Water consumption in agriculture

According to the 10th report on the bioeconomy in Europe, drawn up by Intesa Sanpaolo's Research Department in collaboration with the SPRING Cluster and Assobiotec - Federchimica, in Italy the agricultural sector accounts for 60% of total water consumption. 

In Europe, water withdrawals for irrigation purposes are concentrated between Spain, Italy, Greece, France and Portugal which alone accounted for 96% of the water extracted for agriculture in the EU-28 between 2008 and 2017. 

In Italy, 20.2% of the UAA is irrigated; Malta, Cyprus and Greece have higher incidences; in Spain the irrigated area is equal to 13.2% of the used agricultural area. 

Consumption efficiency and resource reuse are central to the sustainability of the industry: the adoption of innovative technologies is considered essential.