Muzammil et al. (2026) Water resources under climate change: Strategies for sustainable agriculture in Colombia

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural Water Management
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-22
• Authors: Muhammad Muzammil, Lutz Breuer, Umar Farooq, N I Morah Frank, Björn Weeser, Alicia Correa
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110712

Research Groups

• Centre for International Development and Environmental Research (ZEU), Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
• Department of Irrigation and Drainage, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan
• Institute for Landscape Ecology and Resources Management (ILR), Research Centre for BioSystems, Land Use and Nutrition (IFZ), Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany
• CSIRO Agriculture & Food, Black Mountain, ACT, Australia

Short Summary

This study estimated Colombia's current and future water demand under climate change scenarios using the CORDEX data. It evaluated alternative spatially-explicit water-saving strategies based on a temporal water footprint assessment approach.

Objective

• To identify improved future cropping patterns for Colombia that rely mainly on naturally abundant rainfall and less dependence on irrigation.
• To investigate the potential of improved irrigation technologies for the remaining irrigation demand of crops.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: National scale in Colombia, with 0.04° resolution.
• Temporal Scale: Historical period (1977–2016) and future projections (2031–2090).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: SPARE:WATER model for estimating crop water requirements and evaluating potential water-saving strategies.
• Data sources: Climate data from 20 weather stations in Colombia, spanning 1977–2016; CORDEX data for future climate scenarios (2031–2090).

Main Results

• The average harvested area was 3.65 Mha with an average water consumption of 27 km³ /yr.
• Coffee holds the largest share of the harvested area (21%), followed by corn, plantain, rice, and sugarcane.
• Coffee also leads in total water consumption (30%), followed by plantain (21%), sugarcane (14%), and oil palm.
• The total blue water consumption follows a similar pattern, led by coffee (33%), oil palm (23%), and plantain (22%).
• Alternative cropping patterns and improved irrigation technologies can reduce blue water use by up to −91%.

Contributions

• This study provides a comprehensive assessment of Colombia's water footprint from 2005 to 2016.
• It evaluates the impact of climate change on water consumption in Colombia under different scenarios.
• The results highlight the potential of alternative cropping patterns and improved irrigation technologies for reducing blue water use.

Funding

• Not specified.

Citation

@article{Muzammil2026Water,
  author = {Muzammil, Muhammad and Breuer, Lutz and Farooq, Umar and Frank, N I Morah and Weeser, Björn and Correa, Alicia},
  title = {Water resources under climate change: Strategies for sustainable agriculture in Colombia},
  journal = {Agricultural Water Management},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110712},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2026.110712}
}