of irrigation globally, is leading to workarounds that often exacerbate the over-exploitation of groundwater resources worldwide, contributing to a more serious and longer-term problem.
Thus, global food production is impacted by the triple challenges of irrigated areas reaching acreage and water resource limits, with inadequate support to the development of irrigation by donor agencies over a several decades, even in the face of rising temperatures and ever more erratic precipitation patterns.
A considerable increase in volume and quality of irrigation lending is required to meet future food demand.
To this end, World Bank staff and client countries must have the requisite support (adequate budget and time) to prepare high quality, impactful operations. The availability of specialists with in-depth knowledge of technical and risk management aspects is also essential.
In sum, in view of the need to augment food and nutrition security, while ensuring prudent water resources management and safeguarding of agroecological capital, it is recommended that the World Bank and other donors, together with government partners focus on increased support for the development of adequate, sustainable and effective multi-dimensional irrigation systems, while improving the efficacy of existing schemes.
Disclaimer
Member’s blog posts reflect the views of the author(s), drawing on prior research or personal experience. Freedom of expression is an essential part of the 1818 Society’s culture. The 1818 Society® is a nonpartisan, independent organization and does not take institutional positions. Members are welcome to add their comments in the box below.
KEYWORDS changing climate, Food and Nutrition Security, multi-dimensional irrigation systems, sustainable and effective irrigation schemes, World Bank
Irrigation development has certainly been a huge factor in increasing food production over the last half century or more.
In parallel, irrigation development threatens the sustainability of estuarine ecosystems, aquifers and river basin health in general. The proposal to fund “more” irrigation misses the point that the irrigation sector in future will be allocated less water than now. Either this will be a managed process, maximising the scope to increase the productivity of water allocated to irrigation (which is politically hard, so probably unlikely), or nature will dis-allocate water to irrigation as aquifers dry up and river flows cease (as they already do, seasonally, in quite important basins.
Where’s the water for expansion?