Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Studies(IGIDR), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) on ‘Harnessing Opportunities to Improve Agri-Food Systems’ on July 24-25 , 2014 in New Delhi. The two day conference aims to discuss the agricultural priority of the government and develop a road map to realise these priorities for improved agri food systems.

1. Photo:KannanArunasalam/IWMI
www.iwmi.org
A water-secure world
IGIDR-IFPRI Conference
“Harnessing Opportunities to Improve Agri-Food Systems”
July 24-25, 2014; New Delhi, India
Expanding Irrigation for Higher Productivity

2. www.iwmi.org
Water for a food-secure world
India has the largest irrigated area and
is food secure- this is commendable!!
At the same time:
- India is home to one-third of world’s extreme poor and
largest number of impoverished people. (UNMDG-2014)
- India loses 2-3% of GDP primarily because of poor
nutrition. (World Bank)
- India ranks 63rd among 78 countries in Global Hunger
Index (IFPRI)
Where have we faltered and what can be done, now?

3. 0
6
12
18
24
30
36
42
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000
Netirrigatedarea
(millionha)
Expenditure
(billionUS$,in2000prices)
Trends of public expenditure in major and medium irrigation
and net irrigated area under different sources in India
Expenditure Tanks Canals Groundwater
Investment
Canal command
Groundwater
After US $ 35 billion invested in canal irrigation since
1991, India has 3 m ha less under canal irrigation.

4. India is the world’s largest user
of groundwater in agriculture in the world.
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
cubickm/year
US W.Europe Spain
Mexico China India
Pakistan Bangladesh Sri Lanka
Vietnam Ghana South Africa
Tunisia
India has over 20
million irrigation
wells. Until 2000, it
added 0.8
million/year.
Every fourth
cultivator owns an
irrigation well; non-
owners depend on
groundwater
markets.
Increasing irrigation
in canal and tank
commands is with
Pumped water
India

5. During the past decade, groundwater beneath the northern Indian states of Punjab,
Haryana, and Rajasthan has decreased by more than 88 million acre-feet. Now at risk
of experiencing severe shortages of this vital resource are the 120 million inhabitants
of those regions. Areas in red had slightly less mass due to a net loss of groundwater
and therefore exhibited a weaker gravitational pull on the orbiting satellites. Areas in
blue had greater mass and a stronger gravitational pull due to a net gain.

6. • Large areas are under water
stress
• Groundwater CWU > natural
recharge
• Substantial food production
with unsustainable
groundwater use
Food-water-energy nexus in India

7. The Evolution of India’s E-I nexus
1970’s 1980’s 1990’s 2000’s
2010’s
# of electric
tubewells
BCM of
groundwater
use in irrigation
Agri.
Production
Electricity
subsidy
Producing Surplus by Scavenging the Last Drop

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Water for a food-secure world
IMPACT OF DECLINE IN WATER TABLES ON DEMAND
FOR ELECTRICITY AND LOSS IN GVOUP IF THAT
ADDITIONAL ELECTRICITY WAS NOT SUPPLIED
Scenario description and
results
Scenario 1 Scenario 2 Scenario 3
1 m fall in water
level
5 m fall in water
level
10 m fall in
water level
Increased demand for
electricity to irrigate same
amount of groundwater
irrigated land as in 2010 (in
MU) 339.2 1696.0 3392.0
Loss in GVOUP if that
additional amount of
electricity is not supplied to
agriculture (in Rs. Crores)* 168.3 841.3 1682.6

9. Water for a food-secure worldWater for a food-secure world
1.4 ObjectivesYield gap of food grains in
rainfed dominated districts, India
Distribution of districts
according to percentage
gap between maximum
and prevailing yield of
food grains in rainfed
districts of India
Yield
gap, %
Number of
districts, and
(%)
>75 25 (16)
50-75 86 (57)
25-50 30 (20)
<25 10 (7)
Total 151
Source: Amarasinghe et al., IWMI

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Water for a food-secure world
The lack of inputs , in
particular WATER and
nutrients is considered to
be the conspicuous
explanation for the
continuing large yield gaps.
For Indian agricultural production,
the single most effective supply side
constraint is that irrigation coverage
still extends to only about 44 per cent
of net sown area. Almost 80 million ha
or 56 % of net sown area are
dependent on rainfall.

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Water for a food-secure world
So, How can India
Expand Irrigation
and Where?

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Water for a food-secure world
National River Linking Project (NRLP)
• Transfer water from
northern and eastern
basins to water scarce
south and west
• Mitigate floods in the east
• Generate hydropower
• Navigation etc.
• Transfer about 178 Bm3
of waterLargest inter-
basin water
transfer
planned to
date

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Water for a food-secure world
Some contentious issues on NRLP
1. Do donor basins have surplus water?
2. How large is India’s food/irrigation/water demand?
3. How cost effective is water transfers for canal irrigation?
4. Have alternative water management options received
adequate attention?
5. What conditions will make India to have NRLP like inter-
basin water transfer, sooner than later?

14. New approaches to rehabilitate and adapt
• For example, encourage
distributed storage to improve
system flexibility and reliability
e.g. Rajasthan: farm-storages;
Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra
Pradesh: village tanks
replenished by canal water
• Modernize irrigation systems
e.g. pressurized systems
• Transition from ‘development’
to ‘management.’

15. Improved Groundwater Management –
two contrasting cases from Indian states
1. Gujarat - ‘free’ electricity
encouraged groundwater
overuse
2. West Bengal– barriers to
access

16. Jyotigram in Gujarat – separate feeders
• Pragmatic solution - separation of
electricity supply to villages and pumps
• Outcome - reduced electricity use, less
groundwater use, improved power
supply to domestic users
Tushaar Shah, IWMI

18. West Bengal – easing regulatory and
pricing barriers
• Agricultural growth in West Bengal
had slumped by more than half
• Research identified that a major
obstacle to agricultural
productivity was getting access to
groundwater
• New policies recommended by
IWMI were adopted to reduce
‘red-tape’ and improve
groundwater access for
smallholder farmers.
• The policy change could benefit
more than 5.6 million smallholders

19. Ganges Aquifer Management for Environmental and
Social outcomes (GAMES)
Salient features of the Ganges
• Large surface runoff ( ~525 km3)
80-85% during the monsoon
• Low surface water storage potential
(~115 km3)
 55 Km3 (~10%) is built by now
• Recurrent floods and droughts
• Large agriculturally dependent
livelihoods
 655 million total population
 ~75% are in rural areas
• And increasing water demand
50% of the demand from GW
Will increase by 50 km3 by 2025
• Low flows in the dry season and
severe water quality issues
Solution
• Manage the vast Ganges aquifer with an extent of one Million km2
• Increase GW potential of about 170 km3

20. GAMES-3S (2 year project 2014-2015)
Objective
• Augment dry season water supply for irrigation
and other uses
• Increasing river flows in the dry season
• Mitigate severe floods/impacts in the
downstream
Project Strategy
• Create sub-surface storage by pumping
additional groundwater before
monsoon from suitable locations
• Fill the sub-surface storage using
normal or artificially distributed
recharge mechanisms during the
monsoon
Pumping
Water table
Recharge Recharge
Recharge
Riverleakage
Unconfined
Confined
Unconfinedaquifer
Induced recharge
InfiltrationInfiltration
Well dischargeWell discharge
Static water levelStatic water level

21. Underground Taming of Floods for Irrigation (UTFI)
Source: Pavelic 2012

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A water-secure world
Solarise Off-grid Pump Irrigation: This is now affordable with the
available subsidies and has made a good headway in Rajasthan,
Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and to a lesser extent in Bihar
Each 3,000 wp system
saves its owner Rs 45-
65,000 worth of diesel,
besides increasing land
and water productivity
and crop quality. It also
helps to diversify.
Most owners were very
happy with their PV
pumps.

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Water for a food-secure world
Enhancing Irrigation in Rainfed agriculture
• Rainfed area
– 60% of the total area
– contribute to 40% of the total
production
• Supplementary irrigation can help 25
Million ha of rain fed lands
• They have 114 Bm3 of surface runoff
• Water harvest a fraction of it for
supplementary irrigation
• Reduce the effect of midseason and
terminal droughts in rainfed areas
• These alone can double the yield in
those areas

24. Spatial distribution of surplus runoff (ha-m)
across dominant rainfed districts and river
basins of India.
Crop Area, M Ha Surplus
runoff, BM3
Rice 6.3 41.2
Coarse
Cereals
7.5 20.6
Cotton 3.2 7.6
Oilseeds 6.3 24.2
Pulses 5.3 20.44
G Total 28.6 114.0

25. Net benefits from WH and supplemental irrigation
Crop Annul cost, B Rs. Net benefits, B Rs.
Rice 11.71 8.52
C. Cereals 13.88 3.66
Cotton 5.88 8.27
Oilseeds 10.52 24.44
Pulses 8.93 49.51
Grand total 50.91 94.40
The proposition makes a good economic sense to invest
in rainwater harvesting- to start with in the
dominant rainfed districts.

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Water for a food-secure world
Successful regional models include:
Sardar Patel Participatory Water Conservation
Project: Drought-proofed 320,000 ha, enhanced
recharge by 300 Mm3, augment farm income by 30
percent and played big part in agrarian resurgence.
Rewa Sagar Bhagirth Farmers Movement: More than
4,000 water tanks to conserve monsoon water, non-
rainy season cultivated area increased from 23 to 95
percent, milk production increased by 34 per cent-
real increase in both crop yields and incomes.

27. In most cities in sub-Saharan Africa, S. Asia and SE Asia, population growth has
outpaced the development of sanitation infrastructure, making the management
of urban waste, human excreta and wastewater ineffective. Investment in
treatment will not catch up for decades.
Waste – converting challenge to opportunity

28. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Diluted
wastewater
or polluted
water
Untreated
wastewater
Groundwater Treated
wastewater
River Other
surface
water bodies
Rainfed Irrigation
canal
Open
drainage
Numberofcities
Source: IWMI, RR 127
Global survey of irrigation source in urban and peri-urban areas:
In and around three of four cities in the developing world, farmers use
polluted irrigation water for the production of high-value crops

29. Waste to fertilizer – closing the nutrient loop
Co-composting

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A water-secure world
In Summary….
• Shift India’s rice-wheat system eastward.
• Use MAR; and solar energy to reduce energy
footprint of groundwater irrigation.
• Improve ‘management’ of public irrigation
systems.
• Innovative agwater solutions for rainfed
systems.
• Use RRR for cleaner cities and rivers and to
close the nutrient loop.
• Enable “Small Farmers Smart Farmers”.

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Water for a food-secure world
b.sharma@cgiar.org
Thanks for your kind attention