1. Water and Agriculture
Ramanjaneyulu
National Consultation on
Draft National Policy on Water

2. Policy on Water
• Initially ‘water policy’ equated with providing irrigation which
meant mainly big ‘projects’, i e, dams, reservoirs and canal systems.
This approach became a part of the Green Revolution
• Strategy and produced short-term results by way of a rapid increase
in the production of food grains.
• In the long-term, that approach, and the idea of ‘development’ with
which it was linked, set in motion an ever-growing unmanageable
demand for water, inflicted grave damage on water and soil, was
accompanied by inequities and injustices of various kinds, and
generated severe water-related conflicts at various levels
• It is clear that the old approach, which continued to be present in
NWP is no longer tenable. Primacy in water policy will have to shift
from supply-side projects to restraining the runaway growth of
demand for agriculture

3. Agriculture and Water
• Agriculture is the largest user of water, but hardly an economical
user. The total agricultural demand for water can be significantly
brought down by improvements in
– water-use efficiency
– avoidance of wasteful use
– minimisation of losses
– production of ‘more crop per drop’
– changes in cropping patterns (where feasible)
– better irrigation techniques and practices
– water-saving innovations such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI)
– improving the productivity of ‘rainfed’ agriculture, and so on.
• Water-intensive irrigated agriculture must not be extended to
water-short areas, generating a growing demand for water that
cannot be met.

4. Shifts in cropping patterns
Million ha
No Crop 1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 2000-01 2010-11
1 Rice 37.6 40.1 42.7 44.7 42.1
2 Wheat 18.2 22.3 24.2 25.7 29.2
3 Jowar 17.4 15.8 14.4 9.9 7.1
4 Bajra 12.9 11.7 10.5 9.8 9.4
5 Maize 5.8 6 5.9 6.6 8.5
6 Other cereals 9.9 8.3 5.5 3.3 2.1
7 Gram 7.8 6.6 7.5 5.2 9.2
8 Tur 2.7 2.8 3.6 3.6 4.4
9 Cotton 7.6 7.8 7.4 8.6 11.1

5. What we need to do?
• Primacy on the supply side will have to shift from
large, centralised, technology-driven, capital-
intensive ‘water resource development’ (WRD)
projects with big dams and reservoirs and canal
systems, to small, decentralised, local,
community-led, water-harvesting and watershed-
development programmes, with the big projects
being regarded as projects of the last resort;
• the exploitation of groundwater will have to be
restrained in the interest of resource
conservation as well as equity.

6. Large dams contribute 18.7 % emissions
• Total methane emissions from
India's large dams could be 33.5
million tonnes (MT) per annum,
including emissions from
reservoirs (1.1 MT), spillways
(13.2 MT) and turbines of
hydropower dams (19.2 MT)
• Total emission of methane likely
to be around 17 MT per annum
equivalent to 425 CO2 equivalent
MT. This, when compared to
India's official emission of 1849
CO2e MT in year 2000 (which
does not include emission from
large dams) it is 18.7 %
Ivan B.T. Lima et al. (2007) "Methane Emissions from Large Dams as Renewable Energy
Resources: A Developing Nation Perspective,"Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global
Change, published on-line March 2007

7. Jalayagnam
Lift Irrigation Schemes in AP
• 31 projects under lift irrigation
• It needs about 206 million units electricity/day needs 12,682 Megawatt power/annum
(currently we use 160.80 million units a day or 10,000 mega watt/yr)
• 47 lakh ha would be brought under irrigation
• Seven and half horse power motor will be used for every 10 acres and five lakh such motors
have to be installed in the next four years
• Needs 37.5 lakh HP electricity (2775 mega watt)
• Major lift irrigation schemes needs 6407 mega watt
• Minor lift irrigation schemes needs 500 mega watt
• to produce and supply one mega watt power
• Rs. 4 cr to create infrastructure to produce
• Rs. 4.5 cr for transmission and distribution
Today 3,000 mega watts power is supplied freely to agriculture for 29 lakh pump sets

8. Shift from major to minor irrigation
• Local water augmentation through rainwater-harvesting
and micro-watershed development is holds considerable
promise as a significant component of national water
planning
• the option of local augmentation, where available, seems
preferable to bringing in water from large and distant
storages, with related costs, losses and other problems,
except where the latter is the only course open or the best
of available options
• big projects have formidable impacts and consequences
(ecological, social, human); those of small local
interventions are likely to be far more manageable

9. Water foot print of food
• Population increase
• Change in food habbits
• If the practices don’t change, water foot print
doubles
• Agri commodity exports should also account
for the ‘virtual water exports’

10. Ecological Foot Prints of inundated paddy
• Each Kg of Rice needs 5000 lit of water
• Which means 20,000 cu m/ha
• Water availability per capita in India fell
by more than half from 1955 to 1990
(from 5,300 cu m to 2,500 cu m) with
further decline projected to 1,500 cu m
by 2025, declining by 72% within 70
years
• The average CH4 flux from rice paddies
ranges from 9 to 46 g/m2 over a 120 to
150 day growing season
• This needs electricity to pump water or a
dam/canal system to supply
Agriculture consumes about 80% of India’s fresh water
over 50% of this is for rice production
finding water-saving methods for growing rice is becoming more and more urgent

11. Consider the Full Range of Agricultural Water
Management Options
Fish, Livestock, Crops,
Ecosystem Services

12. Groundwater use is increasing….
Growth in groundwater use
300
250
Cubic km/year
200
150
100
50
0
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Source: Shah, T. (2009). Taming the Anarchy: Groundwater Governance in South Asia. Washington D.C.: RFF press.

13. Managing groundwater
• Reducing withdrawals mitigates – half of India’s
irrigation is from groundwater requiring pumps
• NWP needs to emphasise the need
– to protect existing groundwater recharge
mechanisms,
– to create more such mechanisms,
– to do demand side management,
– avoiding non essential water intensive activities in
deficit areas
– work towards decentralised, bottom up groundwater
regulatory mechanisms.

14. Depleting natural resources
• Increasing dark zones due
to groundwater depletion
• 30 % of soils are reported
to be saline by the recent
study by ministry of
environment

15. Opportunities in Rainfed Agriculture
• Largest opportunities to build resilience and
improve water productivity are in rainfed
landscapes – low water productivity, high
poverty
• Technology
– water harvesting, supplemental irrigation
– Field water conservation to reduce
nonproductive evaporation
– Improved nutrients
– Drought resistance crops and
varieties
• Expand Policies to include
upgrading rainfed systems

16. Main Concern..
• How to secure rainfed lands from droughts?
– Soil and moisture conservation & water harvesting
– Increase soil organic matter
– Diversify crop systems
– … the problem still persists!
Protective Irrigation provides much larger security to rainfed
crops and livelihoods of farmers.