The average annual per capita water availability for the year 2021 in India has been assessed as 1486 cubic meters, well below the 1700 cubic meters, which is considered as a ‘water stressed’ condition. As per the Central Water Commission (CWC) approximately 80 percent of the total water consumed is used in agriculture, leading to inefficient use of water.
The reasons for inefficient use of water in the Indian agricultural system include:

• Improper crop and cropping system: Presently, high water intensity crops like rice, sugarcane, cotton etc. are cultivated in areas that receive normal rainfall of less than 650 mm. This is largely due to the minimum support prices mechanism favouring paddy cultivation.
• Rampant use of groundwater: Subsidized or free power has encouraged farmers to overdraw water from deep aquifers, causing substantial depletion of the water table, which has led to water quality deterioration in many cases.
• Low uptake of micro irrigation systems in India: Micro irrigation promotes precision farming, thereby achieving higher water use efficiency. However, wide inter-state variations exist in the utilization of funds under micro irrigation. Some of the Western, Southern and Central states take the lead, but the rest of the country, particularly the North and North-East seem to be complacent about the efficiency of micro-irrigation.
• Irrigation canals: There is more stress on building irrigation canals in water-stressed districts of India. Fields in Punjab and Haryana, Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh where irrigation canals are in abundance see lavish use of water from the Himalayan rivers.

Measures to improve water use efficiency in agriculture are the following:

• Crop alignment and diversification with agro-climatic status: There should be a focus on crop alignment in command areas by promoting low water duty crops such as pulses and oilseeds and in sync with local agro-climatic conditions.
• Enhancing water use efficiency: This can be done by a blend of agronomic practices and deployment of technologies such as micro irrigation.
• Addressing the problems of over-exploitation of ground water: The issue can be addressed by incorporating artificial recharge of groundwater and rainwater harvesting, conjunctive water management, water conservation, regulation of groundwater development, etc.
• Adopting soil moisture conservation techniques: They can be used to reduce irrigation needs in water-scarce areas. There are a variety of methods that can be used to conserve soil moisture, which are relatively low in cost and primarily rely on the presence of required materials and local capacity, for example, mulching, conservation tillage, crop rotation, etc.
• Organic farming: Extensive promotion of organic farming will improve water retention capacity of soil by up to 80 percent.

Apart from these measures, India also needs to revamp its MSP regime. Also, there is a need to ensure that both recycling and farm water supply policies incorporate provisions for supplying treated wastewater to farmlands. In this regard, the Indian government has taken several measures to promote sustainable agricultural practices, such as Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, ‘Sahi Fasal’ campaign, etc.