‘Re-aligning Agri-food Policies for Protecting Soil, Water, Air and; Biodiversity (SWAB)’

Posted 24 Apr 2024

2 min read

ICRIER released a report on Agri-Food Trends and Analytics which sheds light on the influence of agri-food policies on India's agricultural production and emphasizes on synergy of SWAB for sustainable food systems.

	Current Status/ Issues	Recommendations
Soil	~36% of soil samples in India exhibit organic carbon deficiency. Only ~34% of nitrogenous urea is absorbed by crops.	Switch to direct cash transfer instead of fertilizer subsidies. Brick making should switch from using top soils to fly-ash of thermal plants.
Water	Share of groundwater irrigation increased from 29% to 60%, while that of canal irrigation has reduced from 40% to 25% between 1950-51 and 2021-22. Availability of free and unmetered electricity resulted in disproportionate extraction of groundwater and decline in water levels.	Promote micro-irrigation such as drip and sprinkler systems. Diversification of crop procurement aligned to local agro-ecologies. Alter rice cultivation and irrigation practices, including the adoption of alternate wetting drying, Direct Seeded Rice, etc.
Climate Change	India’s agriculture sector, excluding land use change and forestry emissions, contributed ~13.44% of overall GHG emissions in 2023. Emission Intensity of crops is increasing whereas it is declining for livestock sector.	Premium MSP for low-carbon crops to encourage farmers shift to low-carbon cultivation practices. Explore carbon market for carbon farming credits in agriculture sector.