Dear Colleagues,

Water is life and sustainable development in the agriculture sector is only possible if water resources are properly managed using modern tools. Water is a critical resource for sustainable agricultural development worldwide. In the future, higher population pressure will shift fresh water supply from agriculture to domestic and industrial usage. Twenty percent of the world’s agriculture is irrigated, and it contributes 40% of the total world food produced. On average, irrigated agriculture is twice as productive per unit of land area compared to rainfed agriculture. Thus, it can allow more intensification and crop diversification. However, water use efficiency in an irrigated system is only 10%, although it consumes more than 70% of the world’s water. This efficiency can drop further in the future due to population growth, urbanization, and climate change, as competition for water resources is expected to increase, with a particular impact on agriculture. The world’s population is expected to increase to over 10 billion by 2050, and whether urban or rural, this population will need food and fiber to meet its basic needs. Combined with the increased consumption of calories and more complex foods, which accompanies income growth in the developing world, it is estimated that agricultural production will need to expand by approximately 70% by 2050. Improvements in water use efficiency and water delivery systems are essential through the application of advanced modern technologies (i.e., soil moisture sensors and satellite evapotranspiration measurements etc.). 

Climate change has significantly influenced the movement of water through the land, oceans, and the atmosphere. It has many implications on hydrological processes, resulting in severe droughts, floods, sea-level rise, and storms. To overcome such unprecedented climate change impacts on the hydrologic cycle and its connections with agriculture sector, modeling is one of the best tools to simulate hydrological processes. In recent decades, hydrologic models have been used to simulate hydrologic processes based on historical data. However, the response and simulation of the hydrological cycle under climate change have not been well studied. An advanced simulation of the hydrologic cycle is needed to better predict the impacts of climate change using robust models and machine learning.

This Special Issue, “Food Security, Crop Production and Soil Water Management in Agriculture under Changing Climate: Challenges and Perspectives” will focus on better understanding future hydrologic simulation cycles and its relationships with food security, crop production, and soil water management. Therefore, new research studies are required to investigate the impacts of climate change on the interaction of hydrologic processes with food security and crop production. Hence, we invite article submissions that contribute, but are not limited, to the following thematic areas:

• Response and simulation of hydrological processes under climate change;
• Hydrological models and machine learning techniques to simulate hydrologic cycles under different land-use changes;
• Impacts of extreme events and climate changes on food security, crop production, and water resources;
• Water–energy–food–land nexus as a framework for achieving sustainable crop and water management.

Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed
Prof. Dr. Shakeel Ahmad
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• climate change
• agroecosystems modeling
• water modeling
• water–energy–food–land nexus
• water use efficiency
• crop water productivity
• water dynamics
• precision agriculture