South Asian Conference on Water in Agriculture November 14, 2007

Rainfed agriculture constitutes the major economic activity in South Asian countries being the key source of employment and income for rural population. Water is essential for agricultural production and rural development in order to improve food security and eradicate poverty. Reduced investment in infrastructure, increased competition for water and large withdrawals of ground water are the primary causes for decreased plant productivity. Despite the constraints of water scarcity, crop production must rise substantially over the next decade to meet the food needs of South Asian rural community. Providing more yields with less water is therefore a formidable challenge for the food, economic, social and water security.
South Asian countries have to manage their water resources on a long-term with integrated planning. The imperatives of such planning are particularly critical for countries, where ground water withdrawals are more than 50% of available water. Incentives for economizing the use of water must come from reasonable pricing policies; however, it remains a contentious issue. Some form of community or individual property rights needs to be introduced where common resources are wasted. Appropriate participatory institutions are also needed to undertake collective responsibility for the efficient use and conservation of water. South Asian countries have taken some initiatives, but a realistic policy framework is yet to emerge
With rapid urbanization and industrial growth, shortfalls of water have developed in various parts of South Asia that are particularly acute during the dry season. This calls for the integrated management of river basins in order to use water resources in a sustainable manner. The potential of Himalayan water resources for agricultural uses is enormous but underutilized. The potential for hydropower is immense that could supply a significant proportion of the energy need of agriculture. Political will and the appropriate institutional infrastructure are required for the management and sharing of water. Water resource management will therefore be a challenging task in South Asian countries where rainfed cultivation is predominantly followed. A more strategic development of water resources will be needed to cater demand of rainfed and irrigated agriculture. There is an overall need for policy support and the reform of institutions, human resources development and capacity building, particularly farmer's association while maintaining International and regional collaboration.
UN General Assembly has proclaimed the period 2005-2015 as international decade for action Water for life. It is necessary to make all societies vigilant about the multiple roles of irrigation water in economics and ecosystems. It is need of present era to encourage innovative and strategic investment, research and development and international cooperation for the progressive improvement of agricultural water management, by demand-driven management options. It includes participatory irrigation management, rehabilitation, water-harvesting, water saving, water storage etc coupled with information technology tools.
SAARC has also launched a Green South Asia 2007 campaign from January first. This year is devoted to the region-wide afforestation campaign, which is ultimately interrelated to conservation and management of natural resources. The year 2007 has also been declared as Water Year by the Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India to create awareness among end users for judicious use of water through a series of pre scheduled activities. South East Asia has much more water resources per person than the world average. However, India is reaching the water scarcity limit (2000 m3 / inhabitant /year).
In the light of the above, adequate investments have to be made in the water and environmental sector at all levels. To ensure sustainable development of water resources, the interventions/new developments in this field need discussion at length at a common platform to suggest the way out for maintaining the natural ecosystem, which is the primary objective of the proposed conference.

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