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2016 | OriginalPaper | Buchkapitel

4. On the Climate of Scarcity and Crisis in the Rainfed Drylands of India

verfasst von : Zareen P. Bharucha

Erschienen in: Agriculture, Environment and Development

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

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Abstract

This chapter discusses the prevailing paradigm governing agricultural land and water management in the rainfed drylands of India. It aims to nuance an existing narrative that tightly intertwines agrarian distress in these landscapes with primarily climatic factors—specifically low or diminishing rainfall. In doing so, it contributes to opening up what has become a rather narrow conversation that informs a limited set of technical strategies. The central thesis of the chapter is that climate-driven distress is less of a threat (though by no means an insubstantial one) than overuse or unequal allocation of limited water resources. By extension, sustainable land and water management require much more than the provision of more irrigation.

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I thank Antonio Ioris for constructive comments on an earlier version of this chapter and for the opportunity to attend the workshop ‘Water as the Frontier of Agribusiness: Politico-Ecological and Socio-Economic Connections from Farms to Global Markets’ in Sao Paulo in March 2015, where the ideas presented in this chapter were discussed. Interview material on current developments in land and water management in Maharashtra was drawn from research conducted for a project on ‘The Food–Energy–Climate Change Trilemma: Developing a Neo-Polanyian Analysis’ funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Sciences and Research Council (grant reference number ES/K010530/1). Interview material cited in Bharucha et al. (2014) was conducted as part of PhD research part-funded by an Overseas Research Scholarship and a University of Essex Scholarship. All three sources are gratefully acknowledged.

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Titel: On the Climate of Scarcity and Crisis in the Rainfed Drylands of India
verfasst von: Zareen P. Bharucha
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Buch: Agriculture, Environment and Development
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-32254-4

Electronic ISBN: 978-3-319-32255-1

Copyright-Jahr: 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32255-1_4