Sustaining sugarcane productivity under depleting water resources

Sugarcane is a high water-requiring (with an average of 20 megalitres of water/ha) crop and 80% of its water requirement is met through groundwater. The Central Ground Water Board has estimated that only 162 billion cubic metres (BCM)/yr of groundwater is available for future irrigation, out of which around 40 BCM/yr is available in the sugar-producing states. Sugarcane cultivation in 5.0 million ha area will require about 100 BCM of water/yr. NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Satellites reveal faster depletion of groundwater stocks, especially in North and Northwestern India (18 BCM/yr). Under the depleting groundwater scenario, productivity of high waterrequiring crops like sugarcane can only be sustained using technologies economizing water and cultivating sugarcane varieties with relatively lesser water requirement.