Widespread adoption of efficient irrigation technologies, including drip irrigation, has been proposed as a means of limiting groundwater overexploitation, especially in the intensively farmed and water-stressed South Asia region.
Widespread adoption of efficient irrigation technologies, including drip irrigation, has been proposed as a means of limiting groundwater over-exploitation, especially in the intensively farmed and water-stressed South Asia region.
Irrigated agriculture is placing increasing pressure on finite freshwater resources, especially in developing countries, where water extraction is often unregulated, un-priced and even subsidized. To shift agriculture to a more sustainable use of water without harming the food security and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of smallholders, substantial improvements of water use efficiency will be required.
This paper presents the results of the Columbia Water Center’s study of the severe groundwater crisis in the Mehsana region of Northern Gujarat, India.
