Time to make the water switch

The Indian Express     29th March 2021     Save    

Context: Sustainable agriculture practices will helps in conservation of water.

Demand and Supply of water in Indian Agriculture:

  • As per the Central Water Commission’s reassessment of water availability using space inputs (2019), India receives a mean annual precipitation of about 3,880 billion cubic meters (BCM).
  • Agriculture uses about 78% of fresh water resources.
  • Groundwater contributes about 64%, canals 23%, tanks 2% and other sources 11% to irrigation.

Concerns related to water resources in India

  • Low utilisation of rainwater: As per the Central Water Commission’s reassessment of water availability using space inputs (2019), India utilises only 699 BCM (18%).
  • Low water quality and sanitation:
    • India failed to achieve United Nations(UN) Sustainable Development Goal-6 (SDG-6) - “Clean water and sanitation for all by 2030”, as only 56.6% of the target was achieved by 2019.
    • As per the Niti Aayog’s Composite Water Management Index (2019), 75% households in India do not have access to drinking water on their premises.
  • Over exploitation of groundwater: In India’s North-west, which made the region amongst the three highest water risk hotspots, the others being north-eastern China and south western United States.
  • Issue of water intensive crops: Rice and sugarcane alone consume 60% of India’s irrigation water.
    • Fig.1 -while Punjab scores high on land productivity of rice, it is at the bottom with respect to applied irrigation water productivity.
    • Fig.2 -in the case of sugarcane, irrigation water productivity in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu is only 1/3rd of that in Bihar and UP.

Way forward

  • Follow an appropriate strategy for conservation of rainwater: “Catch the Rain” campaign, recently launched under the government’s flagship programme, Jal Shakti Abhiyan is a step in right direction.
  • Realign cropping patterns based on per unit of applied irrigation water productivity.
  • Use technologies to reduce water usage for irrigation: e.g.
    • Drip irrigation: While it takes 3,065 litres of water to produce 1 kg of paddy grain (yield level 7.75 t/ha) under traditional flood irrigation, under drip, it can be reduced to just 842 litres.
    • Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) and System of Rice Intensification (SRI): Together can save 25-30 % of water compared to traditional flood irrigation.
  • Put pricing policies of agri-inputs on right track:  switch from the highly subsidised price policy to direct income support on a per hectare basis. (Water and power to be priced on economic value)
  • Incentivise farmers for saving water: The Punjab government, along with the World Bank, has brought “PaaniBachao Paise Kamao”  scheme of to encourage rational use of water among farmers.