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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

We must break ‘lock-ins’ of water usage in agriculture -Anjali Neelakantan

-Livemint.com

Just as much of today’s world is locked into fossil-fuel dependence, Indian farmers are in a trap of water-guzzling crop production that is not environmentally sustainable.

The annual United Nations climate conference underway in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, has entire days devoted to two crucial sectors that directly impact the lives of millions in India: agriculture and water. At a time of stagnant incomes and groundwater depletion, we must enable farmers to make choices that improve their earnings while helping them reduce their demand for water.

So-called ‘lock-ins’ are among the factors that prevent progress on this front. When prefixed with ‘carbon’, these refer to systems geared for the continuing intensive use of fossil fuels. Just as breaking carbon lock-ins is key to addressing climate change, there are lock-ins surrounding the use of water in agriculture that must be tackled.

India’s current system is geared towards growing high water-using and energy-intensive crops. The Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) estimates that over 60% of irrigation in India is done through groundwater. As of 2015, there were about 20 million pump sets using energy in India, which means that the agricultural sector accounts for about 20-22% of total electricity consumption.

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