As part of the WASAG Working Group on Sustainable Agriculture Water Use, the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Bari (CIHEAM) and the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) co-hosted a workshop under the theme of "Can Water Productivity Improvements Save Us from Global Water Scarcity?". This workshop was held on February 25-26 at CIHEAM BARI in Valenzano (near Bari), Italy.

The workshop brought together experts from governments, international organizations, development finance institutions, academia and practice. The aim was to share knowledge about successful examples of improving water productivity in the field (site adapted) and its implications on water scarcity, and to discuss what is necessary to create an enabling environment and policy changes to scale these interventions as a basis for effective policy recommendations. More specifically, the following questions were addressed:

• What are common objectives and indicators for enhancing water productivity? Are some objectives competing?
• What can be learned from successful examples of improving water productivity at the farm, basin, national, and regional scales?
• What are the main obstacles to raising water productivity?
• What are key investment priorities to increase water productivity? How do they differ for small-holders and medium/larger irrigation schemes?
• What would be key elements of a future research agenda to address identified needs and create enabling environments and pathways for change?
• How can we close the gap between research and policy-making?