The deficient monsoons in the last two years have not only led to excessive use of ground-water, but also made wells deeper, raising concerns over sustainability of irrigation in the long run.

In the last 22 years, the share of wells with groundwater less than 10 metres below the surface has fallen by 6 percentage points, while that of wells with ground-water over 60 metres below has risen to 6 per cent from 4 per cent, making it increasingly difficult to access ground water, said a Crisil report on structural issues in water usage.

As of November 2015, about 56 per cent of wells had water levels lower than the decadal mean and the worst affected States were Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Bengal.

Calling for restrictions on the depth of irrigation wells and regulation on use of groundwater control, Crisil said that during the green revolution, farmers increasingly moved towards using groundwater compared with surface water for irrigation.

This was supported by government subsidies for electricity and irrigation.

To wean farmers away from water-intensive crops such as wheat and rice, a better minimum support price need to be announced for crops such as pulses and oilseeds.

The government has taken initial steps in this direction this year by announcing a bonus in MSP for pulses and oilseeds, but it is just a small step to encourage change in cropping patterns, said the report.

India currently uses 2,800 cubic metre of water to produce one tonne of rice, while China consumes less than half of it (1,321 cubic metre) to produce the same quantity of rice.

The MSP provided by the government has been primarily for water-consuming crops such as wheat and rice. Sugarcane is another water-intensive crop that has found takers.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW