October 16 is celebrated as the World Food Day to commemorate the founding of United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in 1945. Its main purpose was to ensure food and nutrition security around the world in the aftermath of the World War II. How far the world has achieved this goal is an open question. While there is ample food being produced on this planet that can easily feed 8 billion people, its economic access is quite skewed across nations.
This year’s theme of World Food Day is ‘Water is Life. Water is Food.’ In this context, it would be good to review how far India has progressed in achieving food security, and how it is using its water resources in agriculture.
First, on the food security front: Having been through a journey of ‘ship to mouth’ in the mid-1960s, India has come a long way. In just the last three years, 2020-21 to 2022-23, India exported 85 million tonnes (mt) of cereals, mainly rice, wheat and corn—even after giving free food (rice or wheat) to more than 800 million people under the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana. This is a stupendous achievement.
India has also made major strides in milk production that has shot up from a meagre 17 mt in 1951 to 222 mt in 2022-23, making India the largest producer of milk. Since 2000-01, poultry and fishery production have been growing at their fastest kip.
So, from Green and White Revolution, India has also now ushered in Pink (poultry) and Blue (fishery) revolution.
However, economic access to sufficient nutritious food remains a challenge for many. Almost 16.6% of Indian population is malnourished (2020-22), 35% of its children below the age of 5 years are stunted (low height-for-age), and 32% are underweight (low weight-for- age), as per the NFHS-5 (2019-21). The progress on this front has been rather slow, and if business-as-usual continues, India will not be able to achieve its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of zero hunger (including malnutrition) by 2030.
Now, how is India using its water resources in agriculture? It is important to note that while India is home to almost 18% of world population, it has only 4% of global fresh water resources. And much of this water is used in agriculture. While FAO puts this figure at 90%, Indian Central Water Commission says it is 78%.
With rising population and rising incomes, there will be a need to produce not only more food but also save water for drinking , manufacturing and other needs of growing urbanisation.
Thus, India needs to adopt a two-pronged strategy with respect to water in agriculture. First, on the supply-side, it must augment the buffer stock of water during monsoon season in its reservoirs and recharge groundwater through check dams and watersheds, etc. Second, it must work on the demand side to ensure more rational allocation and efficient use of water across crops. This calls for not only institutional reforms in the irrigation sector, but also in pricing of water and power for irrigation.
While almost half of India’s gross cropped area is irrigated today, we need to take it to at least 75% if we to cope with the vagaries of climate change. This would require massive investments. India has not succeeded in attracting private sector investments in reservoirs and canal networks, as pricing of water remains almost free. The government does not have enough funds to invest in this, after doling out large food and fertiliser subsidies that cost more than `4 trillion. Neither do the state governments have the political will to charge for power that is used for groundwater irrigation.
Under such a scenario, Indian agriculture remains a risky venture in the wake of climate change.
If we have to minimise this climate risk, we need a paradigm shift in our thinking. First and foremost, we need to shift focus from land productivity to water productivity. For example, we need not look at, say, a large tonne/hectare number, but talk of a certain kg of grain per cubic metre of irrigation water. Once we start looking at productivity from the water angle, we can identify the inefficiencies in allocation and use of water in agriculture. In one of our studies at ICRIER, on water productivity of 10 major crops across all major districts in which they are grown, we found that though Punjab has one of the highest land productivity of rice, its irrigation water productivity is the lowest. That means Punjab is one of the most inefficient grower of rice in terms of water used. On top of this, Punjab also emits highest levels of carbon emissions—almost 5 tonnes/ha of paddy cultivation.
All this calls for a revamping of policies, farm practices, and products, keeping water at the centre of agriculture. Can one reward farmers switching from water-guzzling crops like paddy and sugarcane to less water-intensive crops like millets, pulses and oilseeds? Talk of green water credits! In our research on Punjab, we found the subsidy coming from power and fertilisers in paddy cultivation amounts to roughly `30,000/ha. Can this amount be given to farmers in Punjab who are willing to switch from paddy to pulses, oilseeds, millets?
This will create a level playing field across crops, and would be good for environment as well as nutrition.
Above all, it will save Punjab from water disaster, as roughly 78% of its blocks are over-exploiting groundwater.
Farming practices such as Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) and Alternate Wet and Dry (AWD) irrigation, or zero till, etc., can also be rewarded as they will save water. So also would drip irrigation, especially in sugarcane—saving half the water currently consumed. The bottomline is that, unless we use water efficiently, ensuring sustainable food security is difficult.
Written by Ashok Gulati
https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/water-is-food-indian-agriculture-must-be-geared-towards-efficient-use-of-water/3273540/#tbl-em-lnu9trxj3wrd4m467qo
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