Use of Water in Food and Agriculture Essay Example

surface-water irrigation. Just like sources 1 and 2, this source shows how water is useful in crop farming. It also shows how water usage in crops differs from one geographical area to the other.

Several questions may need to be clearly answered to farmers who grow vegetables. A farmer may want to know what is salinity and its effects to his/her vegetables. Salinity is the presence of soluble salts in soil or water. It is advisable for the farmer to know that irrigation water that has high levels of soluble salts can affect the yields and growth of vegetables. These effects of salinity on crop yield can be decreased by good management. It is good for the farmers to:

• Use good irrigation practice
• Monitor salinity regularly
• Schedule irrigation to favor crop water requirements
• Maintain sufficient moisture
• Allow leaching fraction on demand in order to reduce salt creation.

Evaluation of Source Credibility and Reliability One of well-known source of salinity is the rise of saline ground water. It thus builds up salinity in the soil surface on the irrigated area. Applying more water than vegetables can cause leaking of water past root zones to ground water thus maintaining a salinity condition in the irrigated area. The excess water can also cause the water table to ‘mound’ under the area of irrigation and in some cases the ground turns to waterlog.
Summary with Quotation Salinity has positive effects on growing vegetables but it can be overcome through different ways. Climate change has led to a rise in sea levels. This has increased the level of salt in fresh water which is used in coastal farms. As a result farmers increasingly

become unable to use the fields near to such areas. The United Nations organization for food and agriculture says that salinity is reducing the irrigated lands world wide by 1-2 % yearly. This source relates with the sources 1, 2 and 3 in that all shows how water is used in crop farming and the challenges of salinity in irrigation of crops.

Work Cited

1. Morison, James IL, et al. "Improving water use in crop production." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 2.9 (2008): 3-8.