Publisher's Synopsis
India is an agriculture economy where land and water are two key natural resources upon which farmers depend for their livelihoods and development. Farmers' development depends upon interactions of these and other resources, institutions, actions and policies and their ultimate outcomes. It would be naive to perceive that all rural poverty problems could be solved through improving the poor's access to water alone through development of irrigated area in rainfed conditions. However, though water is only a single element in the poverty equation, it plays a disproportionately powerful role through its wider impacts on such factors as food and other essential agricultural production. Water is one of the most critical inputs for agriculture. The availability of adequate water for irrigation is a key factor in achieving higher productivity. However, the poor efficiency of conventional irrigation systems has not only reduced the anticipated outcome of investments towards water resource development, but has also resulted in environmental problems like water logging and soil salinity, thereby adversely affecting crop yields.
World is facing many challenges; prominent among these are climate change, environmental degradation, sustainable development and food security for growing population. Climate change affects the world's water in complex ways. From unpredictable rainfall patterns to shrinking ice sheets, rising sea levels, floods and droughts, most impacts of climate change come down to water. The effects are already visible and will be catastrophic unless we act now. Through education, innovation and adherence to our climate commitments, and to secure water for agriculture sector keeping in view the Sustainable Development Goals, we can make the necessary changes in agriculture practices/methods to make climate smart/climate re-silent agriculture as well as self-reliant and climate smart farmers.
As a result, water is required to be stored and utilized for meeting the demands of different sectors throughout the year. Efficient water management requires sustainable development of the available surface and ground water resources and their optimal utilizations including enhanced use of micro-irrigation system. In order to meet the challenge of Food Security, first, there is a need to understand the need of water security. Therefore, three national interaction meets were organized to deliberate on climate change and its impact on water cycle, water Security, and that in turn on Food Security.
