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Programme  SSl1 Challenges and current trends in agricultural research for improving water use and management in cropping systems (Part 1)
Date Begin End Translation Type Room
2008-09-0314:0015:30yesspecial session Einstein

SSl1 Challenges and current trends in agricultural research for improving water use and management in cropping systems (Part 1)

Organised by: Agropolis Foundation for agronomy and sustainable development, France

Chairman: Marc Voltz (e-mail: voltz@supagro.inra.fr), T. Simonneau, J. Wery

Scope of the special session

Given the expected increase in world population and the current lack of food in many regions of the world, food security is already and will be even more a major issue. Food production heavily depends on the availability of water resources for agriculture. As a consequence, the major part, up to 70 %, of the economically usable water supply” (e.g. World Water Vision report, p 17, Box. 2.6, ref. Cosgrove and Rijsberman, 2000), also called blue water flow by Falkenmark (1995), is used for crop irrigation. In this context, agricultural research has to face two main challenges. One is to improve the water productivity ratio of crops either by improving genetic resources or by improving the cropping systems. The other is to increase water harvesting for agricultural use, which can be reasoned at the field, catchment and farm scales. This special session aims both to provide an overview of the most advanced research programs in agricultural sciences that attempt to answer the previous issues and to stimulate discussion on the most promising perspectives. The research topics that will be addressed concern plant breeding , cropping system innovation and land management optimization.

 

Session Agenda

This session is organised in two sub-sessions from 14:00 to 15:30 the first sub-session and from 16:00 to 18:00 to second sub-session.

 

Sub-session 1

14h00 – 14h10 Introduction by the convenors

14h10 – 14h35 François Tardieu, INRA, UMR LEPSE, Montpellier, France
Modelling approaches for new trade-offs between crop production and limited water use under ongoing climate changes.

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14h35 – 15h00 Graeme HAMMER, University of Queensland, Australia. Designing crops for improved water productivity- modelling G*M*E

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15h00-15h30 Jacques-Eric Bergez, INRA UMR ARCHE, Toulouse, France, François Affholder CIRAD, Montpellier, France and Jacques Wery, SupAgro UMR System. Optimization of cropping systems for sustainable water management in rainfed and irrigated systems : integrative modelling at field and farm levels.

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15h30 – 16h00 Coffee break

 

Sub-session 2

16h00-16h25 Jean ALBERGEL, IRD, UMR LISAH, Nairobi, Kenya. Water harvesting techniques at the field and catchment level: state of art and new research challenges.

16h25 – 16h50 Marjorie Le Bars (IRD, UMR G-EAU, Montpellier, France); Philippe Le Grusse (CIHEAM-IAMM, UMR G-EAU, Montpellier, France). Participative modelling of agricultural water demand at regional scale: an example in central Tunisia

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16h50-18h00 General discussion
In contrast to the keynote papers talks which focused each on the issues and perspectives of given research approaches for improving water use and management approaches in cropping systems, the general discussion shall aim to compare and evaluate the respective merits and potentials of the various research approaches in different regional contexts.

 

Discussants

Graeme HAMMER, University of Queensland, Australia
Bernard Itier, INRA, Grignon, France
Netij Ben Mechlia, INAT, Tunis, Tunisia


Presentations

  • Modelling approaches for new trade-offs between crop production and limited water use under ongoing climate changes. By François Tardieu, INRA, UMR LEPSE, Montpellier
Breeding crops for tolerance to water deficit schematically faces two opposite strategies: either select cultivars which limit leaf area expansion under early water deficit in order to avoid or postpone water stress, or select cultivars which maintain leaf growth in order to ensure light interception and crop productivity despite higher risks of water stress. A simple choice is utopian considering the large diversity of climates, production goals, and acceptable risks. Virtual computer cultivars based on the modelling of plant interactions with their environment can help in defining new ideotypes as a function of production goal, constraints on water use, etc.. , as well as estimating the performances of current cultivars under future climate change scenarios.
  • Designing crops for improved water productivity-modelling G*M*E By Graeme HAMMER, University of Queensland, Australia.
The genetic complexity of plant responses to drought has long been a strong limitation for crop breeders. The two last decades opened promising avenues with impressive progress in molecular techniques and quantitative genetics. It has revealed many genes or chromosomal zones involved in plant tolerance to water stress. Researchers are now developing new methods to guide breeders in combining all these favourable traits for maximising yield or increasing yield stability under drought.

  • Optimization of cropping systems for sustainable water management in rainfed and irrigated systems : integrative modelling at field and farm levels. By Jacques-Eric Bergez, INRA UMR ARCHE, Toulouse, France, François Affholder CIRAD, Montpellier, France and Jacques Wery, SupAgro UMR System.
Combination of biophysical models at field level and decisional model at farm level allows to simulate cropping systems and to assess them in a multi- criteria approach with regards to their performances, impacts and efficiency for water use. This approach will be illustrated in rainfed and irrigated systems in temperate and tropical regions.
  • Water harvesting techniques at the field and catchment level: state of art and new research challenges. By Jean ALBERGEL, IRD, UMR LISAH, Nairobi, Kenya
This talk will review traditional and modern harvesting techniques that can be used in farmed areas for increasing available water resources for crop production both in the soil and in reservoirs. The efficacy of theses techniques will be discussed on the basis of a survey of evaluation studies that were completed in Mediterranean countries in the framework of past European projects. This will lead to raise the potentials and limits of harvesting techniques and provide guidelines for the new research issues that need to be addressed in the future.
  • Participative modelling of agricultural water demand at regional scale: an example in central Tunisia. By M. Le Bars (IRD, UMR G-EAU); Ph. Le Grusse (CIHEAM-IAMM, UMR G- EAU)

Most methods used to evaluate demand for irrigation water at a regional scale are based on biophysical models and cropping patterns and provides an accurate estimation of water demand which is useful for water resource management. However, in the case of free access to the water resource, for example pumping from the water table, managing water demand needs to focus on farmers’ choices and behaviors to prevent overexploitation. This presentation proposes a framework to represent agricultural activities based on typologies of farms and production units that are aggregated at a regional scale. Then this model can be used with stakeholders to envisage scenarios about water allocation and irrigation water uses. This method was developed in central Tunisia for large basin like Kairouan plain and small basin like Rouissat plain.

General discussion:

In contrast to the talks which focused each on the issues and perspectives of given research approaches for improving water use and management approaches in cropping systems, the general discussion shall aim to compare and evaluate the respective merits and potentials of the various research approaches in different regional contexts. To this aim three discussants from Australia, France and Tunisia will introduce the discussion by presenting which are the main issues related to water availability and water efficiency for crop production in their country and what are the current research perspectives that are considered the most promising.

With Graeme HAMMER, University of Queensland, Australia; Bernard Itier, INRA, Grignon, France; Netij Ben Mechlia, INAT, Tunis, Tunisie

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