Rice and water

Dr.Anuradha Saha and Dr.Vijay Bharti
Lifeblood for billions of people, rice is a way of life and is deeply involved  in our cultures, rituals and myths. A staple food for more than half of the world’s population, rice is significant for food security in low-income and food deficit countries. In Asia alone, more than 2000 million people obtain 60 to 70 percent of their calories from rice and its products. It would not be wrong if we say- Rice is a global food grain. Rice is the only cereal that can tolerate water submergence. Rice production today faces serious problems, including depleted or depleting water resources. In India, the ‘Green Revolution’ has no doubt significantly raised the productivity of  rice but this achievement has resulted in a situation where costs have been disproportionately rising mainly due to the increased use of resources, be it- water, fertiliser or agrochemicals. We can say the ‘Revolution’ has given way to technology that thirsts for enormous amounts of water. Expansion of rice cultivation is linked to availability of water. Rice cultivation expanded to many areas due to growing infrastructure such as dams, canals etc. facilitating irrigation. Modern methods of rice cultivation require irrigation, which implies dependence on large quantities of surface and ground water. Due to water scarcity, rice cultivation is becoming unaffordable and unpredictable in many areas across the world. Rice production is declining, instead of increasing, in several areas across the globe, not only by paucity of land for cultivation , but also by water shortages . Scarcity of water is more common in areas where the conventional water-intensive methods of irrigation are followed. Worldwide, rice cultivation absorbs 85 per cent of all irrigation water. In Asia, about 84 per cent of water withdrawal is for agriculture, used mostly in flooded rice irrigation. Rice cropping today accounts for about 45 per cent of irrigated areas. Most of the rice cultivation in major rice producing countries is in irrigated areas. Water scarcity will have a significant impact on agriculture and shortage  for agricultural production has already become a major problem in some countries. In the world’s ‘rice bowls’ – China and India -the scarcity of water is acute with rising demands on fresh water sources triggering conflicts.Various studies and estimates have concluded that demand for rice to increase by about 38 percent by 2040. With water supplies available for agriculture reducing, it is quite clear that a substantial increase in water inputs for boosting rice production to the desired level would compromise human needs, economic growth or ecosystem integrity. Compromising the other needs and disrupting hydrological cycles in various countries is like ‘killing the goose that lays the golden egg’, since water will become more and more precious in the years ahead.  The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Report in 1999 have indicated that India and China are approaching the limit of water scarcity. The International Water Management Institute (IWMI) mentions in one of  the reports that  India is already experiencing “physical water scarcity”. Experts have estimated that by 2025 the gap between supply of, and demand for, water for irrigation in India will be 21 billion cubic meters (BCM). Apart from that several micro and macro level factors such as improper management of water resources, traditional farm management, poor crop husbandry, poor infrastructure and  capital development without proper planning is already hampering agriculture in India. Now, question rises from where  the water for this required increase going to come from? Expanded rice production, particularly irrigated rice, is and will be at centrestage  in reducing hunger and improving nutrition levels in India and worldwide. But, this can happen only if water is used more productively in the irrigated rice sector. To achieve-” more crop per drop”, better management of natural resources particularly water is critical for addressing both production and productivity issues. India needs to increase rice production almost by 2.5 million tonnes a year in order to meet its requirements in 2050. Irrigation area in India cannot be expanded to a level that can match production goals as there is paucity of additional land and water that can be mobilised. In order to address water crisis, the governments need to revisit their policies regarding supply-side water management. Providing water almost free when demand for irrigation is increasing will make system unsustainable as there is a lot of wastage of water. Large saving in water can be achieved if governments invest in improved irrigation service delivery in major irrigation schemes which should be reliable and well controlled. Investments are required for better design and management of canals, field channels and drains. Resources will have to be mobilised by providing more staff to support water allocation and delivery. Training programmes for popularising the new water saving rice methods will have to be scaled up. Water user associations need to be strengthened and streamlined for better water management.These are the ways if implemented can increase rice production to meet foodgrains demand in future.

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