IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ags/inijae/229844.html

Impact of Farm Sector Electricity Subsidy on Water Use Efficiency and Water Productivity in India

Author

Listed:
  • Singh, O.P.
  • Singh, Rakesh
  • Singh, Manish Kumar

Abstract

Irrigation plays an important role in the growth of India agriculture and it helped the farmers to grow multiple crops during the year. The share of groundwater in total net irrigated area (20.85 million hectares) increased by 28.67 per cent to 61.40 per cent during 1950-51 to 2010-11. Out of the total net irrigated area in the country, the share of groundwater irrigated area was 28.67 per cent and 61.40 per cent in 1950-51 and 2010-11 respectively. The growth in net area irrigated by groundwater is growing at a compound growth rate of 3.54 per cent per annum during 1950-51 to 2010-11. The total electric operated pump for pumping groundwater in the country increased from 10.27 million to 11.05 million during 2001 to 2006 whereas, the diesel operated pumps declined from 6.55 million to 6.30 million during 2001 to 2006. The electric subsidy to farm sector has increased from Rs 7334.9 crore to Rs 45561.0 crore during 1992-93 to 2011-12 registering a compound growth rate of 8.65 per cent per annum. The present study has tried to assess the impact of electricity on groundwater use and water use efficiency. The study was confined to three Indian states viz., Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab. In case of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, diesel pump owners were using less irrigation water for all the crops as compared to electric pump owners. The diesel pump owners were getting the highest physical and economic water productivity for all the crops except paddy as compared to electric pump owners. In case of Punjab, farmers were using less groundwater for all the crops as compared to canal water. The physical water productivity was higher for all the crops grown under groundwater irrigation except bajra and barseem. The net economic value of water productivity was found higher for groundwater irrigated field in maize, bajra and wheat. The study suggests that the introduction of pro-rata pricing of electricity supply to farm sector could be the best option for better management of groundwater. This would help in equitable, efficient and sustainable use of groundwater and reduce the burden of gigantic electricity subsidy to farm sector. Pre-paid metering to farm sector may also increase water use efficiency.

Suggested Citation

  • Singh, O.P. & Singh, Rakesh & Singh, Manish Kumar, 2014. "Impact of Farm Sector Electricity Subsidy on Water Use Efficiency and Water Productivity in India," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 69(3), pages 1-10.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:inijae:229844
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.229844
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/229844/files/18-OP%20singh-01-n.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.229844?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:iwt:rerpts:h036620 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. World Bank, 2001. "India : Power Supply to Agriculture, Volume 3. Andhra Pradesh Case Study," World Bank Publications - Reports 15279, The World Bank Group.
    3. repec:iwt:conppr:h041877 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Amarasinghe, Upali A. & Sharma, Bharat R. & Aloysius, Noel & Scott, Christopher A. & Smakhtin, Vladimir U. & de Fraiture, Charlotte, 2004. "Spatial variation in water supply and demand across river basins of India," IWMI Research Reports 52966, International Water Management Institute.
    5. World Bank, 2001. "India : Power Supply to Agriculture, Volume 1. Summary Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 15288, The World Bank Group.
    6. World Bank, 2001. "India : Power Supply to Agriculture, Volume 2. Haryana Case Study," World Bank Publications - Reports 15285, The World Bank Group.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sidhu, Balsher Singh & Kandlikar, Milind & Ramankutty, Navin, 2020. "Power tariffs for groundwater irrigation in India: A comparative analysis of the environmental, equity, and economic tradeoffs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Richard Ackermann, 2012. "New Directions for Water Management in Indian Agriculture," Global Journal of Emerging Market Economies, Emerging Markets Forum, vol. 4(2), pages 227-288, May.
    2. Christian Kimmich & Sergio Villamayor Tomas, 2019. "Assessing Action Situation Networks: A Configurational Perspective on Water and Energy Governance in Irrigation Systems," Water Economics and Policy (WEP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 5(01), pages 1-29, January.
    3. Singh, Karam, 2012. "Electricity Subsidy in Punjab Agriculture: Extent and Impact," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 67(4), pages 1-16.
    4. Kishore, Prabhat & Singh, Dharam R. & Srivastava, Shivendra & Kumar, Arun & Prakash, 2021. "Food-Groundwater-Energy nexus in Indian agriculture: Empirical evidence from Uttar Pradesh, India," 2021 ASAE 10th International Conference (Virtual), January 11-13, Beijing, China 329408, Asian Society of Agricultural Economists (ASAE).
    5. Christian Kimmich, 2016. "Can Analytic Narrative Inform Policy Change? The Political Economy of the Indian Electricity–Irrigation Nexus," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(2), pages 269-285, February.
    6. Malte Müller & Jens Rommel & Christian Kimmich, 2018. "Farmers’ Adoption of Irrigation Technologies: Experimental Evidence from a Coordination Game with Positive Network Externalities in India," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 19(2), pages 119-139, May.
    7. Namrata Chindarkar & R. Quentin Grafton, 2019. "India's depleting groundwater: When science meets policy," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 108-124, January.
    8. repec:iwt:bosers:h042161 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Anoop Singh, 2009. "Climate co-benefit policies for the Indian power sector: domestic drivers and North-South cooperation," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(5), pages 529-543, September.
    10. Shahidur R. Khandker & Hussain A. Samad & Rubaba Ali & Douglas F. Barnes, 2014. "Who Benefits Most from Rural Electrification? Evidence in India," The Energy Journal, , vol. 35(2), pages 75-96, April.
    11. Mathy, Sandrine & Guivarch, Céline, 2010. "Climate policies in a second-best world--A case study on India," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1519-1528, March.
    12. Stergios Athanassoglou & Glenn Sheriff & Tobias Siegfried & Woonghee Huh, 2012. "Optimal Mechanisms for Heterogeneous Multi-Cell Aquifers," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 52(2), pages 265-291, June.
    13. World Bank, 2008. "INGENS - Income Generation through Energy and Complementary Services : Status Report," World Bank Publications - Reports 12548, The World Bank Group.
    14. M. Dinesh Kumar, 2018. "Proposing a solution to India’s water crisis: ‘paradigm shift’ or pushing outdated concepts?," International Journal of Water Resources Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 42-50, January.
    15. Unknown, 2008. "Managing water in the face of growing scarcity, inequity and declining returns: exploring fresh approaches," IWMI Conference Proceedings 138985, International Water Management Institute.
    16. repec:iwt:conppr:h041801 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. repec:iwt:bosers:h042639 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Kumar, M. Dinesh & Sharma, Bharat R. & Singh, O.P., 2009. "Water saving and yield enhancing micro-irrigation technologies: how far can they contribute to water productivity in Indian agriculture?," Book Chapters,, International Water Management Institute.
    19. Çetin, Oner & Kara, Abdurrahman, 2019. "Assesment of water productivity using different drip irrigation systems for cotton," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    20. repec:iwt:conppr:h041894 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Athanassoglou, Stergios & Sheriff, Glenn & Siegfried, Tobias & Huh, Woonghee Tim, 2009. "Simple Mechanisms for Managing Complex Aquifers," National Center for Environmental Economics-NCEE Working Papers 280878, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
    22. M. Dinesh Kumar & R. Maria Saleth, 2018. "Inequality in the Indian Water Sector: Challenges and Policy Options," Indian Journal of Human Development, , vol. 12(2), pages 265-281, August.
    23. repec:iwt:conppr:h041896 is not listed on IDEAS
    24. repec:iwt:bosers:h042044 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Zankhana Shah & M. Kumar, 2008. "In the Midst of the Large Dam Controversy: Objectives, Criteria for Assessing Large Water Storages in the Developing World," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(12), pages 1799-1824, December.
    26. repec:iwt:conppr:h041897 is not listed on IDEAS
    27. Mukherjee, Sacchidananda & Shah, Zankhana & Kumar, M. Dinesh, 2008. "Large reservoirs: are they the last Oasis for the survival of cities in India?," MPRA Paper 15640, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:inijae:229844. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/isaeeea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.