-Livemint.com Currently water guzzling crops like paddy and sugarcane, which use up to 60% of available irrigation water, are cultivated in some of the most water scarce regions in the country, says the study New Delhi: India needs to realign regional cropping patterns with available water resources to ensure future sustainability of food production, a study released on Thursday said. Currently water guzzling crops like paddy and sugarcane, which use up to...

-NABARD-ICRIER Report, June 2018 India is facing a major challenge on the water front. Its per capita water availability of 1544 cubic meters per year, as reported in 2011, has already fallen below the cut off point of 1700 cubic meters, placing it among the water stressed nations of the planet. This situation is likely to have worsened since 2011 and may continue to do so unless drastic reforms are undertaken...

-Business Standard Nabard-Icrier study calls for moving high-water reliant crops like sugarcane in Maharashtra, rice in Punjab to other areas; Gadkari says not possible. With India staring at a looming water crisis, a new study on ‘water productivity mapping of major crops’ has called for putting a price on water used for irrigation to at least recover operating and maintenance costs of structures like canals. It has also called for an end...

-Livemint.com It is important to give preference to those approaches that help the poor the most for every rupee spent, no matter how they are labelled Sometimes in life, it is clear that the direct approach isn’t the best one. This is true in many areas, even when it comes to policymaking. Take, as an example, the area of extreme poverty. It seems logical, at first, that the most effective response should...

-Frontline.in The women-led climate-resilient farming model created by Swayam Shikshan Prayog in drought-hit Marathwada has yielded encouraging results and is worthy of emulation across the country. “LOOK at our quinoa. It has grown so well,” says a beaming Shailaja Narwade from Masia village near Solapur in interior Maharashtra. Shailaja has planted the traditional South American plant not for consumption but in order to harvest its seeds. “Quinoa seeds are very valuable...