A Holistic Assessment of Water Footprint and Irrigation Performance Indicators With Respect to Agricultural Water Productivity

Global warming has intensified prolonged droughts in many regions, including Türkiye, resulting in growing pressure on already limited water resources. Agriculture, as the largest water‐consuming sector, faces critical challenges in sustaining productivity under increasing water scarcity. In this context, assessing water use efficiency through water footprint (WF) analysis and irrigation performance indicators has become essential for sustainable water and food security. This study aims to provide an integrated evaluation of agricultural water productivity by combining these two approaches. The research was conducted in the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) region—Türkiye's largest irrigated agricultural area—with a focus on the Şanlıurfa irrigation schemes. The results revealed that the total WF of crop production ranged from 12.14 to 2795.02 million cubic metres (MCM), reaching 7198.92 MCM overall. The average water supply ratio was calculated as 1.55, reflecting considerable pressure on water resources. Economic performance indicators showed that income per unit irrigated area ranged between 2.26 × 10 3 and 4.57 × 10 3 US$/ha, whereas income per unit of diverted and consumed water ranged between 0.16–0.39 and 0.05–0.57 US$/m 3 , respectively. Our analysis reveals the critical role of the WF and performance monitoring in improving water allocation strategies and increasing the sustainability of irrigated agriculture under changing climatic conditions.