Water as the hidden export: Exploring the concept of virtual water for growing intensive commercial crops in water scarce areas

"Water: the hidden export", is a report by Shama Perveen, written in August 2004, on the concept of virtual water. The author argues that this concept must be seriously considered in India, because when water intensive commercial crops are grown in water scarce areas and the produce exported, it amounts to a virtual export of water, even as water availability in the home country becomes scarcer.