Keywords

1 Introduction

Driven by water scarcity and water quality deterioration, the global water crisis is expected to continue and intensify in arid and semi-arid areas (Damania et al. 2017; UN-Water 2020) common in most countries within the Central and South Asia region. As freshwater resources and population densities are unevenly distributed across the region, countries experience a range of challenges with implications on the achievement of water-related sustainable development at the national and regional levels (Immerzeel et al. 2010).

Renewable freshwater resources are already developed across the Central and South Asia region (FAO-AQUASTAT 2020). Climate change may increase or decrease water supplies (Bates et al. 2008; Buytaert and De Bièvre 2012) with uncertain net impacts on freshwater availability, depending on a complex mix of precipitation and evaporation trends across the world. The same applies to Central and South Asia. The actual impact of climate change on total renewable freshwater resources is hard to predict as projections of climate change effects on the hydrologic cycle are often diverse. However, there may be temporary changes in precipitation in some parts of the region, such as in the upper Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Mekong basins, as well as changes to snowmelt patterns with impacts on water supply in the upper Indus Basin (Lutz et al. 2016). There are also differences between basins in the extent to which climate change is predicted to affect water availability and food security. For example, the Brahmaputra and Indus basins are most susceptible to reductions in water flow, threatening the food security of an estimated 60 million people (Immerzeel et al. 2010).

The population in the region continues to grow, albeit at a slower pace than at any time since the 1950s, with some countries’ population still increasing rapidly according to the latest population forecasts (UN-DESA 2019). The projected population growth indicates with reasonable confidence that freshwater available per capita will decrease in the region no matter how climate change affects precipitation and evaporation patterns (Buytaert and De Bièvre 2012).

In contrast to uncertain impacts of climate change, growing population and urbanization converge upon the Central and South Asia region where water demand is expected to continue rising over the next decades (Boretti and Rosa 2019). Sustainable food production systems are vital to feeding the growing population, which currently stands at 26% of the global population (UN-DESA 2019).

As water scarcity intensifies, freshwater resources are likely to be diverted from agriculture to provide water for other demands, such as growing urban populations and industrial activities (Strzepek and Boehlert 2010). Simultaneously, to meet higher food demands for a growing population, agriculture will have to expand to new areas or become more productive, leading to a further increase in water demand.

Amid competitive water needs, water allocations for environmental flows are also needed to ensure functional and sustainable freshwater ecosystems (Smakhtin et al. 2004). In this context, achieving water and food security have become entangled challenges in the region. Understanding the scale and impact of such challenges will necessitate analysis of the status of water resources per capita vis-à-vis the status of food security at the national and regional levels—the water-food equation. Ensuring both sides of the water-food equation complement each other will need insights into the strategies promoting the efficient use of available water resources and water resources augmentation to ensure food security, where applicable in the region. These aspects are essential to explore the interface between water and food security in the Central and South Asia region and are the focus of this chapter.

2 Water Resources

While linked to food security and freshwater availability, the initial quantifications of the annual renewable water resources (ARWR) per capita considered the number of people in a country that compete for total renewable water resourcesFootnote 1 (TRWR) in a year at the national level (Falkenmark 1986), i.e., TRWR in m3 divided by the number of people in a specific year in the same country (m3/capita/year).

Water resources assessments for potential uses suggest that beyond human needs, water is essentially needed to ensure the functionality of ecosystems, which support and help maintain the Earth's natural balance. Balancing the requirements of freshwater ecosystems and other uses has become critical in many of the world’s river basins due to an increase in population and associated water demands (Smakhtin et al. 2004). The water needed to support freshwater ecosystems, i.e., environmental flows requirement (EFR), is referred to as “the quantity and timing of freshwater flows and levels necessary to sustain aquatic ecosystems which, in turn, support human cultures, economies, sustainable livelihoods, and wellbeing” (FAO 2019). Thus, sustainable water management needs to ensure enough water resources for ecosystems and human use of those ecosystems. The ARWR reported in this chapter are based on Eq. 3.1.

$${\text{ARWR}} = \frac{{{\text{TRWR}} - {\text{EFR}}}}{{{\text{Population}}}}$$
(3.1)

where ARWR expressed as m3/capita/year, TRWR and EFR in m3/year at the national level and ‘Population’ refers to the number of people in a specific year in the same country. The values of TRWR and EFR at the national are based on (FAO-AQUASTAT 2020) while country-specific population statistics stem from UN-DESA (2019).

Analysis of the status of renewable freshwater resources in the Central and South Asia region suggests that the ARWR stand at 1173 m3 per capita, indicating that the region, in general, does not have enough water resources, i.e., less than 1700 m3 per capita, a universal threshold value for water scarcity as proposed by the Third Assessment Report on Hydrology and Water Resources of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2001). However, such levels of ARWR do not prevail in all countries of the region, as freshwater resources and population densities are unevenly distributed across the region. There are significant differences among the region countries with Bhutan having the highest ARWR (32,835 m3 per capita) while Sri Lanka (682 m3 per capita), India (743 m3 per capita) and Pakistan (817 m3 per capita) having the lowest ARWR (Table 3.1).

Table 3.1 Annual renewable water resources (ARWR; m3 per capita) at the national level in 2015 and projected for 2030 and 2050 based on freshwater availability data (FAO-AQUASTAT 2020) and population estimates for 2015 and population projections for 2030 and 2050 (UN-DESA 2019)
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Considering population growth projections and assuming little or no change to renewable freshwater resources in the Central and South Asia region, the ARWR are expected to decrease to 991 m3 per capita by 2030 and 853 m3 per capita by 2050, i.e., a drop of 15.6% and 27.3% in ARWR m3 per capita in the region by 2030 and 2050, respectively.

As the indicator ARWR defines population-driven physical availability of water, the rate of decrease in ARWR varies across countries. For example, ARWR in Afghanistan (1076 m3 per capita) are expected to decrease to 728 m3 per capita by 2030 and 441 m3 per capita by 2050, i.e., a drop of 32.4% and 59.0% in ARWR m3 per capita by 2030 and 2050, respectively.

Following Afghanistan, the country with a significant decrease in ARWR is Tajikistan with ARWR of 1793 m3 per capita, dropping to 1291 m3 per capita (28.0% decrease) and 847 m3 per capita (52.8% decrease) in 2030, and 2050, respectively. The third most affected country regarding the drop in ARWR would be Pakistan with ARWR of 817 m3 per capita, decreasing to 604 m3 per capita in 2030 (26.1% decrease over 2015 level) and 424 m3 per capita in 2050 (48.2% decrease).

Currently, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran have ARWR less than 1700 m3 per capita. By 2030, the additional country with ARWR reaching below the water scarcity threshold (1700 m3 per capita) will be Tajikistan. The ARWR would be further decreased in these countries by 2050, while Tajikistan will also join them with ARWR less than 1700 m3 per capita by the same year (Table 3.1).

With large populations, most countries in the Central and South Asia region would face the associated challenge of achieving food security amid drops in ARWR per capita and possible reallocation of some water currently allocated to the agriculture sector to other competing sectors such as municipal and industrial activities. This situation questions the status of food security in certain parts of the region, which is expected to become food-insecure in the absence of concerted efforts based on appropriate response options (Rasul 2014).

3 Food Security

Food security analysis in the Central and South Asian countries, translated through dependency on cereal imports, reveals a wide range of dependency ratio, a measure of a country’s reliance on cereal imports to fulfill its domestic needs. Based on the data on cereal production, import and export between 2014 and 2017 at the national level (FAO-STAT 2020), the cereal crops included in estimating the cereal import dependency ratio were rice, maize, wheat, barley, rye, oats, millet, sorghum, and their associated products. The cereal crop choice is made because of the direct consumption of rice, wheat, and maize. To a lesser extent, the use of sorghum and millets. Such cereal consumption patterns correspond to 50% of world global caloric intake and play a critical in people’s diets (Awika 2011) in major regions, including Central and South Asia.

Synthesis of the cereal dependency data in the Central and South Asian countries at the national level reveals that India, Pakistan and Kazakhstan are three countries from the region, which are net exporters of cereals. Except for Bhutan and Uzbekistan, other countries from the region are net importers of cereals with Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan having above 40% dependency on cereal imports. There is no cereal dependency data available for Bhutan and Uzbekistan (Table 3.2).

Table 3.2 Average cereal import dependency ratio between 2014 and 2017 at the national level in Central and South Asian countries (based on data on the production, import, and export of cereals—rice, maize, wheat, barley, rye, oats, millet, sorghum, and their associated products; FAO-STAT 2020) and employment status in agriculture at the national level, expressed as the percentage share of total employment in 2015 in a country (Based on employment data; ILO-STAT 2020)
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In addition to cereal dependency assessment and the status of water resources in the region, employment in the agriculture sector is a relevant factor in the water-food equation. Higher dependency on cereal imports and increasing scarcity of water resources would result in complicated impacts in countries where a large percentage of the labor force is employed to support activities in the agriculture sector (Table 3.2).

Based on the employment status in agriculture at the national level, expressed as the percentage share of total employment in 2015 (ILO-STAT 2020), more than half of the countries in the region—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Tajikistan—have more than 40% employment in the agriculture sector. The livelihoods of the communities associated with agriculture would suffer as water scarcity intensifies across the region.

4 Response Options

In the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the challenge of water scarcity and water quality deterioration is addressed through Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6, which aims to ensure water and sanitation for all by 2030. The interconnected challenge of ending hunger and achieving food security and improved nutrition is the focus of SDG 2. There are other SDGs where the achievement of specific targets is needed to ensure water- and food-secure countries in the SDG era and beyond. Five years into the SDG era, the latest assessments suggest that the world is not on track to achieve SDGs by 2030 (UN 2018). The same applies to the Central and South Asia region. The following aspects of water resources management are needed in building water- and food-secure future in the region by (1) promoting water conservation, water recycling and reuse; (2) ensuring sustainable water resources augmentation; (3) supporting productivity enhancement of underperforming land and water resources; and (4) addressing challenges beyond technical solutions.

4.1 Promoting Water Conservation, Water Recycling, and Reuse

In arid and semi-arid areas of the Central and South Asia, where rainfall is limited and subject to high intra-and inter-seasonal variability, much of the rainwater that does fall is lost through surface runoff and evaporation. Such loss of water is further aggravated in areas with sparse vegetative cover and shallow and crusting soils. These factors provide a strong impetus for strategies that conserve even small amounts of rainfall and runoff water through micro-catchment rainwater harvesting systems for crop production and local needs of the associated communities (Oweis 2017). Such systems for agriculture production involve collecting rainwater that runs off a catchment area in a reservoir or in the root zone of a cultivated field, which is usually smaller than the size of the catchment area (Box 3.1). Owing to the intermittent nature of runoff events, the maximum amount of rainwater during the rainy season should be stored for later use (Thomas et al. 2014).

Box 3.1 Community based micro-catchment rainwater harvesting systems for crop production in Pakistan

Different forms of micro-catchments can be used for agriculture. Contour bunds consist of earth or stone embankments placed along the contours of a sloping field or hillside to trap rainwater behind them and allow more significant infiltration. Semicircular, trapezoidal, or ‘V'-shaped bunds are generally placed in a staggered formation, allowing water to collect in the area behind the bunds. Excess water is displaced around the edges of the bund when the ‘hoop’ area is filled with water. These systems are mostly used for growing fruit trees and shrubs (Qadir et al. 2007). Another type of water harvesting system involving micro-catchments is the meskat-type system. Instead of alternating catchment and cultivated areas, the field is divided into a distinct catchment area located directly above the cropped area. The catchment area is often stripped of vegetation to increase runoff. The cultivated area is surrounded by a ‘U'-shaped bund to hold the runoff. Such systems are suitable for productivity enhancement of plant species such as olives, which are usually grown under rainfed conditions, have low water requirements, and produce higher yields than rainfed areas when irrigated with small applications of water. A similar system, ‘Khushkaba,’ is used in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan for growing some field crops, which require low volumes of irrigation water (Oweis et al. 2004).

Recycling and reusing ‘used water’ are crucial in water-scarce areas (Qadir et al. 2020). Currently, 32.8 billion m3 (m3 = 1000 L) of municipal wastewater are produced annually across the Central and South Asia region. Of this volume, 10.2 billion m3 of wastewater are collected, i.e., 31% of the wastewater produced. The remaining amount of wastewater (22.6 billion m3) is not collected and is released to the environment untreated, i.e., 69% of the wastewater produced. In terms of wastewater treatment, only 23.4% of the collected wastewater undergoes treatment, ranging from primary treatment to advanced treatment. The remaining volume of collected wastewater is not treated. The release of such large quantities of untreated wastewater carries health and environmental impacts. There is also a missed opportunity of not capturing and reusing the valuable resources—water, nutrients, and energy—embedded in wastewater.

In terms of use as a source of irrigation in agriculture, 32.8 billion m3 of water could be used to irrigate 2.73 million ha, considering two crops per year and water requirements of both cropsFootnote 2 around 12,000 m3 per ha. The reclaimed water could be used to irrigate new areas or replace valuable freshwater where crops are already irrigated. Although such reuse of wastewater is already happening in the region, it is far from what could be offered by the actual potential of wastewater. The farmers use treated, inadequately treated, and untreated wastewater directly for irrigation or indirectly when it is discharged into freshwater bodies where it becomes diluted and diverted to the agricultural farms. There is a need to promote fit-for-purpose use of treated wastewater based on its quality and pertinent guidelines. Such reuse of treated wastewater needs to intensify as more volumes of wastewater are collected and treated as sources of irrigation water in the region.

While irrigated agriculture plays a significant role in supporting food production in the Central and South Asia region, adequate drainage is a prerequisite if irrigation is sustainable, particularly when salts in groundwater and high-water tables or waterlogging may damage the crops. A fraction of the water used for crop production results in drainage water. To maintain an appropriate salt balance in the root zone, the salinity of the drainage water percolating below the root zone must be higher than the salinity of the irrigation water applied (Qadir et al. 2007). The decreased allocation of freshwater to agriculture necessitates the reuse of agricultural drainage for irrigation. Contingent upon the levels and types of salts present, and the use of appropriate irrigation and soil management practices, research and practice (Oster and Grattan 2002; Linneman et al. 2014) have demonstrated that agricultural drainage water can be used for different crop production systems (Box 3.2).

Box 3.2 Crop diversification options under irrigation with saline drainage water in the Indian Sub-continent

Saline drainage water produced by irrigated agriculture can be used for growing a range of salt-tolerant crops, which may be grouped into (1) fiber and grain crops, (2) forage grass and shrub species, (3) medicinal and aromatic plant species (4) biofuel and multipurpose species, (5) fruit trees, and (6) agroforestry systems. Among grain crops, barley—at soil salinity levels around 12 dS/m—can produce 80% of the yield potential anticipated from non-saline conditions. Sugar beet can tolerate moderate levels of salinity in irrigation water (4–8 dS/m). Once established adequately under saline conditions, the sugar content in the crop increases compared to non-saline conditions. It is a deep-rooted crop that can use water stored in the soil profile missed by other crops. Quinoa is a salt‐tolerant crop of high nutritional value. It has been recognized as a potential alternative crop for salt-affected areas and is expected to play an important role in ensuring future food security (Manaa et al. 2019). Forages produced by irrigation with saline water provide additional income sources for farmers in marginal lands. The promising forage species irrigated by saline water in the Indian sub-continent include, but are not limited to, Kallar grass or Australian grass, para grass, Bermuda grass, kochia, sesbania, purslane, and shrub species from the genera Atriplex and Maireana (Qadir et al. 2008).

The major river basins with irrigation systems in the region are the Aral Sea Basin (Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya River Basins) in Central Asia, the Indo-Gangetic Basin in India, the Indus Basin in Pakistan, and the Karkheh River Basin in Iran. Despite the importance of reusing agricultural drainage water for irrigation, most irrigated land is either without a drainage system or the available drainage system is not functional. For example, the drainage infrastructure installed during the Soviet era in the Aral Sea Basin does not function well due to weak institutions and lack of funding. This vast infrastructure network includes over 80 storage reservoirs, 47,000 km of partly lined main and secondary irrigation canals, 270,000 km of tertiary irrigation canals, 145,000 km of collector drains, 8000 vertical drainage wells, and hundreds of large pumping stations and water control structures. Irrigation in the absence of functional drainage system has caused large-scale land degradation and water quality deterioration in downstream parts of the Aral Sea Basin (Qadir et al. 2009) as well as in other major river basins in the region (Qureshi et al. 2008; Minhas et al. 2019).

By recycling agricultural drainage water until it is no longer usable for any economic activity, a significant contribution to food production could be achieved without expanding the production area and preventing the associated challenges that this brings. There is a need for a paradigm shift towards the reuse of saline water until it becomes unusable for any economic activity rather than its disposal. Thus, saline drainage water cannot be considered redundant and, consequently, neglected, especially in areas heavily dependent on irrigated agriculture where significant investments have already been made in infrastructures such as water conveyance and delivery systems to supply water for irrigation and food security.

4.2 Ensuring Sustainable Water Resources Augmentation

As water scarcity is expected to continue and intensify in dry and overpopulated areas of Central and South Asia, countries with such areas need a radical rethinking of water resource planning and management. Creative exploitation of a growing set of viable but unconventional water resources for food production, livelihoods, ecosystems, climate change adaption, and sustainable development need to be included. There are many of unconventional water resources that can be tapped (Djuma et al. 2014). Sources of such water resources range from the earth's seabed to its upper atmosphere. Capturing these resources requires a diverse range of technological interventions and innovations. Harvesting water from the air consists of rain enhancement through cloud seeding and the collection of water from fog; such techniques address local water shortages. On the groundwater front, tapping offshore and onshore deep groundwater and extending sustainable extraction of undeveloped groundwater are appropriate options in areas where there is potential for additional groundwater resources. Other opportunities to develop water resources exist in the form of desalinated potable water. Physical transport of water, such as towed icebergs and ballast water held in tanks and cargo holds of ships, is receiving attention, but corresponding practices remain in infancy (UN-Water 2020).

Some unconventional water resources are relevant to specific areas in Central and South Asia. The scope of harnessing the potential of unconventional water resources varies and depends on the water needs for purposes and associated policy and institutional support, human resources, and scale of investments required. For example, some resources such as fog water produce small volumes compared with other unconventional water resources, including desalinated water which produces large quantities. Still, fog water systems provide critical support to the associated communities for addressing local water shortages (Schemenauer et al. 2016). Engaging local institutions and related communities and ensuring gender mainstreaming are critical drivers for ensuring the sustainability of fog water collection systems.

Another form of harvesting water from air is rain enhancement. The amount of water vapor present in the atmosphere is an inexhaustible freshwater source and an opportunity for rain enhancement. Under pertinent conditions, cloud seeding could be used to enhance rainfall in a target area. Cloud seeding is a system that involves dispersing particular glaciogenic or hygroscopic substances into clouds or in their vicinity that allow water droplets or ice crystals to activate on heterogeneous nuclei through water vapor condensation-freezing processes (Flossmann et al. 2019). Subsequent collision-coalescence growth between artificial and natural water droplets and ice crystals leads to the formation of large rainy hydrometeor (drops, graupels, hailstones, snowflakes, etc.) that fall as precipitation (UN-Water 2020).

Desalinated water is a valuable water resource, which can extend water supplies beyond what is available from the hydrological cycle, providing a climate-independent and steady supply of high-quality water (Jones et al. 2019). A steady downward trend in desalination costs is expected to accelerate the current trend of reliance on the ocean as an attractive and competitive water source. These trends are likely to continue and to further establish seawater desalination as a reliable drought-proof alternative for coastal communities worldwide in the next 15 years (World Bank 2019).

More than 150 countries use desalination in one form or another to meet sector water demand, supplying over 300 million people with potable water (Mickley and Voutchkov 2016). Despite declining costs, most desalination facilities are in high-income countries and account for 71% of the global desalination capacity. Conversely, less than 0.1% of the desalination capacity occurs in low-income countries (Jones et al. 2019). The production of desalinated water in the Central and South region stands at 5.0 million m3 per day (1.8 billion m3 per year), about 5% of the global volume of desalinated water produced (Jones et al. 2019).

There is a need to identify and promote bright spots of functional systems of unconventional water resources in the Central and South Asia region that are environmentally feasible, economically viable, and support the achievement of water-related SDGs (UN-Water 2020).

4.3 Enhancing Productivity of Underperforming Land and Water Resources

In dry areas of Central and South Asia, agriculture is based on both rainfed and irrigated production systems. Both systems have specific challenges to achieve optimal agricultural productivity. In rainfed systems, retaining moisture in the root zone and utilizing it for crop growth is a significant challenge due to crust formation on soil surfaces resulting from raindrops. Consequently, significant rainwater runoff from the crusted agricultural fields leaves less moisture in the root zone and poor crop growth. In irrigated systems, salt-induced land degradation is common and affects several soil properties and crop productivity negatively.

The cost of “inaction” on underperforming degraded lands is estimated to be a 15 to 69% loss in revenues: depending on variables such as the crops grown, the intensity of land degradation, and the level of water quality deterioration, among others (Qadir et al. 2014). These estimates do not account for additional costs such as loss of employment, increased human and animal health problems, reduced property values, and associated environmental costs. In comparison, there are costs associated with “action” for investing in preventing or reversing land degradation or restoring degraded landscapes. Such “action” costs are likely to be much less than the costs associated with allowing land degradation to continue. The same applies to marginal-quality water resources. Recognition of the economic impetus for reversing land degradation and productive use of marginal-quality water resources by farmers, governments, development donors, and the private sector alike could be an essential step to support efforts in achieving food security in dry areas of the region.

Salt-affected and waterlogged soils are a significant impediment to the optimal utilization of agricultural production systems in the Central and South Asia region (Vyshpolsky et al. 2008). The most significant part of salt-affected soils and saline waters exists in the lower reaches of Amu-Darya and Syr-Darya Basins, where salinity is one of the main factors threatening food production. Salinization is exacerbated by the lack of safe disposal of large volumes of agricultural drainage water, deep drainage promoting salt mobilization, a mismatch between demand and supply of irrigation water, and lack of adequate maintenance of irrigation and drainage networks. Such factors have also triggered waterlogging in irrigated areas (Qadir et al. 2009). Like Central Asia, salinization of land resources is a significant impediment to the sustainability of irrigated agriculture in other major river basins of the region, such as the Indo-Gangetic Basin in India, the Indus Basin in Pakistan, and the Karkheh River Basin in Iran (Qureshi et al. 2008; Minhas et al. 2019).

Amid food insecurity, scarcity of freshwater and productive land in dry areas of the region, there is a need to focus on the productivity enhancement of underperforming land and water resources. Such resources include marginal-quality water resources, crusted soils in rainfed areas, and salt-affected soils in irrigated areas (Vyshpolsky et al. 2008; Oweis 2017; Minhas et al. 2019). These land and water resources cannot be neglected, especially in areas where significant investments have already been made in developing infrastructure (Box 3.3).

Box 3.3 Productivity enhancement of salt-affected soils in Central Asia

High-magnesium waters and soils are emerging environmental and food security constraints in South and Central Asia (Qadir et al. 2018). Excess levels of magnesium in irrigation waters and/or in soils in combination with sodium or alone result in soil degradation through impacts on soil physical properties. More than 30% of the irrigated area in southern Kazakhstan alone is represented by magnesium-affected soils. With low infiltration rates and hydraulic conductivities, these soils form large dense clods during the drying post-irrigation phase, which impact the water flow rate. Several farmers participatory studies have been undertaken on productivity enhancement of high-magnesium soils and waters in Kazakhstan and other countries in Central Asia. Vyshpolsky et al. (2008) carried out a 4-year study in southern Kazakhstan where they applied phosphogypsum as a soil ameliorant to enhance cotton productivity. The application of phosphogypsum improved soil structure and caused an increase in nutrient (phosphorus and sulfur) availability, which resulted in beneficial effects on crop yields. The cotton yield in fields with no phosphogypsum application remained 1.4 t/ha, while cotton yields were 2.7 t/ha in the phosphogypsum applied fields. This multi-year study demonstrated that farmers could improve their livelihoods by applying phosphogypsum to degraded lands resulting from high levels of magnesium in soils and irrigation waters rather than compromising on low crop yields. They were able to receive high net profits and made independent decisions on purchasing farm inputs and operational expenses and sale of harvested crop in the open market. In addition to increase in crop yields, there are common gains from such phosphogypsum-led interventions, such as environmental gains through carbon sequestration in soils, increase in land value, and livelihood resilience of the associated communities (Vyshpolsky et al. 2008).

4.4 Addressing Challenges Beyond Technical Solutions

There is a need for a radical rethinking of the public policy agenda by prioritizing water conservation, water recycling, and reuse; ensuring sustainable water resources augmentation; and supporting productivity enhancement of available land and water resources, particularly those underperforming. Such policy actions should be accompanied by a call for sustainable intensification of agricultural production systems. The increases in crop yields have fallen substantially below the growth observed from the 1960s through the 1990s. Skilled professionals, supportive institutions, and strengthening institutional collaborations would be the key to support the implementation of such policy actions.

Pertinent policy actions and strategic investments in support of agricultural production systems can reduce poverty, generate economic benefits, and ensure equitable social development for smallholders and marginalized groups. Although it is high time to consider strategic options for sustainably increasing agricultural output, policymakers may be tempted to ignore long-term sustainability aspects and focus on some cosmetic solutions for short-term benefits. For example, the political agenda and associated policies may tend to favor expanding the irrigated area over providing effective drainage systems to existing irrigated lands. Such steps will help farmers temporarily maximize current net revenues, while delaying the necessary investments in salinity and drainage management. Such policies and practices result in short-term benefits, followed by salt build-up, and productivity declines over the long run.

The valuation of the benefits of “action” or valuation of the costs of “inaction” is necessary to justify suitable investments in harnessing the potential of water resources in the Central and South Asia region. For example, the perceived high costs of technology for using some unconventional water resources without undertaking comprehensive economic analyses and innovative financing mechanisms restrict developing such water resources and scaling up their use (Hanjra et al. 2015). Such economic analyses do not consider the costs of alternate water supply options and the resources needed for them in the long run (UN-Water 2020).

With stagnant or declining agricultural productivity, the associated human resources such as farmworkers, communities, and businesses closely connected with agricultural production remain potentially at risk (Vyshpolsky et al. 2010). Such risks are particularly crucial in countries where a large percentage of the labor force is employed in the agriculture sector (Table 3.2). The business sectors at risk may deal with primary resources (forestry, wood, pulp, and paper), food and beverage, construction and materials, industrial goods and services (transportation and packaging), utilities (water and electricity), personal and household goods (clothing, footwear, and furniture), leisure and travel (hotels and restaurants), and real estate (ELD Initiative 2013). Such a situation paves the way to encourage the private sector’s involvement and collaboration in addressing agricultural productivity enhancement targets and expanding market access to agricultural produce.

The challenge for achieving a sustainable increase in agricultural production systems lies with the planned and well-coordinated actions at the national and interregional levels. Water professionals and policymakers need to consider the urgency around building a water- and food-secure Central and South Asia region where water is recognized and treated as a precious, highly valuable resource for sustainable agricultural production systems and as a cornerstone of the circular economy.