THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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38 billion cubic metres of water can be saved by changing the agricultural irrigation system.
Drought continues to threaten the whole world day by day. Stating that 60 billion cubic metres of water consumed in Turkey annually, Dr. Canan Acar made warnings by offering solution alternatives for water saving. Dr. Acar said, “We can save 38 billion cubic metres of water annually by changing the agricultural irrigation system and reducing the leakage losses. A large part of the amount of water consumed is lost due to inefficient use. Therefore, we do not consume water, we lose.”
“Turkey ranks 14th in water consumption across the world”
Pointing out that water is used mostly in agriculture and livestock sector, Bahçeşehir University (BAU) Energy Systems Engineering Faculty Member Assoc. Professor Dr. Canan Acar explained, “Consumption in the world is over 4 trillion cubic metres, related to the figures of last year. This figure in Turkey is 60 billion cubic metres.
Last year, with the data, Turkey ranks 14th across the world in water consumption. When we look at the sectoral distribution, the water used in agriculture and livestock sector in the world is 70 percent. Then comes the industry and then the water we consume in domestic buildings.”
“Surface irrigation method is very inefficient”
Emphasizing that, specifically throughout Turkey, 75 percent of the 60 billion cubic metres of water used in planting and animal husbandry with surface irrigation method, Dr. Acar noted, “This method is the most inefficient and water consuming way of irrigation. The most efficient irrigation method is micro drip irrigation. This method saves 80 percent in water consumption. With a simple calculation, 30 billion cubic metres of water can be saved by simply abandoning the surface irrigation method and switching to micro drip irrigation. In other words, water consumed in 1 year in agriculture can be consumed in 2 years. In the simplest terms, this saves twice as much time for water resources.”
