Description
This book addresses strategies for food security and sustainable agriculture in developing economies. The book focuses primarily on India, a fast developing economy, whose natural resource base comprising land and water supporting agricultural production is not only under enormous stress, but also complex and not amenable to a uniform strategy. It critically reviews issues which continue to dominate the debate on water management for agricultural and food production. The book examines the validity of the claim that large water resources projects cause serious social and environmental damages using global and national datasets. The authors examine claims that the future of Indian agriculture is in rain-fed farming supported by small water harvesting. They question whether water-abundant eastern India could become the granary of India, through a groundwater revolution with the right policy inputs. In the process, they look at the less researched aspect of the food security challenge, which is land scarcity in eastern India. The book analyzes the physical, economic and social impacts of large-scale adoption of micro irrigation systems, using a farming system approach for north Gujarat. Through an economic valuation of the multiple use benefits from tank systems in western Orissa, it shows how value of water from large public irrigation systems could be enhanced. The book also looks at the reasons for the limited success in bringing about the much needed institutional reforms in canal irrigation for securing higher productivity and equity using case studies of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Finally it addresses how other countries in the developing world, particularly Sub-Saharan Africa could learn from Indian experience. Review: Overall, this book is certainly a major contribution to both literature and policy. It provides a sound empirical analysis of some of the major issues emerging in the interface among water management, agricultural production, and food security. The book is rich not only in terms of field-level and secondary data but also in terms of bibliographical information pertaining to the subject areas. Because it is well written and organized, with effective language and a lucid presentation, it can be accessible to researchers, policy makers, and general readers alike. From an academic perspective, it can be good supplementary reading for agricultural economics, natural resource and environmental economics, and area studies pertaining to India and Asia. - R. Maria Saleth, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, India, in International Journal of Water Resources Development
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