[1] There is a strong correlation between poverty, hunger and water scarcity in part because of the dependencies on rainfed agriculture in developing economies.
These countries coincide closely with those located in the semi-arid and dry sub-humid hydroclimates in the world (i.e., savanna and steppe ecosystems), where rainfed agriculture is the dominant source of food and where water constitutes a key limiting factor to crop growth.
[5] Of the 850 million undernourished people in the world, essentially all live in poor, developing countries, which predominantly are located in tropical regions.
Managing rainwater and soil moisture more effectively and using supplemental and small-scale irrigation is believed to hold the key to helping the greatest number of poor people.
These problems are exacerbated by adverse biophysical growing conditions and the poor socioeconomic infrastructure in many areas in the semi-arid tropics (SAT).