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The food security challenge of the food-land-water nexus in India

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Abstract

Two of the key factors that drive agricultural growth and food production in India are access to arable land and utilizable water resources. These are examined with particular reference to their regional variation in order to make an assessment of the magnitude of the food security challenge they pose for the country. Recent official estimates of groundwater exploitation in India are compared with actual negative physical, social and economic consequences of over-exploitation, as are evident in different regions, and their implications for national food security discussed. The analyses show that the real food security and water management challenge lies in the mismatch between water availability and agricultural water demand: high demands occur in water scarce but agriculturally prosperous regions and low demands in naturally water-abundant but agriculturally backward regions. Serious groundwater depletion problems, which occur in the naturally water-scarce but surplus food-producing regions, magnify the challenge. The small area of arable land per capita is a major reason for low agricultural water demand in regions that have abundant water. Sustainability of well irrigation in the naturally water-scarce regions, which is the backbone of India’s food security, could be achieved through judicious investment in surface water projects which encourage direct irrigation and replenishment of over-exploited aquifers. Other strategies include: pro rata pricing of electricity in the farm sector; volumetric pricing of water from public irrigation systems; improving the efficiency of utilization of green water or the rainwater held in the soil profile; preventing depletion of the residual soil moisture in the field after crop harvest by reducing the fallow period; and reducing the use of water through a shift to low water consuming crops

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Notes

  1. As part of the crop water demand will be met by effective rainfall or the portion of rainfall that is directly available to the crop, the difference between reference evapo-transpiration (ET0) and effective rainfall (P) can be the deciding factor for net irrigation water demand. As we do not have proper estimates of effective rainfall that is directly available to crops, we are only considering the ET0 values for estimation of irrigation demand.

  2. A condition under which the annual abstraction of groundwater exceeds the annual recharge

  3. “White” talukas/districts are those where the average annual groundwater abstraction is less than 70 % of the average annual utilizable groundwater, and “Grey” talukas/districts are those where the average annual abstraction is in the range of 70–90 %.

  4. In north Gujarat, water buyers pay Rs. 70-Rs. 100 per hour of irrigation (Kumar 2005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Resource Analysis and Policy (IRAP), Hyderabad, India

    M. Dinesh Kumar & M. V. K. Sivamohan

  2. Department of Economics and Rural Development, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India

    A. Narayanamoorthy

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  1. M. Dinesh Kumar
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  2. M. V. K. Sivamohan
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  3. A. Narayanamoorthy
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Correspondence to M. Dinesh Kumar.

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Kumar, M.D., Sivamohan, M.V.K. & Narayanamoorthy, A. The food security challenge of the food-land-water nexus in India. Food Sec. 4, 539–556 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-012-0204-1

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