Study of assessment of water demand of agricultural sector of India
Student name: Mr Sridhar S
Guide: Dr Vaidyanatha Subramanian
Year of completion: 2016
Host Organisation: The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), New Delhi
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Ms Sonia Grover
Abstract: Agriculture is one of the main sources of livelihood of all living beings in the
world. Most of the water in the world is used for agriculture, which is globally 70%
and in India it is 80%. This is due to the lack of efficiency in the water management
and this leads to the high demand of water. The water demand of various utilities is
expected to increase and the water demand has already crossed the water availability
in some parts of the country. The water footprint of the crops has been found high
and which can be reduced by using the water conservation technologies in practice
across the globe. The study has assessed the water demand of crops in the different
agro-climatic conditions of the country and the crop water requirement through
CROPWAT 8.0. The international best practices for conservation of water
technologies have been studied for the recommendations to suggest the reduction of
water demand and the water footprint of the agricultural sector and crops
respectively.
Key Words: Water footprint, water demand, water management efficiency, agro-
climatic zones, modern technologies, water conservation.
