ACADEMIA Letters Exploring the linkages between agriculture, water and society: A case of Maharashtra Jaidev Joshi Anthropocene – as the modern age is known by – is an age of extreme climatic shocks and stresses. This recognition, therefore, warrants our combined effort for scripting an inclusive and progressive path that can help sustain a productive nexus of food, water, energy, ecological and economic securities. Growing body of knowledge around climate change and its implications for agriculture productivity and farmers’ income posit a dystopian imagery. For example, a study by the International Monetary Fund (2017) [1] suggests that for emerging market economies a 1 degree Celsius increase in temperature would reduce agriculture growth by 1.7 percent, and a 100 millimeters reduction in rainfall would reduce growth by 0.35 percent. A more representational estimate by the Economic Survey of India for 2017-18 suggests that, with extreme climate variability noted to befall in years to come, farmer’s income losses could be between 15 percent and 18 percent on average, which may increase to anywhere between 20 percent and 25 percent in unirrigated areas. For a State like Maharashtra, where agriculture and allied activities account for 11.6% of nominal Gross State Value Added [2] (GSVA) and provide employment to 53 % of the population, and alarmingly, where only 17.9% of the gross cropped area is under irrigation [3], the future may not appear rosy if concerted and collective efforts are not introduced in time. The above correlation between climate shocks and falling agriculture productivity has been corroborated by recent year reports of the Economic Survey of Maharashtra, estimating that due to prolonged drought and increased duration between subsequent rainy days (dry spells), the crop production has reduced resulting in a negative expected growth in real GSVA of the ‘Crops’ sector. There are countless narratives, on the other hand, of crops destruction following excessive flooding from retreating monsoons in the North-Eastern parts of the State. In all, ensuing cases of farmers’ suicide and political appropriation of this issue has locked Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Jaidev Joshi, jdvjoshi@gmail.com Citation: Joshi, J. (2021). Exploring the linkages between agriculture, water and society: A case of Maharashtra. Academia Letters, Article 1257. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1257. 1 the State in a zero-sum game. In view of the foregoing, what measures the State can take to allay the agrarian problems comprehensively? Are there lessons for other states to reform their policies in light of similar challenges? Agricultural Crisis is a Crisis in Water Management In a bid to resolve this crisis, it must be understood that, firstly, the agrarian crisis is a crisis in water management. 80% of the total gross cropped area in Maharashtra is under rainfed agriculture. With 50% of the population relying on the vagaries of monsoon in these regions [4], which is only expected to be more capricious under the influence of changing climate, it calls for greater reflection on behalf of the state’s officialdom to refashion their traditional practices and regulatory conduct with a view to increase access to protective irrigation, integrated land and water conservation, and uptake of efficient crop management practices. Prior proclivities of constructing large dams have not helped the state in increasing access to irrigation. Various performance audits of Comptroller and Auditor General of India between 2012 - 2015 revealed financial irregularities, poor workmanship, corruption, and espoused that, in light of these issues, despite investing ฀ 70,000 crores between years 2001-12, State’s irrigation potential increased by only 0.1%[5]. These facts were further corroborated by other reports, including Economic Survey of Maharashtra (2012) and Central Water Commission’s (2015) Financial Aspects of Irrigation Projects in India. Even for areas covered under irrigation command, sadly, water is not used efficiently. It is estimated that present water use efficiency in the irrigation sector is around 30%, however, no systematic and comprehensive study has been conducted so far that may provide accurate data for informing policy actions. On a positive note, the State of Maharashtra has been undertaking benchmarking studies since 2000 - 01 for evaluating irrigation projects’ performance along key indicators, viz. System Performance, Agriculture Productivity, Financial Aspect and Social Aspect. However, the State needs to revamp its approach to evaluate the ‘system performance’, since the present indicator used under this category only measures the ‘total unit of water supplied for irrigation for all seasons in a year compared to the total area irrigated in Kharif, Rabi and Hot Weather’ (measured in Mm3/Ha), which, evidently, is not efficient to guide actions for improving the performance of system. On the other hand though, the Central Water Commission (2015) [6] of Government of India has developed more accurate guidelines for undertaking performance audits. Furthermore, the National Water Mission of Government of India, which has adopted these guidelines, is promoting benchmarking studies to ascertain irrigation water use efficiency along the following components: Reservoir Filling Efficiency, Conveyance Efficiency, On Farm Efficiency and Drainage Efficiency. Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Jaidev Joshi, jdvjoshi@gmail.com Citation: Joshi, J. (2021). Exploring the linkages between agriculture, water and society: A case of Maharashtra. Academia Letters, Article 1257. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1257. 2 State authorities can therefore update their extant practices of performance evaluation to better measure the system performances that will, in turn, allow for targeted investments that can account for place specific and irrigation component wise deficiencies across the varieties of irrigation projects in the State. State of Maharashtra has, to some extent, been successful in establishing a practice of evidence based decision making and actions. State officials are required to take the momentum forward, and in partnership with local authorities, research institutes, including Water and Land Management Institute, Aurangabad should develop bespoke strategies to improve their approach of project evaluation, monitoring and investment planning. This exercise, moreover, should be complemented with an increase in the budget allocation for operation and maintenance works. State should wean away from outlaying large share of funds on new capital intensive construction works, and start focusing on bridging the IPC-IPU gap by increasing budgetary allocation for operations and maintenance works and rehabilitation programmes. With a policy shift focusing on improving the performance of irrigation infrastructures through improved auditing parameters, increased water use efficiency, greater allocation of funds for carrying out operations and maintenance and Command Area Development works, the State can expect to successfully transfer the benefits of past investments on irrigation projects to each and every farmer. For rainfed areas, water resources department must incorporate green water in their overall water balance matrix, alongside surface and ground water (blue water). Presently, more than 90% of crop water requirement in rainfed areas is met by green water supply or soil moisture [7]. However, a lack of coordinated land and water management approach is accelerating the loss of top fertile soil which can otherwise hold rainwater for meeting agriculture needs. Increasing variability in the distribution and availability of rainfall in addition to limited rainwater conservation capacity will only aggravate the challenges in rainfed areas. Maharashtra has a strong legacy in carrying out watershed conservation programmes. Bombay Land Improvement Scheme of 1942 laid the precedent for Government of India’s first Model Bill on Soil Conservation [8]. Furthermore, the Employment Guarantee Scheme which was launched in 1977 in response to the 1972 famine, and later merged in 1982 with the Bombay Act of 1942 to establish a comprehensive Watershed Development Programme, also served as a model for several initiatives of government of India, notably, the MGNEREGA and National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Area, which employs rural population for scientifically carrying out labor intensive water and soil conservation works for promoting livelihood gains. However, despite such efforts, the present realities of ruptured nexus between agriculture, water management and farmers livelihood in rainfed areas demand a sincere evaluation of Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Jaidev Joshi, jdvjoshi@gmail.com Citation: Joshi, J. (2021). Exploring the linkages between agriculture, water and society: A case of Maharashtra. Academia Letters, Article 1257. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1257. 3 watershed conservation measures of the State. As of 2013-14, the rainfed areas in Maharashtra contributes only 48% of the total agriculture output (in INR Lakhs) despite accounting for 80% of the total share of area under agriculture. Further, the agriculture output (in INR Lakhs) per unit of water is less than half of the output generated from irrigated areas. Although the State did launch a coordinated land and water conservation scheme titled “Jalyukt Shivar” in 2014 to make state drought proof by 2019, it lacked novelty and has been criticized for its unscientific approach and neglecting soil conservation concerns [9]. Aligning Incentives for Crop Diversification and Water Conservation Secondly, the State must devise measures to realign cropping patterns in tune with the prevailing agro-climatic conditions of the region. Take the case of Cotton and Sugarcane crops, which account for 29% and 6% of the total sown area during Kharif respectively, and are also the two most important cash crops in the state [10]. However, these crops are highly water intensive and guzzle large quantities of water which is not suitable, especially for some of the drier regions of the State, like Marathwada. Moreover, the water use productivity is also deplorable, with almost 3-4 times more water consumed to produce the same unit of output as compared to some of the major agriculture economies, for example, China and USA. Majority of area under cotton and sugarcane cultivation is already prone to stress due to high levels of water scarcity. And, as competition for limited water resources escalates owing to increasing demand from municipal and domestic users, the availability of water for agriculture consumption in the State will only dwindle. Going ahead the State must recognize that shifting to less water intensive crops and promoting water conservation will require a cross-sectoral effort owing to the ways in which the historical and present arrangements of incentives are functioning. Following a free electricity policy and availability of institutional credits, symptomatic of reforms introduced in 1960s as part of the green revolution in India, many states, including Maharashtra, saw a rapid rise in privately owned ground water wells. Ministry of Agriculture statistics provides that by 1998-00 itself, the Ground Water Irrigated Area had accounted for 65% of the Net Irrigated Area in the State [11]. Although ground water development initially proved beneficial for increasing the food production capacity of the State, over time, this incentivized farmers to wastefully use electricity for pumping exorbitant quantities of groundwater for producing water intensive crops; subsequently causing ground water tables to fall below alarming levels across Maharashtra. Admittedly now, farmers are finding themselves entangled in a vicious cycle where they now have to consume more electricity to pump the same amount of water from deeper water tables – leading to greater wastage of electricity and water resources. A report by Central Ground Water Board (2017) states that 50% of the area in the State has seen a fall in ground water level over the last ten years [12]. Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Jaidev Joshi, jdvjoshi@gmail.com Citation: Joshi, J. (2021). Exploring the linkages between agriculture, water and society: A case of Maharashtra. Academia Letters, Article 1257. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1257. 4 In light of this, the State must rationalize ‘pricing’ of power and irrigation supplies to promote a habit of resources conservation, all the while increasing ‘income policy’ support whereby a fixed sum of money can be transferred to the beneficiary farmers using Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) to increase their purchasing power for adopting right mix of irrigation and agriculture management practices [13]. Effective pricing aimed at covering at least the working expenses for smoothly running the infrastructural arrangements, to begin with, will allow public utilities to efficiently manage and operate these capital intensive infrastructures. Improved services on account of improved financial returns to the operator will, in turn, encourage farmers to pay their bills and, pre-eminently, reduce their dependency on groundwater resources for irrigating their farmlands. These efforts need to be complemented with transformative reforms in the regulatory domain- the State officials must de-link land ownership and control over groundwater. While the present articulation of laws has, on one hand, led to what Shah (2009) posit an ‘atomistic’ exploitation of ground water resources by millions of landowning farmers, it has, on the other hand, also excluded many landless farmers from accessing what is understood as a ‘common pool’ resource [14]. Maharashtra Groundwater (Development and Management) Act 2009 allows the State to evoke the principles of public trust doctrine and thereby interfere in the matters concerning public interests. This provides a good base for the State to separate the right to water and landownership and, in fulfilling its duties as a trustee of all natural resources, including groundwater, provide a clearer translation of the principles of common property management. To desist farmers from cultivating water intensive crops, the state government should develop attractive markets for less water intensive crops. Take the case of Sugarcane farming in Maharashtra. In support of farmers, the government has been announcing an array of measures that are encouraging farmers to grow sugarcane in light of assured markets and higher remunerative returns. On the contrary, while sugarcane prices have almost doubled in the last ten years, the sugar industry is suffering owing to limited increase in the demand of sugar and related by-products in the domestic as well as international markets. It is estimated that the industry today suffers from excessive stock and liquidity constraints, making their operations entirely unviable. Although the Rangarajan Committee of Government of India (2012) had earlier prescribed a revenue sharing model to relate sugarcane prices to the revenue realized from the sale of sugar and by-products, the state government has not implemented the said recommendations. Further, the State continues to provide market and remuneration support to farmers by providing, inter alia, State Advised Price above the Fair and Remunerative Price designed by the Central Government, ultimately leading to this demand-supply imbalance. A shift in cultivation area to less water intensive crop will save water, and, additionally, boost the sugar Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Jaidev Joshi, jdvjoshi@gmail.com Citation: Joshi, J. (2021). Exploring the linkages between agriculture, water and society: A case of Maharashtra. Academia Letters, Article 1257. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1257. 5 industry by reducing the sugar production and reconciling the demand-supply imbalances. Hence, an integrated and cross-sectoral approach may auger well for Maharashtra to rearrange existing incentives. This will require extensive cooperation between water resources department, electricity authority, regulatory institutions, food and agriculture department, farmer-based and civil associations, and academicians. Leveraging Water’s Connecting Power Lastly, since solving these challenges requires an integrated and participatory approach, the policy makers may do well to appreciate the endemic potential of water in mobilizing the required collective efforts on ground for transforming their own agriculture water management institutions into a complete democratic and inclusive enterprise. A brief exploration into history will help to illuminate this assertion. Many great settlements of the past have grown and flourished abutting the copious rivers, and only through earlier settlers’ collective efforts of controlling the water flows, these riverside geographies were rendered habitable and economically viable. As this exercise in water management grew complex over time, centralized forms of administration became a necessity to organize disciplined cooperation amongst the local population for harnessing the biophysical properties of water by way of managing the entire logistics of irrigation and water supply enterprise. These ‘hydraulic societies’ are the natural precursors to all forms of social administrative arrangements that we see today. However, just as managing water had once necessitated centralized administration for exercising social control and discipline, water can, being a flexible fluid, also lend itself towards a system of more democratic and polycentric form of governance. On a welcoming note, Maharashtra has already demonstrated the potential of this form of irrigation governance by introducing the participatory irrigation Management (PIM) reform as early as in 1960s through the passing of Maharashtra Cooperative Societies Act, which was later reformed through the enactment of Maharashtra Management of Irrigation Systems by Farmers Act in 2005. The State has also seen a number of grassroots initiatives too, where the local villagers contributed for watershed conservation, without any external impetus and funds. Ralegaon Siddhi, Adgaon, and Shri Vilasrao Salunke’s Pani Panchayat Model in Naigaon are some of the most celebrated cases of participatory watershed conservation in the Country. Policy makers of Maharashtra should oil the wheels of this momentum by progressively opening up the tasks of management, such as data collection, infrastructure planning and maintenance, and performance evaluation, to the larger public. But before such an ambitious task shifting exercise could be rolled out in its full scale, state officials can start by nurturing and sensitizing its people to develop a scientific temperament, supported by a culture of dialogue, deliberation, open access to information and inclusion in policy making and science. Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Jaidev Joshi, jdvjoshi@gmail.com Citation: Joshi, J. (2021). Exploring the linkages between agriculture, water and society: A case of Maharashtra. Academia Letters, Article 1257. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1257. 6 Works Cited: [1] The Effects of Weather Shocks on Economic Activity. How Can Low-Income Countries Cope?” International Monitory Funds Publication, (2017): Chapter 3. [2] Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2018-19. Department of Economics and Statistics, Planning Department, Government of Maharashtra. Mumbai. [3] Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2018-19. Department of Economics and Statistics, Planning Department, Government of Maharashtra. Mumbai. [4] 2030 Water Resources Group (2015). Report on Preliminary Hydro-Economical Analysis of Opportunities to Improve Water Use in Maharashtra’s Agriculture Sector. [5] Gadgil M. (2013). Maharashtra Irrigation Project: CAG finds cost overruns of 26,617 crores. Mint. https://www.livemint.com/Politics/3YbapDn7lLHoy1d3Xf7hFO/Maharashtraproject-delays-cause-cost-overruns-of-Rs26617.html. Last accessed on 10th June 2021. [6] POMIO, Central Water Commission (2014). Guideline for Computing the Water Use Efficiency of Irrigation Projects. Ministry of Water Resources. Government of India. [7] 2030 Water Resources Group (2015). Maharashtra: hydro-economical analysis of opportunities to improve water use in agriculture sector. World Bank. [8] Shah, A. 1998. “Watershed development programs in India – Emerging issues for environment development perspectives”, Economic and Political Weekly, 33(26): A-66. [9] Banerjee S. (2017). Jalyukt Shivar Yojana unsustainable, says study. The Hindu. Available online at: Jalyukt Shivar Yojana unsustainable, says study. Last accessed on 5/6//2021 [10]Economic Survey of Maharashtra 2018-19. Department of Economics and Statistics, Planning Department, Government of Maharashtra. Mumbai. [11] Bhaduri A. et al. (2012). An Analysis of Groundwater Irrigation Expansion In India. International Journal of Environment and Waste Management. DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2012.046399 [12] Behl M. (2018). Times of India. Dated 22 March 2018, news available at https:// timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ city/nagpur/groundwater-level-falling-in-almost50-area-ofmaharashtra/articleshow/634 accessed on June 20, 2021. [13] Sharma, B.R. et al (2018) Water Productivity Mapping of Major Indian Crops. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development. Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India. [14] Shah, T., 2009. Taming the anarchy: groundwater governance in South Asia. Washington, DC: Resources for the Futureand International Water Management Institute. Academia Letters, June 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Jaidev Joshi, jdvjoshi@gmail.com Citation: Joshi, J. (2021). Exploring the linkages between agriculture, water and society: A case of Maharashtra. Academia Letters, Article 1257. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1257. 7