Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers
West Bengal, India’s largest rice-producing state, has over seven million small and marginal farmers. The rice economy of the region especially that of summer (Boro) paddy is backed by groundwater – an abundant resource in most parts of this State. Despite the rich and shallow aquifers, most of the...
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Capítulo de libro |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
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Informa UK Limited
2022
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/119716 |
| _version_ | 1855517565782065152 |
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| author | Shah, Manisha Shah, Tushaar Daschowdhury, Sujata |
| author_browse | Daschowdhury, Sujata Shah, Manisha Shah, Tushaar |
| author_facet | Shah, Manisha Shah, Tushaar Daschowdhury, Sujata |
| author_sort | Shah, Manisha |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | West Bengal, India’s largest rice-producing state, has over seven million small and marginal farmers. The rice economy of the region especially that of summer (Boro) paddy is backed by groundwater – an abundant resource in most parts of this State. Despite the rich and shallow aquifers, most of the farmers do not have access to a private source of irrigation and there is a huge dependence on informal irrigation services market where owners of electric tubewells sell irrigation to neighboring farms. Unlike other states of India, West Bengal charges farmers near-commercial metered tariff for the power used to run electric submersible pumps, creating oligopolistic irrigation markets and subsequently leading to exorbitant irrigation costs for small and marginal farmers. This is making paddy farming unviable for many irrigation buyers who are quitting paddy farming altogether. In this chapter, we explore an alternate energy pricing regime with flat-cum-metered electricity tariff structure, which was piloted in Manoharpur village of West Bengal. The pilot throws light into the dynamics of the market players, price setting mechanisms, motivations of pump owners, and provides evidence in support of a flat-cum-seasonally metered tariff structure that has the potential to uplift gains from paddy farming in the State. Without a change in the energy policy of the State, the trend of small farmers leaving agriculture is likely to continue and their livelihoods and food security will continue to be at risk. |
| format | Book Chapter |
| id | CGSpace119716 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publishDateRange | 2022 |
| publishDateSort | 2022 |
| publisher | Informa UK Limited |
| publisherStr | Informa UK Limited |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1197162025-05-20T05:37:22Z Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers Shah, Manisha Shah, Tushaar Daschowdhury, Sujata groundwater rice irrigation water smallholders farmers electricity supplies energy consumption policies water market tariffs pumps livelihoods West Bengal, India’s largest rice-producing state, has over seven million small and marginal farmers. The rice economy of the region especially that of summer (Boro) paddy is backed by groundwater – an abundant resource in most parts of this State. Despite the rich and shallow aquifers, most of the farmers do not have access to a private source of irrigation and there is a huge dependence on informal irrigation services market where owners of electric tubewells sell irrigation to neighboring farms. Unlike other states of India, West Bengal charges farmers near-commercial metered tariff for the power used to run electric submersible pumps, creating oligopolistic irrigation markets and subsequently leading to exorbitant irrigation costs for small and marginal farmers. This is making paddy farming unviable for many irrigation buyers who are quitting paddy farming altogether. In this chapter, we explore an alternate energy pricing regime with flat-cum-metered electricity tariff structure, which was piloted in Manoharpur village of West Bengal. The pilot throws light into the dynamics of the market players, price setting mechanisms, motivations of pump owners, and provides evidence in support of a flat-cum-seasonally metered tariff structure that has the potential to uplift gains from paddy farming in the State. Without a change in the energy policy of the State, the trend of small farmers leaving agriculture is likely to continue and their livelihoods and food security will continue to be at risk. 2022-03-04 2022-05-31T23:51:19Z 2022-05-31T23:51:19Z Book Chapter https://hdl.handle.net/10568/119716 en Limited Access Informa UK Limited Shah, Manisha; Shah, Tushaar; Daschowdhury, Sujata. 2022. Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers. In Re, V.; Manzione, R. L.; Abiye, T. A.; Mukherji, Aditi; MacDonald, A. (Eds.). Groundwater for sustainable livelihoods and equitable growth. Leiden, Netherlands: CRC Press - Balkema. pp.337-346. (IAH - International Contributions to Hydrogeology 30) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781003024101-18] |
| spellingShingle | groundwater rice irrigation water smallholders farmers electricity supplies energy consumption policies water market tariffs pumps livelihoods Shah, Manisha Shah, Tushaar Daschowdhury, Sujata Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers |
| title | Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers |
| title_full | Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers |
| title_fullStr | Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers |
| title_short | Groundwater-driven paddy farming in West Bengal: how a smallholder-unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers |
| title_sort | groundwater driven paddy farming in west bengal how a smallholder unfriendly farm power policy affects livelihoods of farmers |
| topic | groundwater rice irrigation water smallholders farmers electricity supplies energy consumption policies water market tariffs pumps livelihoods |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/119716 |
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