India’s excess sugar production is guzzling groundwater

Subject: Geography

Section: Economic geography

Context:

In 2021-2022, India surpassed Brazil to become the largest sugar producer in the world, producing 359 lakh tonnes – an all-time high. But this isn’t sweet news: with the resources that go into making all that sugar dwindling at an alarming rate, India’s sugar market might slip into its biggest crisis ever in the coming decades.

What is the issue with sugarcane production?

The impact of high sugarcane production on the country’s groundwater is disastrous – and it has also been overlooked. If we don’t address the chronic overuse of groundwater in the sugar industry soon and effectively, India’s agricultural sector will be at risk of collapse.

Reasons for excess sugar production in India:

High consumption (India is the world’s largest sugar consumer) and demand.
Government policies and measures:
- Central Government’s Fair and remunerative price (FRP) for sugarcane
- Mandatory payment of a minimum price to sugarcane farmers by the sugar mills.
- Heavy subsidies and incentives by the state governments.
The resulting sugar surplus has led to higher exports, with a record 110 lakh tonnes exported in 2021-2022.
In fact, Brazil, Australia, and Guatemala filed a complaint with the World Trade Organisationagainst India for violating international trade rules by offering excessive export subsidies and domestic support to farmers to outcompete other countries in the global sugar market. The Organisation ruled against India and India also lost its appeal.

Ethanol production as a solution to the surplus production:

To deal with the sugar surplus, the Indian government considered diverting it to the production of ethanol.
- Ethanol is the active ingredient in alcoholic beverages and is also used in the chemicals and cosmetics industries.
The government launched the ethanol-blended petrol (EBP) programme in 2003 to reduce crude oil imports and curtail greenhouse gas emissions from petrol-based vehicles; it has been fairly successful.
- It started with the modest goal of achieving a blending rate of 5%, but the target set for 2025 is 20%.
- The government also reduced the Goods and Services Tax on ethanol from 18% to 5% in 2021.
- In the same year, of the 394 lakh tonnes of total sugar produced, about 350 lakh tonnes were diverted to produce ethanol, while India achieved a blending rate of 10% months ahead of target.

How does excessive sugarcane cultivation impact groundwater?

Sugarcane is a highly resource-intensive cash crop: it needs a large swath of land and guzzles groundwater.
Experts recommend that installing solar panels would be a better use of land than sugarcane cultivation, to reduce net emissions.
India’s top sugarcane-growing states are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu.
- The first three account for 85-90% of the sugar produced in the country.
- If sugarcane were a purely rainfed crop, it would need around 3,000 mm of rainfall a year to be irrigated.
- But these three states receive around 1,000-1,200 mm a year.
- The remaining water requirement is met by groundwater.
- Most of this groundwater resides in confined aquifers so it is a limited resource.
The 110 lakh tonnes of sugar that India exported in 2021-2022 ‘includes’26 lakh crore litres of groundwater.
The top sugarcane growing states are already drought-prone as well as groundwater-stressed.
- In a 2022 report, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) noted that a third of all its groundwater assessment units in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka were ‘semi-critical’, ‘critical’ or ‘over-exploited’.

What are the solutions to this problem?

Assess and then correct incentives that do not favor sugarcane over other crops.
Introducing fair and comprehensive subsidy schemes for a variety of crops.
Prevent monoculture and ensure an equitable income.
Use of drip irrigation (reduces water consumption by upto 70%) in sugarcane cultivation practices.
Adopt the practices like: Rainwater harvesting, watershed management, wastewater treatment, and canal irrigation networks.

For more details on Sugarcane crop: https://optimizeias.com/sugarcane/