r drinking and hygiene purposes, it is also key to agriculture. Worldwide, 70% of water is used as irrigation water to grow food, for example, and in some developing countries, this figure increases to over 85%. It's clear that access to water and food security are therefore closely interlinked.
Sustainable agriculture and food and nutrition security are at the top of the EU's long-term development cooperation agenda. We are determined to enhance our support to provide the three key requirements of water, energy and food.
In World Water Week, I'd urge other donors, partners and the private sector to join us and help us turn the tide and do all we can to preserve our precious water supplies before it's too late."
Background – Some examples of EU actions
The two examples below illustrate how the EU is committed to improving irrigation systems and to making sure that water is used as efficiently as possible in agriculture, which means using less while at the same time improving crop production.
- Zambia offers a good example of using water efficiently by using "conservation agriculture" as a production system. This sustainable agricultural method, which has already been adopted by 20% of Zambian farmers (250,000), uses principles like continuous soil cover (using plants to prevent soil erosion) and crop rotations (the successive planting of different crops on the same land to improve soil fertility).
The results are more than promising and show us the way forward: the water capacity of the soil is increased and more nutrients are available for crops. As a result, fields using this system produce almost three times more than those using conventional agricultural methods in Zambia.
- In Zimbabwe, food insecurity is very common, as low and uneven rainfall leads to crop failures. Yet by providing irrigation schemes in more than 90 local communities, we are making a great deal of difference to thousands of smallholder farmers who can both grow enough food to eat, through the production of maize, and secure an income, through the production of vegetables.
For more information
Fact sheet on Water and Sanitation:
EU Water Initiative's website:
EU Water Facility website:
Website of Andris Piebalgs, European Commissioner for Development:
Website of EuropeAid Development and Cooperation DG:
25 August 2012
© Copyright 2010-13 Invest in EU All rights reserved.