Agricultural intensification and irrigation development have been considered vital for achieving food security, climate action, and poverty reduction in small holder dominated poverty hotspots of the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) in South Asia informs this paper titled 'Farm size limits agriculture’s poverty reduction potential in Eastern India' published in Agricultural Systems.
However, agricultural production risks are increasing in EGP due to erratic monsoon cycles and high exposure to climate shocks such as droughts and heat. While groundwater is the main source of supplemental irrigation water for farmers in the region, unreliable access hinders agricultural development. Thus policy level initiatives have focused on irrigation-led agricultural intensification that relies on expanding groundwater use. While irrigation-led agricultural intensification can increase yields under controlled conditions, its potential for directly reducing poverty by raising farmer incomes from crop production is poorly understood.
This paper discusses the findings of a study that assesses the link between agricultural intensification and personal daily incomes from farming (FPDI) in the dominant rice-wheat cropping systems of the EGP.
The study uses the Intensification Benefit Index (IBI), a measure that relates farm size and household size to FPDI, to assess how daily incomes from rice-wheat production change with irrigation-led intensification across the EGP.
The EGP region
The EGP region includes parts of the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the Terai region of Nepal, and northwestern Bangladesh and contrasts with the drier Middle and Upper Gangetic Plains in Western India and Pakistan.
The region receives between 1000 and 1500 mm of rainfall per year, of which more than 80 percent occurs in the monsoon months June–September and constitutes the world’s most extensive alluvial plains formed by the meandering Ganges and its tributaries that carry sediments from the Himalayas. Farmers cultivate rice in the monsoon season followed by wheat and lentils, oilseeds, or potatoes that are planted on residual moisture after the rice harvest in November and are harvested in late March.
The study finds that:
Most of the agricultural produce is consumed at home
Most farmers live below the poverty level and while agriculture in the region does not help farmers rise above the poverty level, it helps to take care of the food security needs of the households and most of the production is consumed rather than sold. Farmers tend to complement farm incomes with off-farm income sources. Thus, a substantial increase in incomes from crop production would be required to lift the households above the poverty line.
Frequency of irrigation is low
Increasing irrigation frequency is associated with increased yields, but most farmers irrigate at a low frequency. The yield response for rice (which is grown during the rainy season) is smaller than for wheat. The average irrigation frequency is 2 irrigations for wheat and 3 for rice.
Small farms limit income increase
Small farm sizes substantially limit the income increases that farmers may gain from raising agricultural productivity through irrigation-led intensification. Achieving wider irrigation use and higher levels of productivity will need changes at the policy level that cater to the needs of both small and large farmers beyond the cost of irrigation to changes in mobility, off-farm wage rates and opportunities, family labour, and drudgery required to apply water to the fields.
Taking into consideration sociocultural and economic differences between farmers will help improve household incomes
The paper argues that better-connected farmers and those with larger landholdings can derive substantial improvements in household incomes from upgrading to solar or grid powered systems while subsidised solar systems can provide benefits for small farmers who have horticultural plots close to homesteads, with market linkages and transportation infrastructure. Many small farmers, however, occasionally rent pumps for irrigation. For them, electrification or switching to smaller diesel pumps could reduce rental fees, improve production through supplementary irrigation, and perhaps reduce drought thus bolstering food security and climate resilience.
But the small profits that can be derived from their small plots and unreliable market linkages are unlikely to contribute to a rural transformation. For small farmers, rice-wheat intensification, and crop production in general may not be the poverty alleviation strategy for the future, as profits are simply too small. Better off-farm income opportunities are required and upgrading agricultural value chains may provide some benefit to the farmers.
The paper argues that intensification of rice-wheat farming can help to attain food security at the household level among smallholder farmers. Thus, policymakers and practitioners should encourage equitable distribution of irrigation infrastructure along with increasing awareness among farmers around sustainable and effective water management at the field level. Widespread access to affordable irrigation can help poor households by increasing food production and lowering its price. Cheaper food prices will increase the purchasing power of the poor and reduce the depth of their poverty.
Thus while increasing land productivity through irrigation-led intensification of rice-wheat production can help in achieving food security, focus also needs to be on farmers’ broader livelihood strategies, food security of landless, and strengthening and upgrading agricultural input and output value chains.
Upgrading value chains requires institutional capacity and coordination among line ministries and local governments to foster trust among stakeholders, avoid technological lock-ins, and invest in reliable infrastructure. Thus, investments in training and education directed at farmers could teach valuable on- and off farm skills, counteract the notion of agricultural jobs being unattractive, and allow farming households to become more successful farmers. Training programs could also enable off-farm workers and entrepreneurs to support agricultural transformation efforts and help upgrading of rural economies.
Sustainability concerns also need to be addressed in the region as growing water demands from nonagricultural sectors and the impact of increasingly frequent climate shocks could have an impact on the availability of groundwater in the long run. New methods to assess the impact of climate change on groundwater recharge should inform policy making and diversified and sustainable cropping systems need to be explored .
While expanding irrigation features high on the political agenda, a new wave of irrigation research is needed for effectively utilising irrigation infrastructure and fostering targeted and systemic improvements in a rapidly changing food systems in the region, argues the paper.
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