Resource detail

India will soon have a water atlas, thanks to an initiative by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). The facility will help the country improve crop planning for judicious use of water, a rapidly depleting resource. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development had estimated that about 80% of India’s total available freshwater is used for agriculture. It is estimated that 50-55% of the irrigation water across India is used up by just two crops: Rice and sugarcane. The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (Icrier) has just completed mapping the physical and economic productivity of water available in India. Rice, wheat, maize, chana, tur, groundnut, mustard, sugarcane, cotton and potato are the crops whose water use has been mapped.