24% of GHG emissions come from Agriculture and Allied Activities

Agriculture has forever been at the centre of the tussle between meeting global food demands and ensuring the longevity of soil and water resources. In India, which has 4% of the world’s freshwater reserves, the demand for irrigation water is disproportionately high. Meanwhile, two-thirds of India's population faces water scarcity. Come 2050, the per capita water availability could decrease by 15%.?

This scarcity impacts crop yields, farmer incomes, and contributes to soil degradation and desertification. It worsens with issues like declining water and soil quality, desertification, climate-related emissions, and reduced crop yields. Inefficient irrigation also leads to 20-30% income reductions for small-holder farmers. Salinity-affected soils cover 7 million hectares, and are expected to reach 16.2 million hectares by 2050.?

As #WorldEnvironmentDay2024 focuses on land restoration, desertification, and drought resilience, we closely looked at five shifts in agriculture that could reduce the stress on natural resources, improve water usage, augment farmer incomes, and ensure long-term sustainability.?

1. Micro-irrigation technologies

Water and agriculture are intrinsically linked. Most Indian farmers use conventional surface irrigation methods, which typically have a water use efficiency below 35%. As a result, the overall irrigation efficiency in India is only 38%, compared to 50-60% in other countries.?

Micro-irrigation technologies like drip and sprinkler irrigation not only help in saving water,

but also in reducing fertiliser usage, labour expenses, and other input costs. Field application efficiency in drip irrigation is 90%, while that of sprinkler and surface irrigation (furrow, border, basin, flood, etc.) is 75% and 60% respectively.

A survey of 90 sugarcane farmers in Satara, Maharashtra concluded that drip irrigation with precision or automation had the highest productivity at 71.4 MT per acre, while flood irrigation yielded 54.4 MT per acre. In the case of cultivating cotton, drip irrigation reduces the cost of irrigation by 50%, saves water by 45%, and improves yield by 114% compared to flood irrigation.

2. High-yielding, drought-tolerant, and water-efficient crop and seed varieties

While the use of genetically modified and hybrid seed varieties may be contested due to the risk of increasing farmer dependence on agri-input companies, their use in water-stressed regions can potentially reduce the water footprint of crops.

For instance, aerobic rice is a variety that has adapted to aerobic soil conditions and responds effectively to inputs. Unlike traditional rice, it thrives in non-puddled and non-saturated soils, maintaining a water content of 70-100% of its water-holding capacity throughout the entire growing season. Aerobic rice can save as much as 50% of irrigation water in comparison with lowland rice.

The most prominent millet category grown in India, sorghum (jowar) is a staple in many parts of the country and exhibits excellent drought tolerance. It can be grown in regions with limited rainfall or under rainfed conditions, reducing the dependence on irrigation. Another example is pearl millet, which requires just 350 mm compared to other crops like wheat, maize, and sugarcane, which demand 500% more water.?

3. On-farm soil carbon sequestration?

This practice could potentially sequester all of our current annual global greenhouse gas emissions (~52 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide). Improved management of agricultural land with known, low-cost practices has the potential to both reduce net greenhouse gas emissions and to act as a direct CO2 sink. Reducing or eliminating tillage, using cover crops, regenerative farming, and crop rotations ensure that land will not be left bare and soil carbon will be fixed, rather than lost.

4. Sparing land

Sparing land is a technique which could de-stress resources and enhance conservation of biodiversity associated with the same land. Pollinating species such as birds, invertebrates, and other fauna also thrive due to conservation agriculture. Diversification of crops and allied activities would cover food insecurity gaps, and restoring soil fertility increases nutrient availability in food.

5. Circularity?

Circularity in agriculture is an emerging idea. It aims to promote resource efficiency, adapt to climate change, enable food security, and strengthen agri-based economies through the three R’s - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.?

Indian farms generate agricultural waste worth more than Rs 92,000 crores. A majority of this is generated at the post-harvest and processing stages. Conscious efforts to reduce waste and recover losses at post-harvest handling, and other points of the agricultural value chain can unlock USD 4.5 trillion globally. Due to the extreme interconnectedness of agriculture with other industrial sectors of the economy, applying circularity across agri-based industries could also transform other strategic industries and sub-sectors like textile, wood, and furniture, and reduce their carbon footprint.

While promising in their outcomes, the implementation of these practices comes at a significant cost to farmers. They are also extremely vulnerable to changes resulting from climate change, depleting water tables, and soil quality. The adoption of these practices among farmers, therefore, requires:?

1. Unlocking value of existing knowledge of local, regionally contextual solutions employed across farms
2. Utilising innovative financial solutions like carbon credits and blended finance models, that can cover the highly diversified and high-risk models for regenerative agriculture.
3. Strengthening social and gender-inclusive models - led by FPOs and SHGs - to build momentum

At SKI, we seek to provide a common platform for government actors, corporate entities, civil society organisations and other facilitating bodies to act together towards achieving a climate-resilient, water-efficient, and remunerative agricultural value chain. Interested in knowing more? Write to us at [email protected].