Innovations for Soil Health and Water Management for Climate-Resilient Dryland Agriculture in the CWANA Region

Dryland agriculture in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region is increasingly vulnerable to water scarcity, soil degradation, drought, soil salinity, and climate extremes threatening food security and livelihoods. Integrated soil and water management innovations focus on building resilient dryland systems, with the potential to enhance adaptive capacity and enhance long-term climate resilience. This chapter explores their quantitative impacts, demonstrating scalability for transforming dryland food systems. In soil management, conservation agriculture (CA) practices—scaled across over 1 million ha—enhance dryland resilience by restoring soil health: increasing soil organic matter by 7%, carbon sequestration by 15%, reducing erosion by 50%, and improving yields by 20–30%, while enabling annual CO₂ sequestration of 0.5 t/ha. Raised-bed planting, expanded to over 125,000 ha, saves 25% water and increases yields by 30%. For water efficiency, supplemental irrigation during critical crop stages optimizes limited resources, raising wheat yields by >1.5 t/ha and improving water use efficiency by up to 35% in rainfed systems. Ultra-low energy drip irrigation achieves 90% application efficiency with 50% less energy. Wastewater reuse with salt-tolerant species reduces soil salinity by 15–20% and supports biomass production on degraded lands. Integrated renewable solutions like agrivoltaics combine crop production with solar energy, improving water-use efficiency by 20–25% and yields by 10–15%, generating up to 4.5 kWh/m²/day—enough to power small-scale irrigation and offset energy costs by 50%, reducing fossil fuel dependency. Advanced tools—precision agriculture, remote sensing, and genotype × environment × management approaches—provide data-driven recommendations, narrowing yield gaps by >40% under erratic rainfall. Neglected crops further improve water productivity and resilience. Innovations, backed by multi-country trials and partnerships, offer scalable pathways to strengthen resilience, enhance food security, and sustain farming amid escalating pressures.