Water resources are becoming increasingly scarce in Asia and the Pacific, mainly due to rapid population growth – which will bulge at 5.2 billion by 2050. About 80% of Asia’s finite water resources are currently used up by agriculture. As the region rapidly urbanizes, there will be more demand for more water from hungry mouths, thirsty cities and more energy for homes and industries. If we include the impacts of climate change, then we enter a new era in which increased variability in rainfall, temperature and water resources availability will place even more pressure on already scarce water resources. To grow more food with less water, we have no option but to improve water use in agriculture by producing more food per drop of water. But how can we do this, given that water losses can reach up to 70% due to dilapidated irrigation infrastructure, weak management practices and low-cost recovery for water used by farmers?... — blogs.adb.org/blog