概要

This paper aims to understand the impact of intensified forms of agriculture on the availability of water resources in a dryland watershed in Telangana, India. The report assesses the water use of three main farming systems in the study region, and then calculates the water balance at the watershed level to understand the agricultural impact on groundwater availability within the watershed. The three farming systems studied are the crop without livestock system (CWL; 48% of households), the crop-dairy system (CD; 38% of households), and the crop with small ruminants system (CSR; 6% of households). The results indicated that the CD system used the highest quantity of water (19,668 m3/ household/y), followed by the CSR (8645 m3/household/y) and CWL (4403 m3/household/y). CWL and CD systems comprise 86% of the households, making these systems the largest water users. Cultivation of water-demanding non-dryland crops, increased specialization of farming systems, and management practices in current farming systems are the factors causing over-utilization of water and subsequent groundwater depletion. The paper concludes that there is a need to promote agro-ecologically suitable farming strategies, improve the existing technological options and introduce new policies that reduce the over-use of water resources for sustainable agricultural production in dryland regions.