Political Economy of Power Subsidies in Agriculture

Abstract

Abstract newlineWith 1.30 billion people, India faces difficulty doubling food production from the declining newlineper capita land and water availability. About 55 percent of the Indian population is dependent newlineon agriculture and allied sectors for their livelihood, and agriculture contributes only 14 percent newlineto the nation s GDP (Agriculture Report, 2014). Indian agriculture is primarily based on small newlinefarm agriculture, with most of the farmers owning less than 1 hectare of land. The total newlinecultivable land in India is 141 million hectares, with a cropping intensity of 135 percent and a newlinehigh percentage of 83 percent of small landholding farmers. India is known for groundwater newlineirrigation with 39 million hectares of land across the globe, beating China with 19 million newlinehectares of land and the USA with 17 million hectares of land, respectively at second and third newlinespots (Siebert et al., 2010). Globally, irrigation accounts for more than 70 percent of total water newlinewithdrawals and more than 90 percent of full consumptive water use (DÖll, 2009; FAO, 2010; newlineShiklomanov et al.; 2000). Groundwater irrigation is facilitated by power subsidies that various newlinestates government provides to farmers. Water and energy help to produce food. newlineWithout one s presence, others cannot provide food and vice-versa. A significant chunk of newlineelectricity subsidies is given to agricultural production. The core of agriculture is power newlinesubsidy, and the middle of the power subsidy is groundwater extraction which situates the newlineagriculture production. This study tried to understand the groundwater-Energy-food nexus, newlinewhich gained popular notion post-Bonn s WEF conference in 2011. WEF nexus speaks about newlineinter-linkages of groundwater, energy, and food sectors. The study explored the WEF in the newlinegreen belt area of Haryana, which shows a clear sign of a larger and smaller farmer power newlinesubsidy gap. newlineKeywords- Political Economy, Power Subsidies, WEF Nexus, Agriculture, Groundwater newlinev newline