Agriculture can mitigate water waste and environmental pollution by adopting efficient irrigation, drought-resistant crops, soil health improvement, judicious fertilizer management, integrated pest control, conservation tillage, buffer strips, waste management, precision farming, water recycling, education, regulatory enforcement, and innovation promotion.

Dr Hamza Kharti thank you for your contribution to the discussion

Agriculture can reduce water waste and agricultural waste from the environment in a number of ways, including:

Water waste

• Improving irrigation efficiency: This can be done by using more efficient irrigation systems, such as drip irrigation or sprinkler irrigation, instead of flood irrigation. It can also be done by using soil moisture sensors to determine when to irrigate and how much water to apply.
• Using drought-tolerant crops: Choosing crops that are well-suited to the local climate and can withstand periods of drought can help to reduce water needs.
• Mulching: Mulching helps to retain moisture in the soil and reduce evaporation. Organic mulches, such as straw or compost, also help to improve soil health.
• Cover cropping: Cover crops are grown between rows of crops or during the off-season to help protect the soil from erosion and retain moisture.

Agricultural waste

• Composting: Composting is a natural process that breaks down organic waste, such as crop residues, manure, and food scraps, into a nutrient-rich soil amendment. Composting can help to reduce the volume of agricultural waste that is sent to landfills or incinerators.
• Anaerobic digestion: Anaerobic digestion is a process that uses microorganisms to break down organic waste in the absence of oxygen. This process produces biogas, which can be used to generate electricity or heat, and a nutrient-rich digestate that can be used as fertilizer.
• Biorefining: Biorefining is a process that converts agricultural waste into biofuels, bioproducts, and biomaterials. For example, agricultural waste can be used to produce ethanol, biodiesel, and biochar.

In addition to these individual practices, farmers can also adopt a more holistic approach to sustainable agriculture. This includes practices such as crop rotation, integrated pest management, and conservation tillage. These practices can help to reduce water and nutrient runoff, improve soil health, and reduce the need for synthetic pesticides and fertilizers.

Governments and other organizations can also play a role in helping agriculture to reduce water waste and agricultural waste. This can be done by providing financial incentives for farmers to adopt sustainable practices, investing in research and development of new technologies, and creating policies that support sustainable agriculture.

By taking these steps, agriculture can reduce its environmental impact and become more sustainable.

Dr Murtadha Shukur thank you for your contribution to the discussion

'Irrigation' also known as 'Watering' is a practice of extreme significance in agriculture. It is the process of nurturing land with the right amount of water to encourage the production of crops and is also used to grow landscape plants and lawns. Agriculture requires large quantities of water to grow fresh produce and sustain livestock. It is used for irrigation, pesticide and fertilizer application, frost control and crop cooling. Proper usage of water is important to manage crop yield and productivity. Efficient water use in agriculture refers to practices and techniques that aim to maximize the productivity of crops while minimizing water consumption. With this simple yet effective technique, farmers can store excess rainwater for further usage. Hence, farmers can not only ensure water adequacy throughout the yield but also effectively recharge groundwater levels to deal with rapid depletion. Water applied as irrigation allows for crop production in arid regions and supplements soil moisture in humid regions when growing season precipitation is insufficient. Irrigation has enhanced both the productivity and profitability of the agricultural sector. One of the field-level methods for increasing water productivity is deficit irrigation, where deliberately less water is applied than that required meeting the full crop water demand. The prescribed water deficit should result in a small yield reduction that is less than the concomitant reduction in transpiration. Improving water use efficiency or enhancing agricultural water productivity is a critical response to growing water scarcity, including the need to leave enough water in rivers and lakes to sustain ecosystems and to meet the growing demands of cities and industries. Agricultural wastes are plant residues from agriculture. These waste streams originate from arable land and horticulture. Agricultural wastes are all parts of crops that are not used for human or animal food. Crop residues consist mainly of stems, branches (in pruning), and leaves. Agricultural Waste is unwanted or unsalable materials produced wholly from agricultural operations directly related to the growing of crops or raising of animals for the primary purpose of making a profit or for a livelihood. The farmer has to finalize water saving strategies in order to value this resource by favoring the accumulation in the soil, avoiding soil salinity, choosing suited species, adopting a proper and efficient irrigation system. These activities are part of sustainable agriculture.Among the various sources agricultural crop residues, used pesticides, insecticides, fertilizers, and other indiscriminate use of chemicals causing environmental threats and already translocated through food chain causing several human diseases. Farmers can install erosion controls to reduce runoff flows and retain soil on their fields. Common techniques include contour plowing, crop mulching, crop rotation, planting perennial crops and installing riparian buffers.