First on the meals safety entrance. Having been by way of a journey of “ship to mouth” in mid Nineteen Sixties, India has come a good distance. Only within the final three years, 2020-21 to 2022-23, India exported 85 million tonnes (MT) of cereals, primarily rice, wheat and corn. This it did even after giving free meals (rice or wheat) to greater than 800 million folks underneath the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana. This is a stupendous achievement. India has additionally made main strides in milk manufacturing which has shot up from 17 MT in 1951 to 222 MT in 2022-23.

The nation is the most important producer of milk by far. Since 2000-01, poultry and fishery manufacturing has been rising at a quick charge. So, from the inexperienced and white revolution, India has additionally now ushered in a pink (poultry) and blue (fishery) revolution. However, entry to adequate nutritious meals stays a problem for a lot of. According to the newest National Family Health Survey, virtually 16.6 per cent of India’s inhabitants is malnourished (2020-22), 35 per cent of its kids under the age of 5 years are stunted (low height-for-age) and 32 per cent are underweight (low weight-for-age).

Progress on this entrance has been reasonably sluggish, and in a business-as-usual atmosphere, India will be unable to attain its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of zero starvation (together with malnutrition) by 2030. Now, how is India utilizing its water assets in agriculture? It is essential to notice that whereas India is house to virtually 18 per cent of the world’s inhabitants, it has solely 4 per cent of worldwide freshwater assets. Much of this water is utilized in agriculture. While FAO places this determine at 90 per cent, the Indian Central Water Commission says it’s 78 per cent. With rising inhabitants, and rising incomes, there can be a necessity to supply not solely extra meals but additionally save water for ingesting functions as additionally for manufacturing and rising urbanisation.

Thus, India must undertake a two-pronged technique with respect to water in agriculture. First, on the provision facet, it should increase buffer stocking of water through the monsoon season in its reservoirs, and recharge groundwater by way of verify dams and watersheds, and many others. Second, it should work on the demand facet to make sure extra rational allocation and environment friendly use of water throughout crops.

This requires not solely institutional reforms within the Indian irrigation sector but additionally within the pricing of water and energy for irrigation. While virtually half of India’s gross cropped space is irrigated as we speak, we have to take it to at the very least 75 per cent if we now have to deal with climate vagaries related to local weather change.

This would require large investments. India has not succeeded in attracting personal sector investments in reservoirs and canal networks as water is sort of free. The authorities doesn’t have sufficient funds to speculate on this, after doling out massive meals and fertiliser subsidies costing greater than Rs 4 lakh crore. The state governments would not have the political will to cost for energy that’s used for groundwater irrigation. Under such a state of affairs, Indian agriculture stays a dangerous enterprise within the wake of local weather change.

If we now have to minimise this local weather danger, we’d like a paradigm shift in our pondering. First and foremost, we have to shift focus from land productiveness to water productiveness. For instance, we’d like not take a look at say a lot tonne/hectare, however of kg of grain per cubic metre of irrigation water. Once we begin productiveness from a water angle, we are able to determine the inefficiencies within the allocation and use of water in agriculture. In one among our research at ICRIER on water productiveness of 10 main crops, throughout all the foremost districts by which they’re grown, we discovered that whereas in Punjab land productiveness of rice is without doubt one of the highest, its irrigation water productiveness is the bottom.

That implies that Punjab is without doubt one of the most inefficient growers of rice by way of water used. On high of this, Punjab additionally emits the very best ranges of carbon emissions (CO2eq), virtually 5 tonnes/ha of paddy cultivation. All this requires a revamping of insurance policies, farm practices, and merchandise, protecting water on the centre of agriculture. Can one reward farmers for switching from water-guzzling crops like paddy and sugarcane to much less water-intensive crops like millets, pulses and oilseeds? Talk of inexperienced water credit! In our analysis on Punjab, we now have discovered the subsidy from energy and fertilisers in paddy cultivation quantities to roughly Rs 30,000/ha. Can this quantity be given to farmers in Punjab who’re prepared to modify from paddy to pulses, oilseeds, and millets? This will create a degree enjoying subject throughout crops and could be good for the atmosphere in addition to diet. Above all, it’ll save Punjab from water catastrophe as roughly 78 per cent of its blocks are over-exploiting groundwater.

Farming practices reminiscent of direct seeded rice (DSR) and alternate moist and dry (AWD) irrigation, or zero until, and many others., may also be rewarded as they’ll save water. And additionally drip irrigation, particularly in sugarcane, which may save half the water. The backside line is that until we use water effectively, making certain sustainable meals safety is troublesome.0

Gulati is Distinguished Professor at ICRIER. Views are private