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A kilo of rice that you consume today has often devoured at least 3,000 litres of water in the process of its growth from seed to a harvested crop. Staggering as that number is, it is how rice farming has been carried out for centuries. But with water availability coming down due to climate change as well as wasteful use by households and farmers, it is imperative to cut water consumption through the use of drip irrigation.
For instance, water usage for harvesting a kilo of rice can be brought down to just 1,000 litres, says Anil Jain, Vice Chairman and CEO, Jain Irrigation Systems.
In fact the idea of water soaked paddy fields, which he calls a ‘romantic vision’, may become a thing of the past as ‘underground irrigation’ practices catch on.
Big savings, better yieldHe said drip irrigation and sprinklers have brought a 50 per cent saving in physical water usage besides improving produce by anything from 30 per cent to 200 per cent for various crops, including banana and sugarcane.
These solutions along with other case studies were being shared with other countries as part of a report compiled by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a group of 200 top corporates that works on sustainable development goals.
The report, titled ‘Co-optimizing Solutions to Water and Agriculture: Lessons from India for water security’ is being released today, said Peter Bakker, President and CEO, WBCSD. He said that the world will soon face the problem of feeding 10 billion people globally and WBCSD was aiming to bring businesses together to share best practices, build awareness and work with governments to design the right kind of regulatory environment and a supportive financial infrastructure for sustainable development.
The aim is not philanthropy or corporate social responsibility but to integrate the way businesses made decisions that would align with development goals in a sensible way, Bakker said. The Indian members who are part of the WBCSD are companies such as Lafarge-Holcim (Ambuja Cements), ITC Limited, Jain Irrigation, Monsanto, Nestlé, Olam, PepsiCo, PwC, Rabobank, UPL, Yara International and Yes Bank.
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