The history of hydropolitics along the rivers of the Middle East exemplifies both the worst and the best of relations over international water. While shared water resources have led to, and occasionally crossed, the brink of armed conflict, they have also been a catalyst to co-operation between otherwise hostile neighbours, albeit rarely and secretively. Middle East Water Conflicts and Directions for Conflict Resolution by Aaron T. Wolf. Compared with other crops, rice production is less efficient in the way it uses water. Wheat, for example, consumes only 4,000 cubic metres per hectare, while rice consumes 7,650.
Irrigation is a wasteful process.
Less than half of all irrigation water reaches the crop it is designed to water. We can talk about irrigated land as a future strategy, beginning to invest in irrigated land. Because it's a question of priority. Michael Foster of the Sasakawa African Foundation speaking on The Farming World, BBC World Service Water was a critical input to the Green Revolution, through irrigation, flood control, and drainage, and it has contributed most to the growth in rice production for the past 30 years. Water, a looming crisis - IRRI, International Rice Research Institute Sustainable agricultural development depends on sustainable water use and food security depends on water security.