engleski

Water resources and organic food production

Water is a natural resource for which has no alternative. The availability and quality of water was the main key factor of development for all civilizations during the history, and today, water is still one of the most important resource of each country, which unquestionably influence on population health, economic and industrial progress. In order to achieve a rational and efficient management of water resources, it is essential that each country establish and implement a strategy for water protection, water management and exploitation of water resources, which should be based on Principles and Guidelines of Sustainable Development. Agricultural production is the most significant global consumer of water resources. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), around 69% of the world's freshwater resources are consumed by agriculture although they emphasized that this percentage is highly influenced by water consumption in few countries, which have intensive agriculture production. FAO also emphasized that the average water consumption for agriculture purposes in individual country is somewhat lower for each country and averages 59%. Ecological food production is one of the fastest growing branches in Europe, and terms eco food or organic food primarily imply agricultural production carried out without the application of modern agrotechnical measures such as the usage of pesticides, artificial fertilizers or the usage of genetically modified organisms. Those terms also means that further industrial processing of crops and agriculture products does not imply any addition of food additives or similar chemical compounds. In this paper presents the issues and correlations between water resources and organic food production since the changes in global water cycle, caused by global climate changes, each year leave significant impacts on agricultural production.

water resources, organic food production, irrigation, surface waters, groundwaters

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