Improving Agricultural Water Productivity to Ensure Food Security under Changing Environments—Second Edition

Dear Colleagues,

The agriculture sector uses the most water globally, accounting for about 70% of freshwater withdrawals. Most of this water is used in irrigation, especially in arid and semi-arid regions where water scarcity predominates. It is expected that these conditions will be aggravated under a climate change context. Population growth associated with the increased demand for food further exacerbates the need for increasing agricultural water productivity. It is thus critical to improve the understanding of the driving processes influencing the sustainable use of water and to implement innovative water management practices and strategies to mitigate climate variability while contributing to control soil salinization and sodicity as well as nutrient leaching to water bodies. To improve the resilience of irrigated agriculture, it is paramount to design and implement integrated and sustainable water-management and water-saving practices, and to adapt cropping systems and crop management practices while synergistically improving yields, water productivity, and economic benefits. The need for implementing water-saving and sustainable practices, supporting stakeholder and policymaker decisions, is particularly important in agricultural areas characterized by a decreased water availability.

The main goal of this Special Issue is to publish high-quality research articles addressing recent developments in feasible, integrative, and synergistic practices and approaches at diverse scales such as crop, farm, and irrigation schemes, contributing to improving water productivity. Topics such as deficit irrigation, water harvesting, soil–water conservation practices, improved irrigation systems, diversified cropping systems, alternative water resources, irrigation water delivery, and others will be considered for inclusion in this Special Issue.

Dr. Maria do Rosario Cameira
Dr. Paula Paredes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• crop physical and economic water productivity indicators
• improved irrigation systems
• water-saving practices and technologies
• irrigation water delivery
• sustainable crop and water management
• irrigation scheduling
• climate variability and climate change
• droughts
• decision support systems
• water management tools
• food security
• remote sensing
• precision irrigation
• adaptation practices to cope with soil salinity

• Improving Agricultural Water Productivity to Ensure Food Security under Changing Environments in Agronomy (6 articles)