2020-11-112020-11-11Vinay Nangia. (10/11/2020). Water for Food, Water for Life: The Drylands Challenge.https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11766/12017Dry areas face major challenges, including insufficient rainfall, climate variability and change, land degradation, desertification, recurring droughts, temperature extremes, high population growth, widespread poverty, and unemployment. By 2050, we expect a population of 9 billion that will cause a "perfect storm" of food, energy and water shortages as demand for fresh water, food and energy will climb by 30%, 50% and 70%, respectively. Therefore, a paradigm shift is needed to produce more nutritious food from less land, water, and inputs without further pressure on the declining natural resources. This is why ICARDA conducts a system-based research where the innovation is grounded in the smart management of interactions (Genotype x Environment x Management) between the components (soil, crops, livestock, trees, water) of the farming systems in specific agro-ecologies and socio-economic contexts. There is a need to move from component research to system research, and to move from farm yields to maximizing economic water productivity from diversified and integrated production systems by optimizing overall resource-use efficiency.PDFCC-BY-SA-4.0arid areascrop modelingdiversified cropping systemssolar irrigationPresentationOpen access