Sustainable Technologies and Water-Efficient Agriculture: Reshaping Agriculture in South Asia
Agriculture plays a crucial role in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP), especially for smallholder farmers. This region, known for its fertile soil and high agricultural productivity potential, heavily relies on irrigation to support crop cultivation throughout the year (Urfels et al.,2023). This intricate blend of agricultural necessity and dependency on resources has spurred the emergence of international projects that drive sustainable technology innovation. These projects aim to revolutionize agricultural practices, while promoting alternative technologies that tend to minimise irrigation needs. Research organizations like CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre), through initiatives such as CSISA[1], NSAF[2], TAFSSA[3], and RUPANTAR[4], are making remarkable strides, particularly in the EGP. However, before diving into project implementation, it's crucial to understand the current livelihood issues and constraints that smallholder farmers face in this region.
Unveiling the Challenges: Access to Resources
The agricultural communities of the EGP have long relied on a delicate balance of resource access and cultural norms that shape their farming systems. The sustainable development of water resources has emerged as a critical issue, with patterns of underuse and overuse varying by location. In this region, the effective and balanced utilization of water resources is critical, and yet presents a significant challenge. With variable water access becoming a pressing concern, technology-driven adaptations that aim to reduce water consumption while maintaining agricultural productivity have become imperative.
International projects led by organizations like CIMMYT have emerged as catalysts for change. They envision a future where technology and sustainable agricultural practices converge to offer solutions for water-efficient farming systems to tackle the challenges of resource scarcity, climate change, and socio-economic disparities. These projects, each with a specific focus and approach, collectively aim to revolutionize the way agriculture operates in the region, and for this to happen needs sustainable development of water resources both in access and use.
In South Asia, water use in agriculture faces increasing pressure due to limited water resources, particularly during the dry winter season. Groundwater abstraction has been crucial in maintaining agricultural productivity, with India being the world’s largest user of groundwater, accounting for 60% of its agricultural water use (Mainuddin et al.,2021). Similarly, Bangladesh relies heavily on groundwater, which irrigates 79% of its dry-season crops (Mainuddin et al.,2021). The practice of keeping fields continuously flooded during the growing season results in inefficient water use, further exacerbating the region's water challenges. Therefore, there is an urgent need for adopting water-saving measures, improving water use efficiency, and shifting to more sustainable agricultural practices to reduce water consumption and prevent further depletion of groundwater resources (Mainuddin et al.,2021).
The Complex Nexus: Farm electrification, water access and diversification
Before embarking on transformative technologies, it's essential to understand the issues that smallholder farmers currently face. In a bid to address irrigation challenges, governments across the EGP have promoted groundwater and surface water irrigation through pump subsidies and low agricultural electricity rates. However, despite these efforts, electrification – a fundamental aspect of water management where groundwater is used – remains unevenly distributed.
Through our extensive interactions with smallholder farmers, they have highlighted their heavy reliance on rainwater for irrigation. During the Rabi season, it was observed that many farmers turned to shallow electric pumps or diesel pumps. While electric pumps are cost-effective compared to diesel fuel, they currently pose additional challenges. One critical issue was the limited access to sub-meters for agricultural electrification in their fields. Non-agricultural electricity supply proved to be prohibitively expensive if used for agricultural purposes, and not all farmers had access to agricultural sub-meters for deploying electric pumps in their fields. This access to sub-meters plays a pivotal role in determining cropping cycles, enhancing agricultural productivity, and addressing the challenges related to livelihood resources. In the context of irrigation, fuel pumps powered by diesel have long been a common sight. However, these pumps come with significant economic and environmental costs due to high diesel prices and carbon emissions. Conversely, electric pumps, while potentially more economical and sustainable, face limitations in terms of accessibility to economical electricity costs. Even among farmers who have access to farm electrification, voltage fluctuations force them to operate pumps for longer durations, ultimately increasing costs. Therefore, having a sub-meter in the field alone does not alleviate these challenges. These issues are of utmost importance when considering farmers' adoption behavior and their opportunities for diversifying their livelihoods in the EGP.
Mukherji et al., (2020) examines the limited impact of increased electric pump connections on agricultural outcomes in Cooch Behar, despite over 216,000 new electric pump connections being added between 2011 and 2019. Several hypotheses are put forward by Mukherji et al., (2020) to explain this phenomenon. One possible explanation for the limited agricultural impact is that many new electric pumps merely replaced temporary connections or diesel pumps, rather than adding to the overall stock of pumps. This shift reduced costs for farmers but did not lead to significant changes in cropping patterns or overall agricultural outcomes. Additionally, while water buyers may have become electric pump owners after the policy reforms, this did not result in much new land being brought under irrigation. Instead, the reforms mainly reduced the costs and increased the reliability of irrigation for existing farmers. Furthermore, the net sown area and cropping intensity in West Bengal have remained relatively constant over the years, limiting the scope for expanding irrigated agriculture. Even with improved access to electric pumps, these factors have not led to an increase in cultivated or irrigated areas. Furthermore, rising electricity tariffs and the increasing costs of inputs like fertilizers and seeds have squeezed farmers’ profit margins, particularly for those cultivating Boro paddy. Despite the reduced costs of irrigation, stagnant paddy prices over the years have diminished the financial benefits for farmers, further limiting the overall impact of the increased number of electric pumps on agricultural productivity.
The Policy Environment
The policy environment surrounding the changing energy-irrigation nexus in the EGP is critical to achieving sustainable agricultural outcomes in the region. After a period of stagnation, agricultural production in West Bengal surged in the 1980s, largely due to groundwater irrigation expansion, but since the early 1990s, growth slowed significantly, with prior studies like Modak (2021) attributing the deceleration to regulatory policies that directly restricted tubewell installations and electrification, and indirectly imposed high electricity prices for agricultural water use. Despite a significant rise in rice cultivation in the 1980s (Sarkar 2020; Rawal 2001) driven by shallow-tube wells, West Bengal's liberalized tubewell permit policy failed to fully tap into groundwater irrigation potential, as rising electricity tariffs hindered major irrigation expansion (Sarkar 2020). To sustain its status as a leading rice-growing state and relieve pressure from groundwater-depleted northwestern India, Bengal needs an appropriate power policy and better procurement infrastructure to ensure improved farm incomes for rice farmers. Similarly in Nepal, despite decades of investment and institutional improvements, irrigation projects have continued to show low performance (Clement et al.,2012).
Electrification of irrigation has the potential to lower costs, improve access to water, and boost agricultural productivity. However, policymakers must address several challenges to ensure that these benefits are equitably distributed. Currently, there is a notable gap in pump ownership, with larger landholders being more likely to own electric pumps, while smallholder farmers, especially women, rely heavily on rental markets. The lack of competitive water markets further exacerbates inequality, as many pump owners in the EGP do not rent their pumps to other farmers, leading to inefficient resource utilization. In West Bengal, where electricity and diesel are unsubsidised, electric pumps are cheaper than diesel pumps for irrigation, and electric-pump owners not only have greater water access and higher rice production in both monsoon and winter seasons compared to diesel-pump owners and water buyers, but they also serve more clients through water sales, though with only a small difference in total irrigated areas, indicating that electric pumps can boost agricultural output and benefit smaller landholders, thus supporting agricultural growth and creating pro-poor effects in regions with inadequate irrigation (Buisson et al., 2021).
The Path Forward: Bridging Gaps and Fostering Change
Projects like RUPANTAR recognize the intricate interplay between resource access, farm electrification, and agricultural sustainability and diversification. Rupantar aims to empower farmers through a participatory approach, involving farmers in various ways. This includes soliciting their input through extensive baseline surveys, and interviews, facilitating focus group discussions (FGDs), and employing a Road-mapping[5] approach to make decisions in collaboration with relevant stakeholders of the region. By involving farmers in shaping the solutions that directly impact their lives, RUPANTAR ensures that the initiatives are needs-based and well-suited to local contexts.
The transition to agricultural technologies that reduce the need for irrigation, for instance, Conservation Agriculture[6] or low water use crop options, offer a profound opportunity for change. The integration and widespread implementation of such technologies have the potential to bring about a transformative change in water management and irrigation. Nevertheless, for this transformation to become a reality, it is crucial to tackle the issues related to farm electrification and ensure that farmers receive the required infrastructure.
Equally significant is the role of government policies in providing support to farmers. To promote equitable access, policies should focus on expanding the rural electricity grid, particularly in underserved areas, and providing subsidies or low-interest loans to smallholder farmers and women. Additionally, developing competitive water markets by supporting near-landless farmers to invest in pumps could enhance market efficiency. Sustainable water use is also a key concern, as expanding access to groundwater through electrification may lead to overexploitation. Therefore, policies must include monitoring and regulating groundwater levels to prevent long-term resource depletion. Encouraging the adoption of solar-powered pumps, although currently limited, could offer a sustainable solution if barriers like high upfront costs are addressed through financial incentives. However, extensive use of solar pumps may come with its own dangers as it is difficult to regulate their use, and hence control the amount of water that can be extracted at a large scale.
As international projects continue to make strides in reshaping agriculture, bridging the gaps in electrification for irrigation use becomes paramount. Governments, organizations, and communities must collaborate to extend reliable electricity to all corners of the Eastern Gangetic Plains. This holistic approach will not only enable water-efficient agricultural practices but also uplift the socio-economic landscape of the region.
[1] https://csisa.org/
[2] https://www.cimmyt.org/projects/nsaf/
[3] https://www.cgiar.org/initiative/transforming-agrifood-systems-in-south-asia-tafssa/
[4] https://www.cimmyt.org/projects/rupantar/
[4] https://www.aciar.gov.au/sites/default/files/2021-09/final-report-WAC-2018-220.pdf
[6] https://www.fao.org/conservation-agriculture/en/
References:
· Buisson, M.-C., Balasubramanya, S., & Stifel, D. (2021). Electric Pumps, Groundwater, Agriculture and Water Buyers: Evidence from West Bengal. The Journal of Development Studies, 57(11), 1893–1911. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2021.1906862
· Clement, F., Banset, G., & Bharati, L. (2012). Rethinking Development Models and Irrigation Projects in Nepal. Hydro Nepal: Journal of Water, Energy and Environment, 112–120. https://doi.org/10.3126/hn.v11i1.7226
· Mainuddin, M., Mojid, M. A., Scobie, M., Gaydon, D., Kirby, M., Janardhanan, S., Pena-Arancibia, J., Kumar, S., Davies, P., Schmidt, E., Singh, S., & Penton, D. (2021). The regional hydrological impact of farm-scale water saving measures in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (CSIRO LAND AND WATER) [ACIAR SRA project WAC 2019 104]. CSIRO.
· Modak, T. S. (2021). Groundwater policies and irrigation development: A study of West Bengal, India, 1980–2016. Water International, 46(4), 505–523. https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2021.1922970
· Mukherji, A., Buisson, M.-C., Mitra, A., Banerjee, P. S., & Chowdhury, S. D. (2020). Does increased access to groundwater irrigation through electricity reforms affect agricultural and groundwater outcomes? Evidence from West Bengal, India (Final Project Report Submitted to the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) No. WAC/2019/151). International Water Management Institute. https://research.aciar.gov.au/sdip/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/ACIAR+SDIP+IWMI+WB+Final+Report.pdf
· Sarkar, A. (2020). Groundwater irrigation and farm power policies in Punjab and West Bengal: Challenges and opportunities. Energy Policy, 140, 111437. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111437
· Urfels, A., Mausch, K., Harris, D., McDonald, A. J., Kishore, A., Balwinder-Singh, Van Halsema, G., Struik, P. C., Craufurd, P., Foster, T., Singh, V., & Krupnik, T. J. (2023). Farm size limits agriculture’s poverty reduction potential in Eastern India even with irrigation-led intensification. Agricultural Systems, 207, 103618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2023.103618