Water and agriculture: scientific issues and challenges

The content of the module is structured as follows: -a series of lectures: 1-Water resources and food security, 2-Agriculture's environmental impact on water resources and aquatic environments, 3-Current advances and challenges in agronomic research to optimize water consumption by plants, and 4-Management of water demand in agriculture. -Tutorials: Food security and prospective scenarios. -In small groups, prospective work will be carried out to produce scenarios relating to the state of water resources and food production, based on a case study of a southern country.

The aim of this EU project is to provide a global overview of the issues involved in managing water resources and food, bearing in mind that agriculture consumes 70% of water resources and that irrigated agriculture alone covers 40% of the world's food needs. Meeting anticipated food needs by 2050 will require agricultural intensification on a global scale. However, this is hampered by the actual availability of water resources and the quantitative and qualitative impacts it has on these resources.

Hourly volumes* :

            CM : 12

            TD : 6

            TP: 9

            Terrain :

Review: 0%.

Continuous assessment: 100%.

Each group of students (4-5) writes a summary report presenting the prospective scenario arrived at by the group, and justifying its hypotheses and choices. The report and spreadsheets will be assessed and graded.

Water balance, agricultural water, diffuse pollution, irrigation, water for food