MUMBAI, 16 June 2020: With growing population and usage of water increasing in agriculture, time has come to smartly use water for increasing food production, feed growing population in the country as well feed other countries that cannot produce much to feed its population.

To understand this, AgriTimes spoke with Director & CEO of Ambuja Cement Foundation Pearl Tiwari which is working with farmers across the country and helping farmers to use drip, sprinklers to increase output and also help environment.

Below are the excerpts...

What is the main reason behind water scarcity in India?

India’s water crisis is complex and can be attributed to the culmination of a variety of issues – a growing population and rapid urbanisation which increases water demand, whilst factors like climate change and pollution are reducing water supply.  However one of the major causes of the crisis lies deep within the Agricultural industry where inefficient flood irrigation sees vast amounts of water wasted in this outdated technique.

Presently, there are over 2.3 crore pumps in India drawing water for agriculture, with 70 percent of all groundwater (and 80 percent of freshwater in India), being used for inefficient flood irrigation and other irrigation purposes. Flood irrigation delivers only 35-40 percent water use efficiency, as opposed to micro irrigation which has up to 90 percent efficiency. 

Unfortunately the coverage of drip (2.13 percent) and sprinkler (3.30 percent) methods of irrigation is very meagre compared to its total potential in India which is estimated to be 21.01 million hectares for drip and 50.22 million hectares of sprinkler irrigation.

With a lack of laws and measures in place to regulate water usage, and in many cases, unrestricted access to subsidized electricity by the government to pump water around the clock most farmers rely on traditional methods of flood irrigation to grow their crops.

In many areas the Government provides farmers with free or subsidised power to pump water, which does not promote the judicious use of water among farmers. In these areas, it is difficult to incentivise farmers to convert to more efficient methods of irrigation such as micro irrigation. 

Flood irrigation does not only affect groundwater levels, it impacts crop productivity too – and so farmers suffer 4 types of losses from this outdated irrigation practice;

• Overuse of limited water,
• Reduction in crop productivity,
• Increased cost of crop cultivation and use of fertiliser, and
• Limited irrigation area.

What are some of the steps that farmers can take to curb this issue?

India needs to increase its overall agriculture production to feed its growing population and increase the farm incomes and livelihood of farmers. As we know, the agriculture sector is still the largest employer of people in the country.

One of the key ways to boost overall agricultural production is to implement better soil-water management techniques that would provide the arid and semi-arid lands with better access to irrigation water, without actually increasing the stress on available water resources. This can be achieved by embracing the following:

• Farmers adopt efficient water management technologies (like micro irrigation);
• Farmer participation in irrigation management which will control water losses and bring more equitable distribution;
• Revival of traditional water bodies which are more suited to local geohydrology and need less external material and skills;
• Farmers adopt soil moisture conservation especially in rainfed areas, to increase productivity and employment;
• Farmers implement appropriate cropping patterns – placing increased focus on low water demanding crops in water scarce areas. For example, there are many water stressed areas in Maharashtra where farmers are still cultivating sugarcane – one of the highest consuming crops of water.   

Can you throw some light on micro irrigation and its benefits? 

The adoption of micro irrigation by farmers provides a clear solution that not only drastically curbs water usage, but also delivers other benefits to farmers like improved yields, cost savings and higher profits.  Micro-irrigation is the slow application of water via discrete or continuous drips, tiny streams or miniature sprays on, above, or below the soil by surface drip, subsurface drip, bubbler or micro-sprinkler systems, and has successfully been harnessed by countries like Israel in turning around their national water crisis.

Recognising the potential of micro irrigation to curb the country’s water crisis, the Government of India launched a comprehensive flagship programme called, ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana’ more specifically, the ‘Per Drop More Crop’ component of the scheme focuses on micro irrigation systems that promote precision farming by making water available in a targeted manner to the root zone of crops.

There is a need however; to support farmers and help them tap into the Government aided Micro Irrigation or Per Drop More Crop Schemes which provides a subsidy of up to 60 percent of the total cost, which varies from state to state - enabling them to avail Government Assistance as per eligibility and prevailing scheme norms. 

Despite this subsidy, farmers are still required to invest the remaining 40 percent or more, which equates to a significant amount as their own contribution. One way to support farmers in this investment is the set-up of a ‘revolving fund’ for loans so that farmers can meet the set farmer contribution. This has proven to be an effective model to help farmers make the ‘leap’ from flood to micro irrigation, and ACF has collaborated with the likes of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to help establish revolving funds to support farmers in this way.

With drip irrigation being up to 90 percent more efficient than flood irrigation, water is conserved and optimised, and by being able to control, quite precisely, water application at the plant roots, crop yield is increased, resulting in an increase in profits.  There is also a reduced cost of cultivation for farmers who make cost savings - saving electricity thanks to reduced pumping, reducing the use of seeds via line seeding vs broad seeding, and reducing the costs of weed control.  Additionally, a micro irrigation system is permanently fixed which means less investment in labour for watering of crops.

Research highlights that the slow spread of Micro Irrigation is not mainly due to economic reasons, but due to a lack of awareness among the farmers about the real economic and revenue-related benefits of it. Therefore engagement of farmers is crucial.

Therefore, the success of micro irrigation lies in the adequate education and support of farmers as they implement it, to ensure they reap the benefits of the investment - for micro irrigation holds many benefits for both farmers and the country.  And the benefits to farmers are clear. 

Micro-irrigation is a proven technology whereby Farmers have been able to:

• Save irrigation water from 20 to 48 per cent;
• Energy saving from 10 to 17 per cent;
• Saving of labour cost from 30 to 40 per cent;
• Saving of fertilizers from 11 to 19 per cent and
• Increase in crop production from 20 to 38 per cent.

Experience highlights that if farmers actively participate in water management there is a marked improvement in water utilisation efficiency. Cooperation between farmers is also found to increase and water related disputes are minimised. 

A key factor for success in this area lies in the formation of Farmer Learner Groups where farmers are clubbed together for education, knowledge dissemination and exposure visits, and support and learn from one another in their journey.

Could you explain the current state of water in rural Maharashtra as compared to other states like Punjab

In Maharashtra, the agricultural sector is the highest user of freshwater, withdrawing more than 80 percent of the water (blue water) available to the state. Whilst the contribution of agriculture to economic growth in the state is only 11 percent, the reality is that agricultural growth is critical for Maharashtra to improve the lives of its population, as about 50 percent of the state’s population depends on the agricultural sector as their primary source of livelihood.

Despite substantial investment made in the irrigation sector over the last six decades since independence, approximately 80 percent of the agricultural land remains outside of formal irrigation systems provided by the state.

Therefore the scope for investment in, and harnessing micro irrigation, in a state like Maharashtra is vast and has great potential to impact the water scenario of the state.

The situation in Punjab is quite different, where abundant groundwater along with free electricity supplied by the Government mean that farmers can pump water around the clock to flood irrigate their fields.  Here, whilst flood irrigation is prominent and widespread, the incentive to convert to water saving micro irrigation is hampered and there is a need to demonstrate to farmers the other benefits and cost savings of investing in micro irrigation to boost yield, minimise input costs and ultimately enhance profits. 

As we can see in the below table Maharashtra has only 19 percent irrigated area of new sown or cultivated area whereas Punjab has almost 100 percent.  The Unit of Area is a thousand hectares in the table below.

Source _ PMKSY Guidelines 2017,

Why do you think the best methods of agricultural techniques are not being used? 

Many methods could help address this situation but are currently not being adopted by farmers due to the following reasons:

• Lack of awareness and education on techniques;
• Inability to source capital to invest in techniques;
• Low return of agriculture produce or lack of access to right market;
• Poor services for repair & maintenance after installation of micro irrigation systems.

One message you would like to share with the agriculture community 

Ambuja Cement Foundation has found that a multipronged and collaborative approach to tackling large scale water problems, is the solution to the looming crisis India faces. 

By taking this approach, we have successfully pushed salinity back to the coastline in large tracts of coastal Gujarat with a population of over 200,000 - working in partnership with Government, civil society and communities to tackle the complex water issue.

The multipronged approach should focus both on the harvesting of water by farmers (on their farms and at their homes), whilst simultaneously ensuring water use efficiency - by educating and guiding farmers to adopt micro irrigation which holds such potential for tackling the country’s water crisis.