A New Model-Based Approach for the Evaluation of the Net Contribution of the European Union Rural Development Program to the Reduction of Water Abstractions in Agriculture

Agriculture is an essential driving force in water resources management and has a central role in the European Union’s Rural Development Programme (RDP). In this study, the solution developed addresses countries characterised by relatively small farms, vast spatial and temporal variability and severe data scarcity. The proposed model-based approach is directly relevant to the evaluation of agricultural policies affecting water abstraction based on multisource data. The evaluation process utilises an entirely spatially distributed, continuous hydrological model. The model provides a gridded output of the main hydrological balance components, as well as vegetation water deficit and irrigation water requirements, on a daily temporal step on a country scale. It provides information at the farm level and facilitates the estimation of water abstractions in agriculture, taking into consideration all the pertinent information included in the Integrated Administration and Control System database that is maintained by RDPs in Europe. Remote sensing data also are used to validate crop patterns. The obtained results were analysed to estimate the net effect of the RDP to the reduction of water abstractions in agriculture. This work produces valuable information concerning the evaluation of agricultural policies and the assessment of land use, and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.