Agri Kultuur June / Junie 2018 | Page 20

Irrigation farming: Securing food production Felix Reinders Agricultural Research Council: Agricultural Engineering T he global population is expected to grow from 7.4 billion to 9.1 billion by 2050 (See Figure 1) and as population increases, the demand for water for non-agricultural purposes will also grow. World water demand is projected to increase by 55% between 2000 and 2050, and most of this increase will come from manufacturing, electricity production, and urban and domestic use. So, in a drier world, getting the amount of water used by irrigation under control is a necessity. New technologies might go a long way toward helping us reach that goal. Figure 1: Global population growth AgriKultuur |AgriCulture 20