Question

How big a role does water availability play
into food security in India?​

Answer 1

Answer:

With forecast population growth, India will face a growing challenge to secure food and water for its population.

India currently has enough food and water per capita to remain secure, but a lack of storage capacity will hinder the continuation of supply and access.

Despite large surpluses in food, India is home to approximately 25 per cent of the world’s hungry.

Ongoing mismanagement of resources and wasteful behaviour have led to the overexploitation of water resources, particularly groundwater.

To ensure long-term water security management India must address its under-developed infrastructure and unequal governance structures.

Explanation:

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Answer 2

With forecast population growth, India will face a growing challenge to secure food and water for its population.

India currently has enough food and water per capita to remain secure, but a lack of storage capacity will hinder the continuation of supply and access.

Despite large surpluses in food, India is home to approximately 25 per cent of the world’s hungry.

Ongoing mismanagement of resources and wasteful behaviour have led to the overexploitation of water resources, particularly groundwater.

To ensure long-term water security management India must address its under-developed infrastructure and unequal governance structures.

Summary

By 2050 India is likely to be home to 1.6 billion people. This population growth will bring with it increased demand for water, food and energy, requiring significant expansions of current infrastructure and resource availability. Factoring in climate change, meeting these demands is likely to present as India’s greatest challenge. The resources required are available to meet this demand; however, inefficient resource use, mismanagement, unequal governance structures and increased vulnerability to climate change, will severely limit the access required. Vulnerable to upstream development in the Himalayan region, future food and water security will require greater regional cooperation. For India, addressing internal structural problems with resource management can reduce this vulnerability considerably.

Analysis

India has just four per cent of the world’s total usable resources. Despite impressive growth rates and increased GDP since the 1960s, millions of Indians still do not have adequate access to food, clean water and sanitation. India is the world’s second-largest producer of rice and wheat, yet 50 per cent of children under the age of five are malnourished. Population growth, urbanisation, climate change, greater variability in precipitation and debilitating water mismanagement, all form part of the challenge India now faces to close the gap on hunger and poverty.

As much as two-thirds of India’s population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods, while 67 per cent of land is owned by smallholder farmers holding four hectares or less. The Times of India estimates that in 2011 there were more than 86 million landless labourer households in India. Many of these rural households rely on subsidies to access food, water, electricity, fertilisers and grain. This creates significant challenges for policymakers, as the sustainability of India’s food system and the economy itself depend on subsidy and resource use reforms in the agricultural sector.