5 Ways to Put Food on a Water Diet

The briefing identifies that agriculture accounts for 70 percent of annual freshwater withdrawals and proposes five interventions: reducing food loss and waste, shifting diets toward less water-intensive foods, investing in nature-based solutions like agroforestry, optimizing crop placement and water management, and adopting efficient technologies such as drip irrigation.

• Agriculture is a primary driver of freshwater depletion, accounting for 70 percent of annual global freshwater withdrawals. The water required to produce the food an average person eats daily ranges from 2,000 to 5,000 liters, significantly exceeding the 2 to 4 liters they drink.
• Food waste has a substantial impact on water resources, with one billion tons of food lost or wasted annually. This inefficiency results in over 17 percent of total water withdrawals—and a quarter of all agricultural water—being used for food that is never consumed.
• Dietary choices significantly affect water footprints, as animal-based products are far more water-intensive than plant-based ones. For instance, beef requires 7,007 liters of water per pound, which is more than 50 times the 130 liters per pound required for potatoes.
• Nature-based solutions and improved field technologies can increase productivity while saving water. Agroforestry in Malawi increased maize yields by 50 percent. Additionally, drip irrigation can reduce water use by 60 percent compared to flood irrigation and raise crop productivity by 50 percent.
• Strategic water management in rice cultivation—which consumes 40 percent of global irrigation water—can reduce methane emissions and save water. In China and Japan, draining paddies to just above the roots once per season has increased yields and reduced emissions.

APA

World Resources Institute (2019). 5 Ways to Put Food on a Water Diet. https://www.wri.org/insights/5-ways-put-food-water-diet

Chicago

World Resources Institute. 5 Ways to Put Food on a Water Diet. 2019. https://www.wri.org/insights/5-ways-put-food-water-diet.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=5 Ways to Put Food on a Water Diet |date=4 June 2019 |url=https://www.wri.org/insights/5-ways-put-food-water-diet |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitute2019ways, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{5 Ways to Put Food on a Water Diet}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, year = {2019}, month = jun, url = {https://www.wri.org/insights/5-ways-put-food-water-diet}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }