Agricultural scientists should develop a mechanism for increasing the productivity of water for food and livelihoods that is environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable.
This was stated by the chairman, Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (Parc), Dr Badaruddin Soomro, here on Thursday. Dr Badaruddin Soomro said that more than 70 percent freshwater supplies in the developing countries are used for agriculture.
The water for, food challenge for the coming 20 years is to find ways of growing more food with less water and improving rural livelihoods and protecting the environment, he added.
He said that the programme supports the global challenge of increasing food production to achieve internationally adopted food security and poverty eradication targets by 2015.
In Benchmark Basins the programme will monitor progress and focus on food security, poverty alleviation, improved health and environmental security.
Dr Soomro said that Parc is a national apex institution responsible for execution, co-ordination and monitoring/evaluation of research related to agriculture, natural resources management, livestock and social sciences.
It has developed a strong programme in water management and is the logical partner with IWMI, being the host institution for the IWMI activities in Pakistan, he added.
He expressed the hope that scientist would be able to identify the relevant and priority research areas related to the challenge programme, he assured full co-operation to IWMI and the CGIAR, on behalf of Parc.
CGIAR challenge programme on "water and food" has developed a proposal through some 200 researchers representing 20 countries and 50 institutions have contributed to the discussion, brainstorming, drafting and research planning sessions.
The purpose to launch an ambitious research, extension and capacity building programme would significantly increase the productivity of water used for agriculture.
The challenge programme is managed by 18-member consortium, composed of five consultative group on International Agricultural Research/Future Harvest Centres, six National Agricultural Research and Extension Systems (Nares) institutions, 4 Advanced Research Institutes (APIs) and 3 International NGOs.
The programme's interlocking goals are to allow more food to be produced with the same amount of water that is used in agriculture today, as populations expand over the coming 20 years.
It will help to decrease mal-nourishment and rural poverty, improves people's health and maintain environmental sustainability.