|
What
nations can choose?
The Real Green Revolution-III
Today, nations have two simple choices to make.
It is obvious that food production must keep pace with the demands
of a growing population. But productivity from existing irrigated
lands is unlikely to increase dramatically.
Therefore, nations can
EITHER
Expand land area under major irrigation schemes
OR
Improve the productivity of rainfed land, following a method of
supplemental
irrigation via water harvesting.
The first approach demands that huge water resources be mobilised.
It demands colossal investment in large irrigation systems.
The second approach has an enormous - as yet, untapped - potential
to increase food production.
The first approach is one that has been tried, tested and found
wanting. It is an inherently constrained approach. For two reasons:
- available water resources are limited;
- growing social conflicts over the creation of large irrigation
systems (reservoirs, and canals, attending bureaucracy and corruption).
The second approach is an emergent one. It is a vibrant and inherently
unconstrained approach. For two reasons:
- once available, water resources keep expanding exponentially;
- growing social harmony over the creation of local harvesting
systems.
The real Green Revolution is about harvesting rainwater.
Look up. Think rain. Catch water where
it falls. Let the rain change social existence. Let it transform
human lives.
|
|
|
|
|
