Resource information
With 16 percent of the world’s population, India has 2.45 percent of the world’s land resources and 4 percent of its water resources. It is obvious that supply will barely match future demand. Around 50 percent of irrigated agriculture and 85 percent of rural drinking water comes from groundwater. Sustainable management of groundwater plays a major role in the agriculture sector, contributing to the economic development of a mainly agrarian country. Half of farmer households in India are indebted and the average outstanding loan increases with the size of the landholding. Smallholders, who have no access to irrigation make up a major portion of the worlds’ poor. In relation to operational area, the poor are well represented in groundwater irrigation. Over 60 percent of India’s irrigated area is dependent on some form of groundwater source. The people nearest the groundwater can best manage this resource, not agencies that visit every now and then. Therefore, the nature, occurrence and behaviour of aquifer systems need to be understood by those most affected by changes in the system. Local organizations, government, civil society and the private sector all have important, and often unique, roles to play in participatory groundwater management (PGM). This publication is an attempt to describe these roles as they developed during the life of a set of projects in Andhra Pradesh. PGM is highly relevant for India’s rural development, given current groundwater development practice and related institutional capacities and policy initiatives. Without some method for putting management into the hands of users, the long-term viability of many rural communities is at risk.
