Developing drought resilience in irrigated agriculture in the face of increasing water scarcity

Abstract

In many countries, drought is the natural hazard that causes the greatest agronomic impacts. After recurrent droughts, farmers typically learn from experience and implement changes in management to reduce their future drought risks and impacts. This paper aims to understand how irrigated agriculture in a humid climate has been affected by past droughts and how different actors have adapted their activities and strategies over time to increase their resilience. After examining recent drought episodes from an agroclimatic perspective, information from an online survey was combined with evidence from semistructured interviews with farmers to assess: drought risk perceptions, impacts of past drought events, management strategies at different scales (regional to farm level) and responses to future risks. Interviews with the water regulatory agency were also conducted to explore their attitudes and decision-making processes during drought events. The results highlight how agricultural drought management strategies evolve over time, including how specific aspects have helped to reduce future drought risks. The importance of adopting a vertically integrated drought management approach in the farming sector coupled with a better understanding of past drought impacts and management options is shown to be crucial for improving decisionmaking during future drought events.

Priority questions in multidisciplinary drought research

“…2a in Ljungqvist et al (2016) and farmland [Q54−56], where irrigation and its associated costs are considered important research questions (e.g. Rey et al 2017).…”

Asymmetric impact of groundwater use on groundwater droughts

“…heatwaves or dry conditions can increase the local groundwater use. Another explanation for increased groundwater use could be related to surface water use restrictions (voluntarily or mandatory) that might be in place before a major groundwater drought (Rey et al, 2017;Rio et al, 2018). The reduced surface water availability is then replaced with groundwater, resulting in lowered groundwater levels and potentially aggravating a groundwater drought.…”

A Probabilistic Risk Assessment of the National Economic Impacts of Regulatory Drought Management on Irrigated Agriculture

“…Governmental actors will need to effectively communicate with water users in order to enhance coordination and drought response (Urquijo & De Stefano, 2016). The challenge of balancing the multiple competing demands for water (including the environment) within a changing climate, while supporting food security and rural livelihoods, will require a multiscale adaptive drought management framework (Holman & Trawick, 2011) that brings together regulators, collective action, and farmers' response (Rey et al, 2017), reconciles their competing demands (Knox et al, 2018), and learns from international drought management experiences (e.g., Iglesias et al, 2018).…”