The CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food aims to increase the productivity of water consumption in food production as a means of increasing food security and environmental sustainability.
The program will create research -based knowledge and methods for growing more food with less water, and develop a transparent framework for setting targets and monitoring progress.
Five interrelated Research Themes have been defined to ensure that the key research topics are being addressed in all locations. The Themes will serve as the focal point for synthesizing results from the various countries and regions, and bring out generic conclusions from the overall research program.
The Themes are:
- Theme 1: Crop Water productivity Improvement
- Theme 2: Multiple Use of Upper Catchments
- Theme 3: Aquatic Ecosystems and Fisheries
- Theme 4: Integrated Basin Water Management Systems
- Theme 5: Global & National Food and Water System
“Benchmark Basins” provide a geographical focus for the research programme.
The basins identified are:
- Nile river basin
- Yellow river basin
- Karkheh basin, Iran
- Indo-Gangetic basin
- Mekong river basin
- Sao Francisco basin
- Limpopo river basin