Study finds potential way to mitigate groundwater depletion risk in India
Transporting agricultural products, Madhya Pradesh, India (Kevin Krajic/Institute)
Groundwater depletion in areas where India grows food for public distribution is a huge challenge for the country of 1.4 billion people. A new study identifies specific adjustments to the Indian government’s procurement and distribution system that could correct the problem, particularly in irrigation systems that use subsidized electricity to pump groundwater. Such irrigation has long been seen as vital to India’s food security goals.
“Indian farmers are heavily subsidized for their electricity, so they have no incentive to conserve water,” says the lead author Naresh DeveniniCUNY Civil Engineers and Affiliates Columbia Water Center. “Instead, they’re trying to maximize production at the expense of groundwater. That’s not sustainable.”
The study was published in the June issue Nature Communications.
Using more than 100 years of daily climate data, along with economics, crop yields and other relevant variables, the researchers demonstrate that crop income can be optimized by changing where crops are grown and sourced. The study also found that government procurement targets could be achieved without irrigation. This, in turn, can increase farm income while preventing groundwater depletion. The study also said that more sustainable irrigation practices could increase average farm incomes by 30 percent.
Groundwater pumping in Madhya Pradesh, India. (Kevin Krajic/Earth Institute)
In addition, the study notes that reducing electricity subsidies in groundwater-depleted areas may help reduce the need to redistribute agricultural income, which remains a major obstacle to the political changes needed to change the procurement system.
“This is not the end of the study,” Devenini said. “We can now start a conversation with policymakers to see if the model in the paper can be modified with the newly proposed solution. We have shown that this solution works, but we have more work to do.”
The study provides a new perspective that could help recalibrate and increase crop yields in India and elsewhere, the authors say.
“This topic should be of broad interest,” said co-author Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center. “Our paper shows how to address climate change.”
Adapted from a press release from The City College of New York.
