Role of agriculture value chains in the enhancement of water and food environments

Abstract

Water and food are two inter-woven aspects. Water is a critical input for agriculture production and plays an important role in food security (WBG, 2020). Variability and over-abstraction of water resources has been instrumental in allowing the substantial food production. On the contrary, activities such as water and fertilizer intensive cropping can be held responsible for the degradation of water resources. Substantial food production is the determinant of a healthy food environment as it determines the food availability within a region and have the potential to support rural livelihood. Agriculture value chains which directly influence food systems are also responsible for the virtual movement of water through the production of water intensive crops and trading them to other localities. Water and food environments are two integral sectors of an agriculture value chain; the former can be perceived as a driver side element, while the latter can be thought of as an output side element as it determines the factors such as food availability and accessibility within an area. Modern agriculture value chains become more focused towards creating new market opportunities and explored as a tool for enhancing monetary benefits. However, there are several non-economic consequences which are associated with the current operation and structure of agriculture value chains. Agricultural value chains are experiencing significant changes and are confronted with numerous environmental and social challenges (FAO, 2020). Small farm holders are still excluded from participation in markets and balancing the demands on scarce natural resources has proven difficult. Due to the overriding perspective of being economically beneficial, we tend to overlook their importance in ensuring sustainable and equitable food production as they often result in mono cropping of high return - low maintenance robust crops without realizing its implications. Meerut district is a part of Indo Gangetic plain which is known as vital food bowl for nearly 40% of India’s population (ICAR-IIFSR, n.d.) and a district of Uttar Pradesh which comes under the top farming states of India. Despite its location in the most fertile land, the district has experienced a shift towards sugarcane monoculture cultivation, which is expected to continue. In align with this cultivation shift, the district has gone through significant changes in the region’s water and food environments. Therefore, Meerut district is taken up for detailed study based on positive indicators such as presence of agriculture belt, livelihood dependency on agriculture sector, good connectivity and negative indicators of dependency on irrigation sources, high consumption of fertilizers, declining trend of farm cultivators and food grains, low average income of Agriculture households comparatively to other farming states. Thus, the thesis aims at enhancing water and food environments of the study area by exploring sustainable agriculture value chain approach. The concept of Sustainable Agriculture Value Chains works on three aspects of green growth, eco-social progress, and inclusive growth through the contributions towards environmental, economic and social sustainability. It is at the core of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals as it emphasize on reshaping the current food systems to be more productive, more inclusive of marginalized populations, environmentally sustainable and resilient, and able to deliver healthy and essential diets to all at fair prices (FAO, 2018). It contributes majorly to various targets of SDG 2, some of them are target 2.1 by making food accessible to all, target 2.3 through the inclusion of small-scale farmers, and target 2.4 by ensuring sustainable food production system. It can contribute to SDG 3, 14 & 15 as it promotes minimal use of fertilizers, conservation of soil and water. It has the potential to contribute to SDG 13 as well by focusing on the aggregation of even the smallest produce, which can help reduce overall food waste while also allowing small farmers to participate. This has been achieved through a set of four objectives based on which the study has been further divided into phases. First phase was about understanding the concept of the three research components and their inter-linkages through literature study. Under this phase, the literature review has been carried out under six broad domains ranging from conceptual understanding to the spatial dimensions of an agriculture value chain. This phase has been followed by the data collection for the analysis through secondary as well as primary sources. Second phase was about impact analysis and base line scenario through mapping of identified water and food environment indicators. This phase was carried out on Macro level, where Meerut district has been taken as a unit of analysis based on secondary sources of data. For drawing an outcome of this particular phase, comparative analysis has been carried out in order to highlight those dimensions of a value chain which we don’t actually emphasize upon. The impact analysis talks about the implications of mono cropping prevalence activities ranging from production to consumption on existing water and food environments at the district level. Sugarcane being a robust industrial and cash crop attracts more money comparatively to other crops yet its mono-culture farming has detrimental effects on environment and resulted in declining trend of farm cultivators, food grains production etc. due to its water, fertiliser and labour intensive nature. The cascading effects of Sugarcane mono culture farming highlights the need to adopt Crop diversification through an approach of value chains as they have an important role to play in determining the extent to which crop diversity is being maintained within a region. Third phase was completely based on the value chain analysis of the food dependent crops and the most produced crop within the district in order to understand the obstruction and promoting factors respectively. This phase was focused on identifying all the loopholes in the current value chains for the food-dependent crops (vegetables and food grains) serving as an obstruction in promoting crop diversity within the area and encouraging mono-culture farming practices. The issues have been identified which are associated with different components of an agriculture value chain starting from input supply which is an important step at production stage, followed by post-harvest storage, collection, processing and markets. Consolidated picture of identified issues comprises of depleting groundwater tables, degradation of soil fertility, pre-dominance of small scale farm holders often lacking the ability to produce enough marketable surplus, absence of storage facilities, minimum APMC facilities resulting in increased transportation cost and decrease profit, non-availability of formal processing zones as well as formal markets in demand areas etc. Last phase was about the recommendations and strategies both in terms of policy as well as spatial planning interventions in order to address the identified loop holes in the current food systems. So, the overall outcome of the thesis was to come up with a framework of sustainable agriculture value chain for Meerut and proposing possible experimental models to promote crop diversification in the region by integrating spatial planning dimensions in order to enhance region’s water and food environments. The spatial planning interventions identified are under the two main heads. Firstly, Combining Decentralised production with Centralised Services through integrated mechanism of multi scalar planning in order to consolidate small farmers produce and connect them to consumers (demand areas). Secondly, proposing areas having centralised production with centralised services through an experimental model of Food Gardens in 10 km extent of Municipal limits where large and medium farmers can practice protected agriculture such as hydroponics with an effective utilisation of waste water being generated in urban area. These models could serve as an exemplary case for other areas for the integration in spatial planning process. The thesis overall proposes to enhance water and food environments in a region through planning interventions. However, policies on both national and global level plays an important role in determining water and food environments which can be taken up as a scope for further study.