Solving groundwater depletion in India while achieving food security.

ABSTRACT: Significant groundwater depletion in regions where grains are procured for public distribution is a primary sustainability challenge in India. We identify specific changes in the Indian Government's Procurement & Distribution System as a primary solution lever. Irrigation, using groundwater, facilitated by subsidized electricity, is seen as vital for meeting India's food security goals. Using over a century of daily climate data and recent spatially detailed economic, crop yield, and related parameters, we use an optimization model to show that by shifting the geographies where crops are procured from and grown, the government's procurement targets could be met on average even without irrigation, while increasing net farm income and arresting groundwater depletion. Allowing irrigation incr

SUBMITTER: Devineni N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9192749 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature