Page 117 -

โครงการหนังสืออิเล็กทรอนิกส์ด้านการเกษตร เฉลิมพระเกียรติพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัว

Chapter 9

Recommendations and Conclusion

9.1 Recommendations for sustainable water resources management

th
One of the targets set in the 11 National Economic and Social Development Plan
(NESDP) is to build the security of food and energy by the development of agricultural sector and

enhancing the competency and income stability of farmers to produce enough and high quality
food along with the development of alternative energy produced from crops. However, according to

the situation of water stress and the crop water requirements of major food, feed, fuel crops in
Thailand revealed by the study, there is a necessity for the government to have an appropriate

plan for sustainable water resource management to avoid and/or mitigate the water stress arising
from the increase of agricultural water requirement in the future. The increased demands for water

are not only for food and feed crops but also for fuel crops according to the energy policy.
Therefore, the following measures are recommended to enhance the water efficiency and water

resource management for the agricultural sector in Thailand

9.1.1 Crop evapotranspiration (ET) reduction

More than 70% of the total water consumption of the country is for agricultural sector

especially during the cultivation stage of crops which expressed by the “crop evapotranspiration
(ET)”. For example, in the case of bioethanol, 95-98% of the total water footprint of bioethanol

products is come from the bioethanol feedstock cultivation. Hence, to reduce the “crop
evapotranspiration” or “crop water use” is significant to enhance water efficiency for agricultural

sector. Even though there are many factors that can influence the evapotranspiration of crops e.g.
temperature, soil properties, crop yields, crop cycle and agricultural practices e.g. ET generally

increases with the temperature. Nevertheless, the following measures are recommended to reduce
the crop evapotranspiration.

 To assess and identify the methods to shorten the crop cycle or else to improve the crop

yields. However, those two methods generally must be traded off with each other as shortening the
crop cycle may result in lower biomass accumulation which in turn will decrease the final yields.

 To promote the research and development on improvement of crop varieties especially
those suitable for energy production. For example, the ideal fuel crops in the water supply

perspective to minimize the WF of biofuels should be drought-tolerant, high-yield crops grown on
little irrigation water or non-irrigation areas.

Page | 80