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Solving groundwater depletion in India while achieving food security

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Listed:
  • Naresh Devineni

    (City University of New York (City College)
    Columbia University)

  • Shama Perveen

    (Ceres)

  • Upmanu Lall

    (Columbia University
    Columbia University)

Abstract

Significant groundwater depletion in regions where grains are procured for public distribution is a primary sustainability challenge in India. We identify specific changes in the Indian Government’s Procurement & Distribution System as a primary solution lever. Irrigation, using groundwater, facilitated by subsidized electricity, is seen as vital for meeting India’s food security goals. Using over a century of daily climate data and recent spatially detailed economic, crop yield, and related parameters, we use an optimization model to show that by shifting the geographies where crops are procured from and grown, the government’s procurement targets could be met on average even without irrigation, while increasing net farm income and arresting groundwater depletion. Allowing irrigation increases the average net farm income by 30%. The associated reduction in electricity subsidies in areas with significant groundwater depletion can help offset the needed spatial re-distribution of farm income, a key political obstacle to changes in the procurement system.

Suggested Citation

  • Naresh Devineni & Shama Perveen & Upmanu Lall, 2022. "Solving groundwater depletion in India while achieving food security," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-31122-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-31122-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Planning Commission, 2012. "Annual Report (2011-12) on The Working of State Power Utilities and Electricity Departments," Working Papers id:4868, eSocialSciences.
    2. Sayre, Susan Stratton & Taraz, Vis, 2019. "Groundwater depletion in India: Social losses from costly well deepening," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-100.
    3. Awi Federgruen & Upmanu Lall & A. Serdar Şimşek, 2019. "Supply Chain Analysis of Contract Farming," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 21(2), pages 361-378, April.
    4. Ram Fishman & Upmanu Lall & Vijay Modi & Nikunj Parekh, 2016. "Can Electricity Pricing Save India’s Groundwater? Field Evidence from a Novel Policy Mechanism in Gujarat," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(4), pages 819-855.
    5. Planning Commission, 2012. "Annual Report 2011-12 On the Working of State Power Utilities and Electricity Departments," Working Papers id:4817, eSocialSciences.
    6. Ram Fishman, 2018. "Groundwater depletion limits the scope for adaptation to increased rainfall variability in India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 195-209, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Soumya Balasubramanya & Nicholas Brozović & Ram Fishman & Sharachchandra Lele & Jinxia Wang, 2022. "Managing irrigation under increasing water scarcity," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(6), pages 976-984, November.
    2. Feng, Zhuangzhuang & Miao, Qingfeng & Shi, Haibin & Feng, Weiying & Li, Xianyue & Yan, Jianwen & Liu, Meihan & Sun, Wei & Dai, Liping & Liu, Jing, 2023. "Simulation of water balance and irrigation strategy of typical sand-layered farmland in the Hetao Irrigation District, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).

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