More crop per drop: Making water-smart agriculture work for small farmers Saroj Kumar JhaJai Shroff October 26, 2026 This page in: English Español

https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/water/more-crop-per-drop--making-water-smart-agriculture-work-for-smal Irrigated agriculture occupies 20% of the world's arable land and produces 40% of its food. Agriculture also already accounts for 70% of global freshwater withdrawals. But today’s agricultural water management practices can sustainably feed only 3.4 billion people, a number far short of the nearly 10 billion people expected by 2050.