Irritation

About 80% of the withdrawal of water in India in the agriculture sector. Every year, 688 billion cubic meters of water is consumed by the farm area, which is the highest in the world. Irrigation is an indispensable input to increase agricultural production. File | Photo Credit: Hindu

HeyMarch 13, 2025, 2020 Youth Farmers Award recipient from Maharashtra, Kailash Arjun Nagare died of suicide, citing demands for irrigation. While India reports the highest water use in agriculture globally, access to water remains a controversial issue for irrigation. Nagare’s death indicates inequality in distribution, with policies determining the shape of social inequalities, water governance, and allocation. The problem of water scarcity in India is such a versatile, which reflects co-existence of real physical deficiency with economic deficiency due to uneven access and management.

Unstable expansion

About 80% of the withdrawal of water in India in the agriculture sector. Every year, 688 billion cubic meters of water is consumed by the farm area, which is the highest in the world. Irrigation is an indispensable input to increase agricultural production. However, its expansion has been highly unstable. Most of the area under water-water crops like rice, wheat, and sugarcane is currently in the country’s water ghats and sub-tropical belts. According to a study published in Nature Water (2024), India had 36% of the global unstable irrigation expansion alone which took place between 2000 and 2015 with environment and socio-economic implications.

Even irrigation has been proved to run economic prosperity, various studies have stated that uneven progression has reinforced existing inequalities between the states and within. Given that groundwater is a major water source for irrigation in India, the existence of well -working water markets is important in determining property rights, energy pricing policy, and water access to the fields. Accordingly, while the canal, tanks and well -irrigated systems have declined inequality, this tube has increased in a well irrigated system. Groups of margins, especially women, are also affected by the lack of water tables with climate change and increasing inequality.

The environment and financial results of aggressive groundwater extraction are also deepening. Due to excess extraction, about 17% of India’s groundwater assessment units are considered ‘over-exploitation’, while 3.9% are in ‘significant’ positions. Intense pumping resulted in large -scale energy consumption, resulting in excessive carbon emissions. According to the latest data, 45.3–62.3 MMT annual carbon emissions are attributed to groundwater irrigation, which is 8–11% of India’s total carbon emissions.

Operating efficiency and water use efficiency are also making sub-amazing in Indian agriculture. While the irrigation system in India reports an operational efficiency of 38%, it is 55%in developed countries. Coupled with wrong crop patterns and disabled water use practices, irrigation water productivity (IWP) also remains low in the country’s major irrigation belts. For example, Punjab, which claims the highest land productivity in rice, is one of the lowest IWPS for the crop. Similarly, in sugarcane, Tamil Nadu records the highest land productivity, with IWP low. In addition to wastage of water, adoption of non-existent water management practices is also happening along with other negative externality such as high GHG emissions. For example, with a continuous flood of rice as major water management exercises, paddy is the largest contributor to rice global cropland emissions.

Considering the over-exploitation of groundwater resources, efforts to improve the country’s irrigation system, keeping the water scarcity and adjacent to the environmental outsiders, should be made on efficient water-saving technologies, improvement of irrigation efficiency and alternative sources of irrigation.

Ahead

While changes in cropping patterns and groundwater use rules through policy decisions should also be targeted moderately and long -term, prioritizing irrigation technologies and practices based on sustainable intensity. Better irrigation efficiency aims to be made through the conversion of irrigation systems and improving applications efficiency. In geography where water drainage and GHG emissions have been the highest, alternative water management technologies such as alternative wet and drying, resulting in significant water saving and can be reduced, can be popular. Similarly, micro-irrigation systems such as drip irrigation, minimum application with loss, can be popular in crops such as sugarcane. Solar-operated irrigation with micro-irrigation systems and/or promoting bundling solar pumps are another promising option. However, as the marginal cost of pumping is zero, it should not increase the lack of groundwater and it should be regulated through initiatives such as a reassured grid connection offering economic incentives for efficient use. Rainfall harvesting structures and tail water storage pits can be popularized as complementary irrigation sources. Since traditional supply-based mechanisms do not necessarily promote equal distribution of irrigation water, participation should be widely promoted to introduce the demand-driven allocation systems run by irrigation management structures.

Lisa Maryam Verkey, Senior Specialist, Social-Educational, International Rice Research Institute