A research regarding the agricultural sector was conducted by a team of researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, University of Delaware, Columbia University and Yale School of the Environment, which has been published in the journal Nature Water. The study was conducted in the northern plains of India, Specifically focused on water consumption and sustainable agriculture in the Indo-Gangetic region. The study focused on 124 districts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, covering the upper, middle and lower Ganges basin/region in India.
Key Points of Study
Water conservation through crop rotation
- Cultivation of millet and sorghum in place of rice during the Kharif season and sorghum instead of wheat in the Rabi season can reduce water consumption in the Ganga plains by 32%. Also, farmers’ profits can be increased up to 140%.
Additional benefits of water conservation
- Crop switching can save up to 55% water in Kharif season and 9% water in Rabi season.
- Farmers’ profits can be increased by 139% during Kharif season and by 152% during Rabi season.
- Calorie production can increase by 39%.
Crop Rotation vs Drip Irrigation System
- Researchers compared the benefits of crop rotation with improvements in irrigation efficiency and found that crop rotation performed better than drip irrigation systems in terms of alleviating groundwater depletion and increasing energy savings.
- Drip irrigation improves net groundwater recharge by 34%, while crop rotation improves it by 41%.
- The use of drip irrigation system alone does not significantly increase a farmer’s profits.
- The combined use of crop rotation and drip irrigation system can improve the net recharge rate at the district level the most and can reduce the problem of groundwater depletion by 78%.
Multi-objective approach
- It is necessary to adopt a multi-objective approach to strike a balance between water conservation, quality crop production and increasing farmers’ income.
- The single-centric approach has some limitations and conditions. For example, prioritizing water conservation alone may increase savings by 4%, but this comes at the expense of many other things; Calorie production drops by 23% and profits by 126% compared to the suggested alternatives.
- Similarly, the approach of getting the maximum benefit may slightly increase water savings but may also adversely affect calorie production.
- Profits can be increased by up to 58% by cultivating the most profitable crop – sorghum – due to high minimum support price and low cost of cultivation. This benefit comes with some limitations: a significant 18.5% reduction in calorie production, a modest 2% increase in water savings.
Nutritious grains for better nutrition
- Cultivation of nutritious grains like jowar and millet provides better nutrition.
- Cultivation of nutritious grains can increase protein production by 46%, increase iron production by 353% and increase zinc production by 82%, providing nutritional benefits to consumers.