World population is expected to reach 7.9 billion by the year 2025. To support this growing population, food production will need to respond to the growing demand. Increases in production could potentially come from increases in irrigated agriculture, which currently produces approximately 40 percent of total cereals, or from increases in rainfed agriculture, which continues to play an important role in total worldwide agricultural production.
This chapter presents scenarios dealing with future changes in the growth and levels of investment in both irrigated and rainfed agriculture, along with the impacts these scenarios may have on production, harvested area, demand, prices, water withdrawals and water use.
