Abstract

The Global Yield Gap and Water Productivity Atlas
Track: Sustainable Development and Humanitarian Affairs
Authors: Jawoo Koo, Lieven Claessens

The global community must find ways to provide food and water for an expected 9 billion people by 2050. Global carrying capacity for sustainable food production ultimately depends on achieving maximum possible yields on currently used arable land. The Global Yield Gap and Water Productivity Atlas is an initiative funded by BMGF and implemented by the Universities of Nebraska and Wageningen with partners of the CGIAR centers and NARS in 12 countries in Africa and South Asia. The Atlas provides a web-based platform for estimating yield gaps and water productivity that is transparent, accessible, reproducible, geospatially explicit, agronomically robust and will enable stakeholders to: (i) identify regions with the greatest potential to increase food supply and water use efficiency; (ii) provide input to economic global models that assess food security; (iii) prioritize research investments, and (iv) evaluate climate change impacts and other issues that deal with water, food, and weather.