The world demand for water will increase by about 55% by 2050, according to the United Nations forecast. This means that the availability of fresh water will be under greater pressure during this period and forecasts suggest that more than 40% of the world’s population will live in areas with severe water problems by 2050. In the European Union, 35% of the surface will be subjected to high water stress in the 2070s. These data are accentuated by global warming, since each degree Celsius increase in average temperature will mean a 20% reduction in renewable water resources.
To guarantee the water supply there are extreme or harsh solutions, such as the construction of dams, aqueducts or pipes to transport water over long distances. These solutions, however, do not address the main problem: the lack of water. Other proposals point to a more sustainable management of water resources, with saving measures, protection of aquatic systems, preservation of forests, management of river basins beyond political or administrative borders and an intelligent economy.
72% of all freshwater withdrawals go to the agricultural sector and the FAO estimates that by 2050 agriculture will have to produce almost 50% more food, fiber and biofuels than in 2012 to meet global demand. To achieve this goal without wasting a drop of water, many ICT-based initiatives have emerged. According to the Spanish Association for the Digitalization of Agriculture, Agro-Food, Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Areas, Spain is the first country in Europe, and the third in the world, by number of firms that develop innovative agricultural technologies. They have counted 757 agrotech companies, only behind the United States and India.
To advance in the digitization of the sector, the AgrarIA project has also been launched, a consortium of 24 public-private organizations led by GMV. Its objective is to investigate how artificial intelligence together with other technologies related to Industry 4.0 can help us achieve new methods of agricultural production so that the Spanish agri-food sector is more innovative, sustainable and committed to energy efficiency and the reduction of the carbon footprint. carbon.
There are many other initiatives to digitize agriculture, such as Minerva, an accelerator of technology-based companies backed by the Junta de Andalucía and Vodafone. Start-ups that have developed solutions such as Sensacultivo have passed through it, a device that is placed on agricultural land to know the state of health of a crop in real time from the smartphone and that allows knowing when and how much to irrigate a plot. Another start-up, Aquamática, has created a sensor system to automate irrigation and phytosanitary treatments, through an application for tablets and mobile phones. While the biotech G2G Algae applies technology to the cultivation of microalgae to treat water pollution problems, for example. This crop also acts as an ecological fertilizer and reduces CO2 emissions.