IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-52858-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of farm subsidies in changing India’s water footprint

Author

Listed:
  • Shoumitro Chatterjee

    (School of Advanced International Studies)

  • Rohit Lamba

    (Department of Economics)

  • Esha D. Zaveri

    (Center on Food Security and the Environment)

Abstract

Dwindling groundwater supplies threaten food security and livelihoods. Output subsidies for farmers are a ubiquitous agricultural policy tool, yet their contribution to growing groundwater stress remains poorly quantified. We show how output subsidies guaranteeing the purchase of crops at higher than market prices may have contributed substantially to declining water tables in India. Our analysis suggests that these policies may have led to a 30% over-production of water intensive crops. In the northwestern state of Punjab, rice procurement can potentially account for at least 50% of the groundwater table decline over 34 years. In the central state of Madhya Pradesh, wheat procurement adopted in the late 2000s appears to have driven a 5.3 percentage point increase in dry wells and a consequent 3.4 percentage point increase in deep tubewells. These results suggest that well-intentioned but poorly designed subsidies can impose harmful externalities on the environment and undermine long-term sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Shoumitro Chatterjee & Rohit Lamba & Esha D. Zaveri, 2024. "The role of farm subsidies in changing India’s water footprint," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-52858-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-52858-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-52858-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-52858-6?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. Sekhri, Sheetal, 2013. "Sustaining Groundwater: Role of Policy Reforms in Promoting Conservation in India," India Policy Forum, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 9(1), pages 149-187.
    2. Ram Fishman, 2018. "Groundwater depletion limits the scope for adaptation to increased rainfall variability in India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 195-209, March.
    3. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    4. Matthew Rodell & Isabella Velicogna & James S. Famiglietti, 2009. "Satellite-based estimates of groundwater depletion in India," Nature, Nature, vol. 460(7258), pages 999-1002, August.
    5. Arvind Panagariya, 2005. "Agricultural Liberalisation and the Least Developed Countries: Six Fallacies," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(9), pages 1277-1299, September.
    6. Ambast, S.K. & Tyagi, N.K. & Raul, S.K., 2006. "Management of declining groundwater in the Trans Indo-Gangetic Plain (India): Some options," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 82(3), pages 279-296, April.
    7. David Blakeslee & Ram Fishman & Veena Srinivasan, 2020. "Way Down in the Hole: Adaptation to Long-Term Water Loss in Rural India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(1), pages 200-224, January.
    8. Naresh Devineni & Shama Perveen & Upmanu Lall, 2022. "Solving groundwater depletion in India while achieving food security," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Esha Zaveri & David Lobell, 2019. "The role of irrigation in changing wheat yields and heat sensitivity in India," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-7, December.
    10. Sayre, Susan Stratton & Taraz, Vis, 2019. "Groundwater depletion in India: Social losses from costly well deepening," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-100.
    11. Joshi, P. K. & Tyagi, N. K., 1991. "Sustainability of Existing Farming System in Punjab and Haryana - Some Issues on Groundwater Use," Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Indian Society of Agricultural Economics, vol. 46(3), July.
    12. Carole Dalin & Yoshihide Wada & Thomas Kastner & Michael J. Puma, 2017. "Groundwater depletion embedded in international food trade," Nature, Nature, vol. 543(7647), pages 700-704, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Nicostrato Perez & Vartika Singh & Claudia Ringler & Hua Xie & Tingju Zhu & Edwin H. Sutanudjaja & Karen G. Villholth, 2024. "Ending groundwater overdraft without affecting food security," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 7(8), pages 1007-1017, August.
    2. Nadeem, Adeel Ahmad & Zha, Yuanyuan & Shi, Liangsheng & Zafar, Zeeshan & Ali, Shoaib & Zhang, Yufan & Altaf, Adnan Raza & Afzal, Muhammad & Zubair, Muhammad, 2023. "SAFER-ET based assessment of irrigation patterns and impacts on groundwater use in the central Punjab, Pakistan," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    3. Jayanta Das & A. T. M. Sakiur Rahman & Tapash Mandal & Piu Saha, 2021. "Exploring driving forces of large-scale unsustainable groundwater development for irrigation in lower Ganga River basin in India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 7289-7309, May.
    4. Aditi Mukherji, 2022. "Sustainable Groundwater Management in India Needs a Water‐Energy‐Food Nexus Approach," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 44(1), pages 394-410, March.
    5. Foster, Timothy & Adhikari, Roshan & Adhikari, Subash & Justice, Scott & Tiwari, Baburam & Urfels, Anton & Krupnik, Timothy J., 2021. "Improving pumpset selection to support intensification of groundwater irrigation in the Eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    6. Théo Benonnier & Katrin Millock & Vis Taraz, 2022. "Long-term migration trends and rising temperatures: the role of irrigation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 307-330, July.
    7. Meena, Raj Pal & Karnam, Venkatesh & R, Sendhil & Rinki, & Sharma, R.K. & Tripathi, S.C. & Singh, Gyanendra Pratap, 2019. "Identification of water use efficient wheat genotypes with high yield for regions of depleting water resources in India," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Ghadir Asadi & Mohammad H. Mostafavi-Dehzooei, 2022. "The Role of Learning in Adaptation to Technology: The Case of Groundwater Extraction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-37, June.
    9. Francisco Costa & Fabien Forge & Jason Garred & João Paulo Pessoa, 2023. "The Impact of Climate Change on Risk and Return in Indian Agriculture," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(1), pages 1-27, May.
    10. Francisco Costa & Fabien Forge & Jason Garred & João Paulo Pessoa, 2020. "Climate Change and the Distribution of Agricultural Output," Working Papers 2003E, University of Ottawa, Department of Economics.
    11. Xiukang Wang, 2022. "Managing Land Carrying Capacity: Key to Achieving Sustainable Production Systems for Food Security," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-21, March.
    12. Bhaskar Jyoti Neog, 2022. "Temperature shocks and rural labour markets: evidence from India," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 1-20, March.
    13. Théo Benonnier & Katrin Millock & Vis Taraz, 2019. "Climate change, migration, and irrigation," PSE Working Papers halshs-02107098, HAL.
    14. Sudatta Ray & Hemant K. Pullabhotla, 2023. "The changing impact of rural electrification on Indian agriculture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    15. Kishore, Prabhat & Roy, Devesh & Birthal, Pratap S. & Srivastava, Shivendra Kumar, 2024. "Regulation and Policy Response to Groundwater Preservation in India," Policy Papers 345044, ICAR National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP).
    16. Mohd Sayeed Ul Hasan & Mufti Mohammad Saif & Nehal Ahmad & Abhishek Kumar Rai & Mohammad Amir Khan & Ali Aldrees & Wahaj Ahmad Khan & Mustafa K. A. Mohammed & Zaher Mundher Yaseen, 2023. "Spatiotemporal Analysis of Future Trends in Terrestrial Water Storage Anomalies at Different Climatic Zones of India Using GRACE/GRACE-FO," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    17. Siderius, Christian & Conway, Declan & Yassine, Mohamed & Murken, Lisa & Lostis, Pierre-Louis & Dalin, Carole, 2020. "Multi-scale analysis of the water-energy-food nexus in the Gulf region," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 104091, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    18. Naresh Devineni & Shama Perveen & Upmanu Lall, 2022. "Solving groundwater depletion in India while achieving food security," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Soumya Balasubramanya & Nicholas Brozović & Ram Fishman & Sharachchandra Lele & Jinxia Wang, 2022. "Managing irrigation under increasing water scarcity," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(6), pages 976-984, November.
    20. Birthal, Pratap S. & Hazrana, Jaweriah & Negi, Digvijay S. & Mishra, Ashok K., 2022. "Assessing benefits of crop insurance vis-a-vis irrigation in Indian agriculture," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).

    More about this item

    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:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-52858-6. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    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.