How do we use it?

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Global

• In 1997, there were about 268 million hectares (2.68 million km²) of irrigated area in the world.
  
  
• Asia contains about 70% of the world's irrigated area.
  
  
• The area of irrigated land nearly doubled in the last four decades of the 20^th century, mostly in Asia and the United States.
  
  
• In 1998, 18% of all cropland was irrigated; these lands produced 40% of all food grown.
  
  
• Ten percent of the world's agricultural food production depends on using mined groundwater.
  
  
• World irrigated agriculture accounts for 85% of all fresh water consumed. Without this irrigation water, the food produced by natural precipitation would be insufficient to feed the world's current population.
  
  
• Agriculture consumes much of what it uses, returning less than 30% to sources such as rivers and lakes from which it can be withdrawn by others.

Approximate crop water requirements to produce food harvested*

Crop/Food	Water requirement (kg of water per kg of food produced)
Potato	500 to 1 500
Wheat	900 to 2 000
Alfalfa	900 to 2 000
Sorgham	1 100 to 1 800
Corn/Maize	1 000 to 1 800
Rice	1 900 to 5 000
Soybeans	1 100 to 2 000
Chicken	3 500 to 5 700
Beef	15 000 to 70 000

* These are approximate values and they vary significantly by region, climate, irrigation methods, and other factors.

Canada

• According to latest figures, 85% of agricultural water withdrawals were used for irrigation and 15% were used for livestock watering.

Alberta tops in irrigating crops [186 Kb]

• The interior of British Columbia and the southern Prairies hold most of the 1 million hectares (10 000 km²) of irrigated cropland in Canada, with Alberta alone accounting for 60%.

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