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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Depleting groundwater shrinks India's agricultural lands: Government data -Anuradha Shukla

Depleting groundwater shrinks India's agricultural lands: Government data -Anuradha Shukla

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published Published on Jul 31, 2018   modified Modified on Jul 31, 2018
-The New Indian Express

In 2017, nearly 40 lakh hectares of agricultural land was impacted because of water woes, resulting in a drop in the area under cultivation for crops.

NEW DELHI:
With one-third of agriculture activities in India still depending on groundwater for irrigation, the country’s cultivated land is shrinking due to depleting ground water levels and extreme weather conditions. This will impact the agriculture output and may upset the Centre’s target of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

“Depleting water levels are one of the major concerns for agriculture. In areas that are mainly dependent on groundwater for irrigation, we have seen a continuous decline in farm lands that were being cultivated. This, if ignored, can be problematic,” said a NITI Aayog official. NITI Aayog is conducting a study on the shrinking agriculture land and water usage in agriculture sector.

According to the government data, in 2017, nearly 40 lakh hectares of agricultural land was impacted because of water woes, resulting in a drop in the area under cultivation for crops such as rice, pulses and oilseeds. The total area sowed with rice, pulses, oilseeds and cereals alone shrunk by 29 lakh hectares the same year.

According to the Economic Survey Report 2017-18, area for cultivation of sugarcane in 2016-17 was down by 10.9 per cent, compared to that in 2015-16. The total area for cultivation of cotton also saw a decline by 11.1 per cent and Jowar saw its total cultivation area dropping by 15.4 per cent.

Taking cases of states individually, in Andhra Pradesh, Rabi acreage has shrunk by 7 lakh hectares in 2017 and 2.5 lakh hectares of Kharif acreage remained uncultivated in the state, mainly due to water woes. In Kerala, the area under paddy cultivation decreased from 1.9 lakh hectares in 2015-16 to 1.7 lakh hectares in 2016-17. This area was 8.75 lakh hectares in 1970-71.

In North, Jammu and Kashmir, which had 8.47 lakh hectares of agriculture land in 2005-06, has shrunk to 7.94 lakh hectares by 2015-16. As per estimates of the state agriculture department, Kashmir loses an average of 1,375 hectares of agricultural land every year.

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The New Indian Express, 28 July, 2018, http://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2018/jul/28/depleting-groundwater-shrinks-indias-agricultural-lands-government-data-1849994.html


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