Improving food and livelihood security through water-energy-agriculture management in Punjab under

climate change and variability

Kamal VattaAssociate Professor

Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, IndiaJune 19, 2013

kmlvatta@pau.edu

Basic Agricultural Characteristics of the Punjab State

• Geographical area: 5.03 m ha• Net sown area: 4.2 m ha• Gross Cropped area:7.9 m ha• Cropping intensity: 190%• Irrigated area: 98%

-Through surface water: 26%-Through groundwater:74%

• N+P+K use: 243 kg/ crop ha• Area under rice-wheat rotation:

77% of cropped area• Productivity/annum of rice+

wheat: 9.2 t/ha (2011-12)

Intensively cultivated area with dominance of rice-wheat crop pattern, double cropped, irrigated and high use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides

Source: Official Statistics, Govt. of Punjab

Punjab is a Classic Success Story of Green Revolution in India

• Substantial increase in production of wheat and rice

• Factors responsible– Expansion in irrigated area– High yielding seeds– Higher use of chemical

fertilizers• Supported by – Agricultural price and

marketing policy– Institutional agricultural credit– Rural electrification, rural

roads and rural markets

7

52

32

7765

122

103

150

108

165

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

1970-71 1980-81 1990-91 2007-08 2010-11

Year

Production of rice and wheat (lakh tonnes)

Rice Wheat

Emerging Issues due to Intensive Agriculture

• Declining Crop Diversity• Stagnation/slow growth in

productivity• Recent Decline in the

Rainfall• Depletion in Groundwater

Resources

Emerging Issues due to Intensive Agriculture

• Increasing Private Investments in Irrigation: Rising Farm Debt and Suicides

• Equity Issues in Access to Groundwater: Losing Access to Water

• Increasing Burden of Power Subsidies in Agriculture: No productive investments and trade-off with industry and households

Year Total Power Consumption (million kwh)

Intensity of Power Use(kwh/ha of

NAS)

Power Subsidy

(Rs million)

1974-75 696 170.1 NA

1990-91 5105 1210.2 3850

1995-96 6300 1523.2 6930

1997-98 6049 1427.1 11890

2000-01 5534 1302.2 16590

2005-06 7314 1744.7 13860

2006-07 8230 1966.9 17690

2007-08 9537 2277.8 21600

2008-09 10014 2400.9 22950

2009-10 10505 2526.5 28090

2010-11 10898 2621.0 34870

Project Goals• Develop long term climate and socio-economic scenarios to inform

water, energy and agriculture policy

• Estimate social and opportunity costs of the electricity subsidy to help formulate a strategy for subsidy reform that promotes resource sustainability, especially water sustainability

• Develop and test feasible strategies for improved water/energy use and climate resilience through a large scale field experiment

The Framework• Developing an Incentive Mechanism for Water Saving

Technologies and Practices– Using Farmers’ Cooperatives as a hub for potential farm interventions – Tensiometers– Direct Seeding of Rice– Package of Incentives (weather, market and other info)– Insurance Mechanism

• Promoting Crop Diversification– Value Chains

• Reorienting the Policy in favour of Water Sustainability – Shifting focus from maximizing production to optimizing production– Energy Pricing: Its Utility as well as Sectoral Trade-off between

Field Work: Technologies and Practices• 44 villages were

• 981 tensiometers

• 100 experiments with direct seeding of rice

• Village level group meetings were conducted to create awareness about– Two Technologies: 1) Tensiometers 2) DSR

Meeting with Cooperative Functionaries-Ludhiana: Upscaling Strategy

Upscaling Strategy- Use of Print Media

Upscaling Strategy- Use of Print Media

Upscaling Strategy- Use of Print Media

District % Water Savings

Power Savings (Kwh/acre)

Amritsar 16.5 73

Jalandhar 18.0 69

Kapurthala 18.5 88

Ludhiana 17.9 112

Moga 20.2 126

Tarn Taran 18.9 104

Overall 18.6 101

IDRC Project: Water and energy saving through tensiometers

Variety Control Plot

DSR Plot

Water saving

% saving

Pusa Basmati 1121

126031 83046 42984 34.1

Normal duration

25766 24161 1605 6.2

Pusa 44 80787 57829 22958 28.4

Overall 232584 165037 67547 29.0

IDRC Project: Water saving with Direct Seeding of Rice (cubic meter)

MESSAGE RESPONSE

PAU SEEDS Navjot Singh, Bhatinda, You should plant Basmati 1121 at 4kg per acre

PAU MARKET Market Price of Basmati is Rs 2000-2200. This will remain stable

PAU FERTILIZER You should apply Urea 150, DAP 50 and Zinc 8kgs

PAU PESTICIDE Spray Tilt 100ml per acre this week

MESSAGE RESPONSE

PAU IRG 2 30 Thanks For Sending Irrigation Update for control plot to PAU

PAU FERT urea 1 150 Thanks For Sending Urea Update for test plot to PAU

PAU FERT DAP 2 50 Thanks For Sending DAP Update for control plot to PAU

PAU CHM 2 100 Thanks For Sending Chemical Update for control plot to PAU

Two Way Communication

One Way Communication

Integrating Formhub With Mobile Applications

http://pred.iri.columbia.edu:8080/WeatherPrediction/CropModel.jsp

Integrating Crop Models

DSSAT

Diversification Plans and Energy Modeling• Optimization Exercise

with respect to the resource use carried out at the district level

• Water and Energy Models

Crop Water saving (mm)

Total water saving

potential(thousand

ha m)Laser leveling of the fields 360 504.00Direct seeding of rice 450 126.00Use of tensiometers in rice 85 67.20Sowing of wheat with happy seeder

240 29.75

Water savings from technologies and practices

726.95

Water savings from crop diversification

1575.00

Total water savings in CDTP scenario

2301.95

Plan for the Current Year• Continuation of the experiment for field testing

– Tensiometers– DSR– Testing of the Soil Moisture Sensors at Experimental level

• Increased involvement of small and marginal farmers• Testing of the up scaling strategies• Scaling up of one-way mobile application with the

farmers• Study of the existing value chains for high value crops

Informing the Stakeholders and Facilitating the Policy Debate

Thanks

Q & A