while the relationships with the water resources is probably most
complicated to analyze [15,16]. In fact, agricultural production
is strongly affected by changes in precipitation patterns due to
climate change and variability and so water has become a
critical issue and a limiting factor for the crops under rainfed
systems, and for the water resource when irrigation is applied.
Moreover, in situations of water scarcity such as in the
southern part of Mediterranean, the cultivation of irrigated
energy crops could also exacerbate the problem of competitiveness
with food crops for the water use. Many studies
confirm the negative trends of the precipitation, with a
generally decrease of the total annual rainfall, the rainy days
and the annual average water-table [2,17]. Based on these
considerations, drought-tolerant energy crops should be the
preferable choice in terms of both adaptation and environmental
sustainability.