Millennium Water Story

Millennium Water Story

Water is indisputably an essential input in agriculture, whether rainfed or irrigated. The centrality of its role in the Green Revolution in India has been elaborated in the photo story dated 20 December 2017. However, water is also the central resource to be seriously challenged by agriculture, particularly the Green Revolution, as discussed in the photo story dated 15 January 2018. These challenges pertain to both quantity and quality. Expanding networks of irrigation canals siphon off substantial water flows from rivers while over-abstraction of groundwater for irrigation leads to depleting water tables. This causes water shortage for drinking and other basic uses as well as degradation of ecosystems. Use of fertilizers and pesticides for enhancing crop production leads to water pollution that poses human health hazards as well as ecological problems. While Green Revolution focused primarily on foodgrains, the problems highlighted above are not exclusive to thses crops.

Read full story here: http://www.millenniumwaterstory.org/Water%20sustainability%20for%20sustainable%20agriculture-A%20way%20forward.html