Sustainable development warrants cognizance of the limits of the ecosystem in terms of carrying capacity and technological externalities and, therefore, the limited extent of substitutability of natural capital with physical capital. The notion of sustainability assumes maximization and/or maintenance of current production without increasing the per unit use of inputs. In this paper, we assess the agricultural sustainability of 17 Indian states using an indicator approach for a period of two decades (1991–2011). For the analysis, the paper primarily uses the normalized temporal data for construction of indices for each of the selected indicators grouped under environmental, economic, and social dimensions. Overall, the agricultural sustainability has improved in all the states. Among the sub-components, while the social-sustainability dimension improved in all the states, the environmental and economic dimensions improved in 8 and 14 states, respectively. There was significant variation in sustainability performance among the states. Economic and environmental sustainability indices were negatively correlated. Based on the results, we advocate a strategy that negates this negative correlation. We recommend a comprehensive approach for integrating all the three dimensions for planning actions towards sustainable agricultural growth.

The paper examines the trend in the performance of rainfed agriculture in India across major crops during pre- and post-liberalisation period; and ascertains the trend in net income of crop groups of different water requirements in rainfed regions. The major crop groups considered in the analysis are coarse cereals, oilseeds, pulses and cotton. The results indicate that the growth in production of oilseeds and pulses during 1980s and early 1990s weaned out during the subsequent period, probably due to the dilution of some of the policy initiatives like mission mode operation for these crops and adverse terms of trade. However, the yield of most of the crops has increased during the post- liberalisation period. This was also associated with a sharp increase in cost of cultivation. The rate of increase in cost of cultivation was severer for traditional rainfed crops compared to water intensive crops like sugarcane and paddy. Also, the growth in value of production has been lower than the growth in cost of cultivation for the rainfed crops during the post-liberalisation period. The parity of the net income also favoured cultivation of water intensive crops in rainfed lands. Rainfed regions need to focus on yield enhancement through natural resource conservation notably, water; and, incentivise rainfed agriculture through price policies and market opportunities. The study calls for increased investment for rainfed regions for creation of affordable technologies for water conservation and increasing water use efficiency; creation of institutions for better water management and spreading water literacy for sustainable crop production.

In India, of late, micro-irrigation has received considerable policy focus. However, as of 2017, only about 10% of the potential area is under micro-irrigation. The present study analyzes the pattern and equity issues of distribution of micro-irrigation in India and identifies the potential correlates. The regression analysis reveals that the stage of groundwater development and agro-climatic differences significantly influence the spread of micro-irrigation. The relatively low spread of micro-irrigation in states with over-exploited groundwater needs attention. Overall, the study points to the need to revamp the current micro-irrigation development programmes, which focus excessively on subsidy.

This paper examines the inequity in irrigation distribution in India using a variant of Theil’s entropy measure for the period 1995–2010. The analysis reveals that the level of inequity in irrigation distribution has increased over time. Inequity has declined in canal, tank and well-irrigated systems and increased in the tube well-irrigated system. Decomposition analysis revealed that regional disparities have declined in all sources of irrigation except for tube wells. The role of property rights to groundwater, groundwater markets, energy pricing policy and competitive deepening of wells in worsening the inequity in access to groundwater resources is also discussed.