Water crisis already affecting millions. There is an urgent need to adapt agriculture to secure water and food supplies. The current agro-export model prioritises profitable crops for the international market.
Water scarcity in Mexico is not a problem of the future, but a reality that already affects millions of people, said Fermín Pascual Ramírez, a researcher at UNAM’s Institute for Ecosystem and Sustainability Research (IIES), Morelia campus, who also warned of the growing water crisis in the country and its impact on human consumption, agriculture and food security.
Speaking at a recent conference to mark World Water Day, he said that according to the National Water Commission (Conagua), 76.3% of the country’s water is currently used for agriculture, while public supply accounts for only 14.8%.
According to the sustainable water management specialist, this distribution could be changed by technologising irrigation systems and ensuring that the savings made are used for human consumption.
“Agricultural concessions can be reduced because producers need less water to obtain the same yield,” he said. At the same time, he stressed the importance of cleaning and reusing domestic water resources in agriculture, since with proper treatment it can contribute to nutrient recycling and food production.
The hidden cost
Mexico has become a water exporter through its agriculture, using large amounts of water to grow high-value cash crops such as raspberries, blackberries, asparagus and red tomatoes. These are highly profitable on the international market, but require more than 12,000 cubic metres of water per hectare.
According to the hydrologist, “irrigation technology has focused on production for export, which has led to a shift in crops driven by global market demands rather than national food needs. Moreover, these systems are rarely evaluated over the long term to verify their operational efficiency. So, in effect, we are sending water to the US in the form of agricultural products, creating a food and water sovereignty dilemma.”
Most of these crops are grown in irrigation units whose water abstraction is not officially documented, making them a ‘black box’ in terms of water regulation and use. In addition, the public goods of irrigation technology end up indirectly subsidising consumers in other countries by making their food production cheaper with Mexico’s better quality water resources.
The current agro-export model prioritises profitable crops for the international market, but at a high cost to Mexico’s water and food sovereignty. The lack of regulation of water use and the focus on profitability have led to intensive exploitation of the resource, compromising its future availability. There is an urgent need to explore alternatives that will allow agricultural production to be reconciled with water and soil conservation, thus guaranteeing access for future generations.
It is essential to rethink the agro-export model and adopt sustainable approaches that prioritise resilience to climate change and efficiency in the use of water and soil.
Conservation strategies
Faced with the challenges of climate change, Fermín Pascual stressed the need to adopt strategies to conserve resources, protect soil and strengthen food sovereignty. “Soil is the largest reservoir of water, but its degradation has led to a dependence on chemical fertilisers to maintain production.”
To address this problem, he proposed a number of key strategies, such as soil and water conservation, technology-based irrigation and efficient monitoring, sanitation and waste management, and declaring water a strategic national security resource.
The university researcher identified several obstacles to equitable and sustainable water management in Mexico. These include the contradiction between the promotion of agricultural exports and the need to guarantee the supply of basic foodstuffs.
In addition, intensive livestock farming consumes large quantities of agricultural products, reinforcing an export-oriented production model.
Another challenge is the traditional focus of agronomic training, which has been on production for the market rather than sustainable models.
Finally, Fermín Pascual called for reflection on the urgency of transforming Mexico’s agricultural model to ensure that water is managed according to criteria of equity, sustainability and resilience in the face of climate change.
