Insights on Water-Saving Technologies in Rice and Cotton Production

Agriculture uses 70% of the world’s water. As the global population increases and the climate changes, the threat of water and food shortages is a growing reality. A multi-stakeholder initiative was carried out in six countries over eight years to explore methods for scaling up water-saving technologies for some of the world’s most water-consuming crops.

The  WAPRO project was launched in 2014 to improve water productivity in agriculture. Under the lead of Helvetas, a consortium of standard actors, including large international companies, smaller domestic private sector companies and civil society organizations, implemented a broad range of water-saving technologies for irrigated rice and cotton production.

This document summarizes the key lessons learned about the most important water-saving technologies employed and useful context-specific practices to maximize water savings.