Irrigation and drainage is by far the largest of the World Bank sectors, accounting for about 7% of Bank lending. From 1950 to the present the Bank lent some $21 billion for irrigation projects worldwide. Internationally about 70% of fresh water is used for irrigation, 23% for industry and 7% for domestic use. However, water-use pattern reflect the degree of industrialization and Africa, for example, uses 88% of its water resources for irrigation and only 5% for industry. Europe, on the other hand, uses 50% of its fresh water for industry and only 30% for agriculture, the remaining 20% being for domestic use.
Even though agricultural use of water has the lowest value per cubic meter, there is strong political opposition to diverting water from agriculture to other sectors. The result is that in many countires, industrial and developing alike, large volumes of water are used in irrigated agriculture, adding little economic value, whilst cities and industries, which would gladly pay...
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© 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers
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Herschy, R.W. (1998). Irrigated and area: World . In: Encyclopedia of Hydrology and Lakes. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4497-6_135
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4497-6_135
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