Many of us take water for granted. However, with a rapidly growing world population water withdrawal for irrigation, the need to provide high quality drinking water coupled with improved sanitation are major issues causing already water shortages in many countries. We will try to forecast how water demands will develop over the next forty years. Since agriculture is world’s biggest water user, SOPIB is constantly looking for ways to help increase crop yields resulting in reduced water use per ton of produce.

Pistachios are becoming increasingly popular not only as snack, but they find also a lot of favour with dieticians. In an article on this crop "Pistachio, Facts and Figures" we will look at the latest statistics and the excellent response to modern fertilizer practises.

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Pistachios are an increasingly popular tree crop. Its global acreage has grown 3.7 - fold over the past 25 years to more than 650 M Ha. However, the total global production of nuts did not grow at the same pace and lagged behind with a growth rate over this period of less than 300 %, while the acreage grew with nearly 370 %. One of the causes of this difference is that not all growing countries were able until now to optimize fertilization practices. Analysis of a comprehensive study of the Univ. California, Davis, shows that modern potassium fertilization provides an essential tool to get higher yields, increased quality, and improved marketability of pistachio nuts.
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