South East Asia Agriculture Irrigation Equipment Market (2025-2032)

Agriculture’s water scarcity is becoming an increasingly major problem in many South East Asian countries, including Indonesia and Thailand. The agriculture sector in South East Asia is the major consumer of freshwater. The continuously growing population and economic growth have led to increased water use in various industrial applications. Further, the increasing impact of climate change affects the availability of water resources in the region. Thus, these factors led to an increase in water scarcity for the agriculture sector in the region.

In Indonesia, the rapid expansion of industrialization and urbanization has led to increased water demand, leaving farmers with limited access to water for irrigation. This has resulted in decreased agricultural productivity and a growing reliance on imported food. Moreover, in the country, total irrigation demand in Java, South East Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Bali, and West Nusa Tenggara is high. In addition, these areas lack freshwater resources. Moreover, Java is a significant water stress area in the country, containing more than half of the population and only 10% of the country’s water supplies.

Moreover, Indonesia’s Ministry of Public Works and Housing projected that the water levels in Java will drop to 476 m3 per person per year by 2040, far below the annual level of 1,169 m3 per person per year in 2019. The ministry also says the ideal per capita amount of water is 1,600 m3 per person per year. Furthermore, almost 10% of Indonesia is expected to experience a water crisis by 2045. Considering these water shortage challenges, in 2025, the Ministry of National Development Planning (BAPPENAS) is collaborating with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to implement the Water Scarcity Program in Indonesia. Thus, all these factors are expected to drive the demand for agricultural irrigation equipment in the country.

Similarly, in Thailand, the combination of droughts and inefficient irrigation systems has further increased the water scarcity issue, posing a significant threat to the country's agricultural sector and food security. Moreover, a severe drought hit Thailand in 2020, which caused severe damage to the country’s agriculture sector, particularly sugar, rubber, and rice crops. According to the Bank of Ayudhya’s Krungsri Research (Thailand), this drought cost the country around USD 1.5 billion (46 billion Thai baht), or 0.27% of GDP in 2020. The drought also affected off-season field crops, fruit trees, and freshwater fish farming production. Thus, the low availability of agricultural water resources has put pressure on the government as well as on farmers to adopt sustainable irrigation systems in the country. Thus, the rising water scarcity challenges in the major South East Asian countries are expected to drive the growth of the agricultural irrigation equipment market.