Rainfed agriculture

Rainfed agriculture is a type of farming that relies on rainfall for water. It provides much of the food consumed by poor communities in developing countries. E.g., rainfed agriculture accounts for more than 95% of farmed land in sub-Saharan Africa, 90% in Latin America, 75% in the Near East and North Africa, 65% in East Asia, and 60% in South Asia.^[1]

There is a strong correlation between poverty, hunger and water scarcity in part because of the dependencies on rainfed agriculture in developing economies. Moreover, because of increased weather variability, climate change is expected to make rain-fed farmers more vulnerable to climate change.^[2]

Rainfed agriculture is distinguished in most of the literature from irrigated agriculture, which applies water from other sources, such as freshwater from streams, rivers and lakes or groundwater. As farmers become more aware of and develop better water resource management strategies, most agriculture exists on a spectrum between rainfed and irrigated agriculture.^[3]