Punjabâ s agriculture water crisis: Using the multi-Level Perspective for a sustainable transition.

Punjab’s agriculture water crisis:

Using the multi-Level Perspective for a sustainable transition.

Supervisors Tamara Jonkman & Kenneth Rijsdijk Interdisciplinary project, Future Planet Studies 2015

Sam Sarpong, Max de Ploeg, Raggy Minten & Charlotte Gevaert

Index

0.

Abstract

3

1.

Introduction

4

1.1- Green Revolution

6

1.2- Relevance

6

2.

Theoretical Framework

9

2.1

Landscape developments & trends

2.1.1 - Historical trends of Globalization, Commercialization, Colonization &

Modernization

11

2.2

Socio-technical regime

2.2.1 - Corporate social responsibility

15

2.2.2 - Policy regime aimed towards more irrigation, technology and

intense cropping

16

2.2.3 - Pesticide use and its effects

17

2.2.4 - Subsidized electricity for irrigation systems

17

2.2.5 - Crops cultivation: Thirsty Crops

19

2.2.6 - Export Regime in a globalizing world

20

2.3

Socio-technical regime

22

2.3.1- Natural farming

22

2.3.2- CSR Initiatives

23

2.3.3- Results

25

3.

Discussion

26

4.

Conclusion

28

5.

References

29

0. Abstract

One of the leading agricultural producing regions in India is Punjab (Simpson, 2012) . For this production a lot of water is needed and this causes issues regarding the water use in the area. This report identified the different problems which are involved in the water issues. The problems include governmental policies, Corporate Social Responsibility by large businesses, crop cultivation and the excessive use of pesticides (Tiwana et al, 2009). The results indicate that action is needed to avoid major water issues in the future. Although this report could not include all of the processes that play a role, a set of

1. Introduction

India is one of the top agricultural producing countries (Simpson, 2012). The Punjab region (figure 1) is one of India’s most fertile areas and contributes to a large degree to agricultural production. Nowadays, this region is suffering from profound problems in relation to sustainable use of water. These problems were caused by several factors.

The social responsibility of the farmers to the government is pressuring the productivity of the

agricultural land. This social responsibility began in 1961 with the Intensive Agricultural Districts Programme (Brown, 2013). This was the beginning of the so-called

Green Revolution, which will be discussed later. The intensive farming practices caused an excessive use of irrigation pumps, that eventually led to the current lowering of water-tables. Farmers, consequently, were forced to pump water from aquifers deeper in the ground (Brown, 2013). The increasing scarcity of water makes pumping water

increasingly expensive. Furthermore, the government is decreasing subsidy for farmers; this will most likely cause farmers to use more credit loans (Hira, 2009).

Not only the farmers contributed to the current low-water tables; business corporations also played their part by using large amounts of groundwater for manufacturing their products. One of the main culprits in this regard are beverage corporations which excessively use the already scarce resources for their production. The two largest corporations in this branch are Coca-Cola India and PepsiCo India. Water and labor costs in India are very cheap. Besides that, government policies are focused on attracting foreign investors. These factors stimulate companies to outsource their production to Punjab and thus utilize their resources, of which groundwater is an important one (Faheem, 2009). The Indian government noticed the huge amount of unsustainable water use by these companies and obliged them to implement corporate social responsible (CSR) behavior. CSR is a concept that let corporations account for the environmental consequences of their business activities. It serves as a guideline which companies can interpret in their own way.

The way in which groundwater aquifers replenish is dependable of the

concerning aquifer; depletion of an aquifer can be a big issue while it may take decades to reach the original water levels. This has a large impact on the environment. Natural streamflow, wetlands and ecosystems are all influenced by aquifer depletion. In deltaic areas land subsidence and saltwater intrusion may arise, which can pressure the water quality and surrounding environment (Wada et al., 2010).

Another problem that came up is the use of pesticides for agriculture and the accumulation in water and food (Tiwana et al., 2009). Groundwater is the largest source

of fresh water of the world and is partially stored in aquifers, which are structures under the land surface consisting of rocks, soil, sand and gravel (U.S. Geological survey, n.d.).

This research endeavors to analyze how Punjab can utilize water in the agricultural sector more sustainably. In the case of Punjab it is clear that the solution cannot come from one party or from a mono-disciplinary perspective. Therefore, this research takes four disciplines into account: Earth and Political sciences, Human Geography, and Business Studies. By doing so, it is hoped that this interdisciplinary research gives more insights concerning this complex problem. The Multi-level Perspective (MLP) framework, the technique of extension and the technique of organization which will be elaborated on later, will be utilized in order to integrate insights from the above-mentioned disciplines. The MLP framework serves as a guideline throughout this report.As said this research is focused on the region of Punjab, India and the following research question will be answered:

How can Punjab, seen from a political, social, geological and business perspective move towards a more sustainable use of groundwater in the agricultural sector?

The report starts off by elaborating further on the Green Revolution and the relevance of this research. Subsequently, the theoretical framework and methodology will be introduced. The final chapters of this report consist of solutions (niche developments), the discussion and conclusion.

1.1 Green revolution

In 1960, the Indian government launched an Intensive Districts Programme [IDP]. The new approach emphasized numerous smaller districts in India and encouraged the rural population to follow the Green Revolution guidelines. Regions with the

potential of using well-developed irrigation techniques were approached, one of which included the district of Ludhiana which lays central in Punjab, the study area of the research. The government of Punjab agreed to the guidelines and suggested to help the success of the plan by providing subsidies for the farmers and new infrastructure. Also, the network of canals made in colonial times contributed to making Punjab a region interesting for the implementation of IDP. Within a decade, the wheat production had tripled as a large percentage of the farmers were applying the new techniques according to the Green Revolution. The region, which is a mere 1.5% of the total surface area of India, produced over 20% of India’s wheat and 10% of the cultivated rice of the country (Brown, 2013).

The economic benefits were of short matter as the increase in yields came to an end towards the 1990s. The farmers were therefore unable to compensate the

further increase in prices of products they depended on, such as fertilizers and machinery with their agricultural output. The unsustainable techniques of the Green Revolution were also accompanied with other environmental problems such as the declination of soil fertility. This suggested that the farmers increased the amount of fertilizer to compensate, even though the prices were still rising. Additionally, the groundwater table was affected by the unsustainable techniques of the Green

Revolution. Farmers were not aware of the consequences of the excessive use of their pumps for irrigation water. Another problem that came forward is the pollution of aquifers due to the aforementioned excessive use of pesticides (Tiwana et al., 2009). This does not only affect the environment by causing eutrophication (Agrawal, 1999), but also the health of the population by leading to more cases of diseases such as cancer or mental retardation (Mittal et al., 2014).

1.2 Relevance of the research

Aquifer depletion is an environmental issue that is occurring worldwide. The problem occurs when groundwater is extracted at a larger rate than it is naturally

recharged. Aquifer depletion is only becoming a more drastic problem as time passes due to the increasing global population, unsustainable irrigation techniques, economic development and especially the distribution of freshwater resources. Even though fresh surface water resources could meet global demands, roughly 2 billion people, which is more than a third of the total global population, are currently dealing with water stress. To maintain agriculture in these areas, water is extracted from underlying aquifers where possible for irrigation purposes due to lack of sufficient precipitation to feed the crops. Once this is done over a large timeframe, the groundwater tables drop drastically to, in some cases, a point at which total recharge is not possible anymore.

It is also important to consider how severe the problem of aquifer depletion is and how this is enhanced by the current natural crisis. Wada et al. (2010) have calculated the rate at which water is depleted by estimating groundwater recharge by a global hydrological model and subtracting groundwater depletion. For sub-humid and arid regions the total groundwater extraction was set at 283

km

As over two-third of the population and 19% of the GDP of India is dependent on the agricultural sector, it is important to maintain the yields and make sure this can be done in the future. The way of practicing agriculture in India has led to several serious and previously mentioned issues. Not only the health is affected by the usage of toxins as fertilizers as will become clear later in the report (Tiwana et al., 2009; Mittal et al., 2014), it also affect the water quality (Agrawal, 1999) and thus the environment is affected in a serious manner. Unsustainable ways of irrigation only enhance this problem. The use of chemical fertilizers on agricultural land cause the pollution of underlying water sources, which makes the, already scarce, ground water sources less useful. As the groundwater table is lowering, it only costs the farmers more energy and money to pump up the groundwater for irrigation purposes. This all will lead to a downward spiral effect of the

extraction of water, which has a negative impact on the water sources to replenish themselves.

2. Theoretical Framework and Methodology

To answer this research question the report makes use of several integrative techniques and a theoretical framework that helps to transform the different disciplines into a coherent whole. The main theoretical framework used for this research will be the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP). This framework will help us understand the long-term, historical and complex socio-technical transitions that have taken place and could take place in the future.

The main integrative techniques that will be used are the technique of extension and the technique of organization as explained by Repko (2008). The extension is mostly done by using the concepts of the MLP as tool to broaden the scope of this research in which each discipline can than contribute to on its own terms. The three main conceptual levels used in relation to the MLP are (1) Landscape: “exogenous factors and especially, trends.”, (2) Regime: “self-reproducing set of interrelated practices and their structural context” and (3) Niche: “spaces where prevailing regime is less dominant, where

experiments may occur” (Grin, 2014). These levels and their interactions are illustrated in figure 2. Each discipline will, as much as possible, subsequently incorporate relevant insights into the different concept levels. Meaning, for instance, that each discipline will try to identify their specific factors and trends that are relevant to add to the concept of landscape; whereby the concept of landscape is broadened by the contributions of each different discipline. This will then be done for each of the three levels after which conclusions and recommendations can be given.

The theoretical framework of the MLP is used to help organize and understand the different interactions that are taking place between the different levels, the discipline specific concepts/ the processes which are relevant for understanding the main research question. The theoretical framework serves to find common ground and can help map interactions and causal relationships between the different levels, and is thus part of the organizing technique.

When conducting a research from the MLP it is important to be aware of the different pathways and mechanism by which transitions can take place, thus looking at the historical context and longer trends and how the different levels influence each other. The main research question will be analyzed mostly by doing an historical case study, which serves to theorize about possible transitional pathways that can take place, have taken place or could take place. The main method will be to do a literature study from each discipline that provides a historical case study for understanding the challenges and possible solutions towards a more sustainable use of groundwater in Punjab. By using the MLP this paper seeks to explore if new insights can be build.

In the following sections this paper will elaborate/describe respectively the landscape developments, the socio-technical regime, the niche developments, the

discussion and the conclusion. What will become apparent in this paper is that describing global factors is crucial to understanding the local problems and solutions, trends and socio-technical regime.

2.1 Landscape developments and trends

This section elaborates on the long term historical trends that have influenced the way agriculture in the Punjab region is conducted and how it influenced water use. In addition, the history of colonization, trends in globalization/neoliberalization, the exploitation and pollution of groundwater and its effects on agriculture and health of farmers will be discussed. The argument is that these landscape trends put pressure on the existing socio-technical regime, which then might give space for a transition to take place.

2.1.1 Historical trends of Globalization, Commercialization,

Colonization & Modernization

It is important to note that trends of globalization are not something new, but rather has been a continuous process taking place over the past 500 years. Herein, globalization arguably has its roots in the first ‘explorers’ like Columbus who were ‘instructed’ to look for colonies to exploit and trade products with (Nader, 1989, page 10). During this longer period of colonialism, many parts of the world were directly subjected to western rule, controlling commercial trade and production in various forms. Another important aspect of colonization, besides commercial interests, were the

intention to ‘civilize’ and modernize countries through bringing in and institutionalizing western culture, ways of thinking, governing and producing knowledge. The British herein spoke of the ‘white man’s burden’, its burden to civilize the ‘savage’. An example of the British creating institutions in India can be seen during World War I. The British secretary of state, Edwin Montagu, announced reforms in august 1917 which were aimed to the ‘progressive realisation of responsible government’ which meant the development of ‘self-governing institutions’; as long as India remained an integral part of the empire (Kitchen, 2015). The motivation behind these reforms was to counter political unrest during that period.

After the annexation of Punjab in 1849, a commercialization process of agriculture and Punjab’s integration into a global capitalist market took place. This integration was considerably facilitated by the direct appropriation of agrarian surplus by the colonial state through its system of taxation (Mukherjee, 2005). In the book

‘Colonizing Agriculture The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism’ it is explained that: “the crucial difference with pre-British times was the linking up of the regional market with the world market as well as, of course, the all-India market. While before annexation hardly any agricultural produce was exported from the region” (Mukherjee, 2005). New markets started to be felt inside Punjab by the mid-1860’s. From the 1880’s exports in Punjab had reached significant proportions which, as the table below illustrates, continued to increase thereafter.

Colonization of Punjab thus resulted in agricultural products being exported to ‘distant lands’, in which the prices were now subjected to a combination of local, national and international factors (Mukherjee, 2005). As Giddens also explains globalization is increasingly changing the traditional, local and natural relations consumers have to food (Spaargaren et al., 2012, page 3) as consumers of food are now increasingly more living in urban areas detached from the production process itself. Furthermore, the post-war period was focused mainly on increasing efficiency and rationalization (Spaargaren et al., 2012, page 1). In short, one could argue that the world has become increasingly a global market over time as colonization created a certain mindset, ideology, culture, institutional set of governing that were conducive to creating a globalized market.

Other influences of British colonial rule were the setup of several institutions which contributed to readiness of the Punjab region to go through the Green Revolution. British interventions during the colonial era for instance have help set up ‘irrigation, canals, the strengthening of the banking system to face the increasing demand for liquid cash, and the extension of infrastructures’ (Corsi, 2006). All over the world universities and educational systems were set up to shape the colonies in a way that would be productive to the economic goals of the different mother countries in the west. Indeed, increasing agricultural output has been of interest already since 1904, which was the year that the Imperial Institute of Agrarian Research was founded in the state of Bihar (which was later renamed the Indian Institute for Agrarian Research) (Corsi, 2006). In other words: export, rational, technical and market oriented solutions had already become ingrained in the institutional logic and mindset of Punjabs governing institutions before India gained independence. What is also important to note is that, under British rule, famines in different regions in India were not uncommon; of which the Bengal famine (1943) is a notorious case in India’s recent history ( approximately 3 million people died). This history of famines also gave incentive to India’s government to strife towards more self-sufficiency in relation to food after it gained independence (in the past even

striving for autarky); resulting in several policies being implemented during the

decolonization period such as The Green Revolution, The agricultural Land Ceiling Act and Minimum Support Price (MSP) policy.

Another important trend that puts pressure on and gives incentive to increased production from agriculture are population pressures; as Hira (2009, p.136) writes “To feed India’s projected population of 1.35 billion in 2025, agricultural production would have to be increased by ~25%”. Graph 2 shows that in India the population has been steadily growing in the past several decades. Furthermore, the population is currently increasing with a 1.2% annual growth rate (World Bank, 2014).

Today most countries have won their independence. However; since the 70’s until the present, most developing countries are now regulated by the Structural

Adjustment Programs of the IMF and other various trade agreements of the WTO, with the aim of promoting a global ‘free trade’ market. Some of the consequences were that market regulations have been limited, minimum wages have been lowered, government spending has been cut back and import tariffs have decreased. This later came to be known as the ‘Washington Consensus’ also often described as the period of neoliberal

economics. In India the trend towards trade ‘liberalisation’ can be seen, as Shiva (2004) explains, by looking at the “triple pressure of the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, World Bank-IMF conditionalities”. For example, during a dispute initiated by the U.S. in 1997 against India, the WTO decided to force India to remove its Quantitative Restrictions on agricultural imports (Shiva, 2004).

Another important trend is, as Lindenberg (1999) writes, that “since the 1970s a profound shift has taken place in the roles of the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors (...) the scope and capacity of governments has declined.”(Lindenberg, 1999). Indeed, “Between 1960 and 1996, the number of [International Non Governmental

Organizations] INGOs grew from 1,000 to 5,500” (Meernik et al., 2012.). Other trends that illustrate that increasingly social responsibilities of governments are transferred to private and or non governmental initiatives is that you can see that since 2004 a boom in fair trade products has taken place as can be seen in the graph (3) below. It is in this context no surprise that the discourse of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’ (CSR) has increasingly taken root since the 70s when a lot of empirical research concerning this concept was undertaken (Carroll, 1999). In short, since the 1970 and its global neoliberalisation you see a worldwide trend of governments losing some of their responsibilities which are increasingly transferred to CSR and INGO’s initiatives due to pressures of neoliberal austerities.

How trade ‘liberalization’ and global/local market oriented policy has further influenced Punjabs socio-technical regime will be discussed later on in the piece.

2.2 Socio-technical regime

2.2.1 Corporate Social Responsibility

There are various theories and concepts which relate business activities to sustainability. A few examples are Fair trade and the Triple Bottom Line concept. These terms originate from the CSR concept. CSR is a broad concept and is basically used by corporations as a guideline for ameliorating their business activities. There are various ways for how companies implement CSR:

Cost reduction: CSR can help to reduce costs because it has both financial and environmental benefits. Eco-efficiencies like reductions in energy consumption and a decrease in the costs of workspaces in general can be produced.

Reputation: Implementing CSR can be beneficial for the reputation of organizations. It can help to attract new customers and to gain (more) market shares. Some CSR initiatives are for example Coca Cola in India which provides fertilizers for the farmers. Customers assume that social responsible behavior is related to products which are more reliable and of higher quality (McWilliams et al.,

2000).

Improved access to capital:

Nowadays, many investors include CSR as a mandatory criterion into their selection processes. Following CSR guidelines can thus improve the stature of corporations in the eyes of the investment community, which gives access to capital (Sexty, 2011).

Carroll invented a 4-layered pyramid which describes, according to him, all dimensions of CSR. He argued that all of these

responsibilities have always existed to some degree but the ethical and philanthropic responsibilities have become only significant in recent years. The economic layer suggests that business should in the first

place be profitable by being efficient and effective, CSR contributes to this.

The law represents the rules which companies are obliged to follow. The next layer describes the kinds of behaviors and ethical norms that society expects businesses to follow. Finally, the philanthropic layer represents the voluntarism, thus what society does not expect from a company (Sexty, 2011).

Beverage corporations extract large amounts of groundwater in India which is used for manufacturing their products. As stated earlier, PepsiCo India and Coca-Cola India are the main culprits. Coca-Cola India has been accused various times for

mismanaging water resources. This has led to a huge amount of dissatisfaction in many communities. One of their largest bottling plants in Plachimada (South India) has been shut down due unsustainable water practices (Indian Resource Center, 2011). In 2005 they were also forced to close one of their bottling plants in Kerala (Southwest India) due to the same problem. Their plant in Varanasi (Northeast India), which has been utilized for 15 years, was also forced to close in 2014. Besides the closure of bottling plants, new land which was allocated for expanding their bottling plants in Tamil Nadu (Southeast India) was withdrawn by the government due to large scale community protests and proposals for expansion have often been rejected by the government (Srivastava, 2015).

2.2.2 Policy regime aimed towards more irrigation, technology and

intense cropping

The history of western led globalization seems to have led to a globalized ideology which puts human society above nature instead of seeing it as an inherent part of nature and or ecosystems. Nature is commodified and used to make products for global and national markets. The socio-technical regime in India, and specifically the Punjab region, made use of modern technologies to increase the production of agriculture. Since the introduction of the fourth plan (1969-74) there is an increased emphasis on irrigation, technical change and higher cropping intensity. Furthermore, incentives were created for increasing the relative share of food crops in relation to food security (Deshpande, 2003). Earlier plans also aimed for an increased area to be under cultivation (Deshpande, 2003).The aims and results of the policy are clearly illustrated in table 2 which shows that since 1950 irrigation areas, areas under food grains, net sown area and cropping intensity have all increased inside Punjab.

Examples of the increased use of technologies are, for instance, the introduction of new seeds, non-organic fertilizers, insecticides, farm machinery, tractors, threshers,

and new mechanized irrigation systems, diesel, electric which spread rapidly during the Green Revolution (Hira, 2009). Some of these applied technologies and their adverse effects will be further discussed below.

2.2.3 Pesticide use and its effects

As mentioned earlier, pesticides are part of the problem. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides are used in agriculture to increase the crop yields (Singh et al., 2013). Mittal et al. (2014, p.367) stated that ‘the consumption of fertilizers increased from around 78,000 tons in 1965-1966 to 26.5 million tons during 2009-2010 while … the pesticide

consumption in India increased from 154 metric tons in 1954 to 88,000 metric tons in 2000-2001’. It is estimated that Punjab uses about 17% of the pesticides used in India, while Punjab only accounts for 1,5% of the country’s landmass (Tiwana et al., 2009).

Excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides can cause different kinds of problems. It can affect non-target plants or animals due to accumulation in food and water and it can cause human health issues (Tiwana et al., 2009). Regarding water, one of the problems is eutrophication (Agrawal, 1999) and regarding human health issues, Mittal et al. (2014) list the following effects: deaths due to pesticide poisoning, reproductive abnormalities and miscarriages, neurological and behavioral disorders and premature hair greying.

Mittal et al. (2014) describe three factors responsible for pesticide contamination in the Malwa Region of Punjab. The nature of these factors are occupational,

environmental and social. Occupational factors imply that people working in the

agricultural sector will be exposed more to pesticides. This is an important factor because 70% of the people in Punjab are (in)directly associated with agriculture. Secondly, one environmental factor is the combination of a high temperature (30 to 45 degrees) with high speed winds. This causes that pesticides remain in the air longer and thus can drift long distances. Also, the soil texture can enhance leaching into groundwater. Thirdly, social factors like insufficient knowledge about the hazards caused by pesticides make that farmers use more pesticides than recommended.

These factors illustrate that a decrease in the use of pesticides and fertilizers is necessary, but it also shows that there are multiple factors to deal with in order to realise that goal.

2.2.4 Subsidized electricity for irrigation systems

The current way of cropping in Punjab is not sustainable in regards to the groundwater resources. According to Hira (2009) , 97% of the agriculture carried out in the Punjab state is irrigated, which makes the state capable of providing for 98% of the wheat and 66% of the rice for central India (Hira, 2009) . This means that India has not needed to import food grains for the past four decades, despite population growth. However, while doing so, the groundwater resources were depleted (Hira, 2009). Groundwater pumping was necessary to meet the agricultural demand for water, which exceeds 1.2 million ha m/year. This led to the fall of the water table from 0.3 to 1 meter per year in some regions of Punjab (Hira,2009).

subsidies. The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has been supplying subsidized electricity to farmers for the use of tubewells. The annual cost of this is around $480 million, of which $288 million is used for rice cultivation alone (Hira, 2009). As table 3 shows, the irrigation system has contributed to the water resources deficit of Punjab.

The negative effects of this are that, due to the water table drop, it increases the energy requirement for pumping groundwater and also increases the

tubewell-infrastructure cost (Hira, 2009). As Hira (2009) explains, the water table drop ‘requires farmers to deepen and widen the tubewell pit, (re)purchase of an electric motor, pump, starter, cable, capacitor, voltage stabilizer, etc. Other costs involved are the purchase of diesel generator sets, diesel, and installation of new submersible pumps to replace old centrifugal irrigation’ (Hira, 2009). These extra costs then translate into increased indebtedness of farmers as can be seen in the graph (4) below.

2.2.5 Crop cultivation: Thirsty Crops

As Hira (2009) wrote: ‘the era of the Green Revolution started with wheat and rice’. The production of wheat in Punjab increased from 5.1 million tons to 15.5 million tons and that of rice from 0.7 million tons to 9.2 million tons (Hira, 2009). Table 4 shows other changes in cropping patterns in Punjab.

The issue with the increased use of rice and wheat is that they have a relative high evapotranspiration (ET) rate in comparison to the crops they replaced; “Rice (ET 60 cm/year) has replaced cotton (ET 54 cm/year), maize (ET 46 cm/year), and pulses (ET 40 cm/year). Wheat (ET 40 cm/year) has replaced gram (ET 30 cm/year), and oilseed (ET 32 cm/year).” (Hira, 2009) The figures on ET and the changes in cropping pattern show that as a result of the Green Revolution the low evapotranspiration crops have been replaced

with high-evapotranspiration crops. While rice was never the traditional crop of the Punjab, it is now one of the main culprits for the fall of the water table (Hira, 2009). The total water demand for rice and wheat accounts for respectively 37% and 32%, while other crops only use 14.3%, and fodder, vegetables, and forests 13.3% (Hira, 2009).

Another aspect of the Green Revolution is that the seed varieties that are used, as Vandana Shiva (1994) calls them, are ‘thirsty’ seeds. Irrigation, before the Green

Revolution, was mainly used to ‘protect’ crops from failing, now it is mostly used for ‘production’. For instance, the yields of High Yielding Varieties (HYV) of wheat compared to native varieties is respectively 4,690 and 3,291 Kg/ha (Shiva et al., 1994;

page 121-150). However, “The High Yielding Varieties of wheat, for example, need three times as much irrigation as traditional varieties” (Shiva et al., 1994). Herein the native variety needs 12 inches of irrigation versus the HYV varieties, which needs 36 inches of irrigation. She then calculated that for “the productivity with respect to water use is therefore 620.90 and 293.1 Kg/ha/cm respectively” (Shiva et al., 1994). After which Shiva (1994) concludes that the shift to HYV has led to a decreased productivity in water use per Kg produce.

60% of the area of whole Punjab is used for the growth of rice in the summer, making rice an inevitable crop when considering irrigation demands. In the 1970s it was usual to seed the rice in the beginning of July, however this shifted back towards May in the following years. When considering the evapotranspiration of rice, this was not beneficial for the amount of water required for growth. This is due to the increase in evapotranspiration of rice transplanted in the end of June (52cm) towards rice

transplanted in May (76cm) (Hira, 2009). Studies on the influence of relative humidity and pests on the reduction of yields in Punjab revealed that pests had a significant influence on the reductions in yield. Therefore, the transplantation of rice was moved to the end of June and beginning of July, which are the dry and hot summer months, as pests grow better in higher humidity (Hira, 2009).

2.2.6 Export Regime in a globalizing world

What is essential to emphasize is that the current relationship to agricultural land is not as to live from it in a communal sense but one of producing surplus goods for external markets that lay outside the specific agricultural areas. Something that is made necessary due to urbanization (people in the cities need to be fed) and the orientation towards a globalised market economy. What has become part of the current regime since the colonization of Punjab is the incentive given towards farmers to create surplus agricultural products for this export. Indeed, the earlier mentioned policies and technologies are all aimed at increased production of agricultural goods for the Indian and or global market.

Due to the increasingly globalized market and ‘liberalising’ forces, the

international export of rice in India has increased significantly since 1991 as can be seen in table 5. Herein, Punjab is one of the major rice producing regions and thus exporters of India.

Furthermore, Punjab, together with Haryana, is currently the main exporter of wheat; with India being the second largest wheat producer in the world (APEDA, 2015). As wheat trade in the world is greater than that of all other crops combined, demand of India's wheat in the world is showing a rising trend (Idem). The ministry of Commerce & Industry writes: the country has exported 29MT of wheat during the year of 2014-15. Already in the past (commercial) export of agriculture has exploited natural resources. To give an example, in the mid-1700s there was a widespread soil depletion due to sugar production by slave Labour in the British colony Jamaica (DaCosta, M., 2007). This is where you can see that export oriented relationships to land and its resources are

potentially exploitative to the environment, as it is aimed at producing large quantities of products for an external entity. Due to economic liberalization the total foreign direct investment (FDI) in agriculture increased from 385 million Indian Rupees to 2,560 billion Rupees between 1980 and 1990 (Sharma, 2003). This can create so called ‘moral hazards’, as foreign corporations are interested in growth and increased exports, while not bearing the negative consequences of resource depletion since they can relatively easy move out. Since the current socio-technical regime in Punjab is mostly producing wheat and rice, which are water intensive crops, attracting FDI might thus do more harm than good in terms of water exploitation.

Furthermore, the increasingly globalized market subjects farmers to compete with artificially cheap and subsidized agricultural products coming from western countries (Shiva, V, 2004). This competition also increases local economic pressures on farmers. To alleviate farmers from some of these market pressures, the government has set up the Minimum Support Price (MRS) policy in 1965 to promise farmers more stable

prices. However, in a context of a declining role for government, these policies are increasingly under attack. An example of this is the recent cut on MRS in relation to wheat by the central government (Dua, 2015).

2.3 Niche Developments

Fortunately, there are many solutions for the excessive pumping of groundwater in central Punjab. These can roughly be divided into two groups: solutions encouraging less extraction and ones stimulating the recharge of groundwater. Increasing the canal supply and rainwater harvesting in cities could help recharge the aquifers. On the other hand, crop cultivation can be changed to decrease the demand for irrigation water. When considering the increase of evapotranspiration caused by the shift in rice transplantation, it could be recommended for the government to encourage rice transplantation later in the season. The Indian government did this with success in 2006 and 2007, as it led to a decrease in the water table fall when comparing it to previous years. Also, other forms of rice used for cultivation could influence the water table depth. PAU 201 is a type of rice that matures a fortnight earlier than Pusa 44, which is currently grown in Punjab (Hila, 2009). Self-evidently, sustainable irrigation techniques will also reduce the demand for (irrigation) water; which could be stimulated by economic incentives by the government.

As there are many solutions, it is important to focus on a solution that helps overcoming more problems than merely aquifer depletion. Natural farming has been proposed to do this, therefore in the following paragraph it is described in more detail. In addition, recent CSR initiatives and suggestions for improving CSR policies are

mentioned in paragraph 2.3.2.

2.3.1 Natural farming

In 2005 Umendra Dutt had launched the Kheti Virasat Mission [KVM] in Punjab after being shocked about the number of health issues. The goal of the initiative was to raise awareness on the current agricultural issues in Punjab and for the implementation of natural farming techniques (Brown, 2013). The Kheti Virasat Mission mentions their aims as: “sustainable agriculture, conservation of ecology and natural resources, environmental health, cultural aspect of ecology and other issues related to

globalization, livelihood, environmental and social justice” (Kheti Virasat Mission, n.d.). Due to the fact natural farming does not include the use of synthetic chemicals and is cheaper than conventional farming, it has been expected to be the solution for the current agricultural crisis in Punjab (Brown, 2013). Natural farming differs from organic farming, which also does not require the use of synthetic chemicals, in the lack of reliance on the market. KVM classifies organic farming as a method which also encourages the use of natural fertilizers, but still requires costly products. Which is in contrast with natural farming, in which the farmers produce their own natural fertilizers. Third-party certifications associated with the validation of organic farming is another disadvantage when comparing this method with natural farming. These authentications require large amounts of paperwork making the process quite costly and time consuming

and therefore less accessible for smaller farmers (Brown, 2013). Another benefit of natural farming that supports the implementation of the technique in Punjab is pest resistance. Andow & Hidaka (1998) have researched the resistance to pathogens of conventional versus natural farming. Results of their research in Japan on yield loss of rice, showed that natural farming was less susceptible to pathogens. Conventional farming plots suffered higher disease attack, leading to a higher yield loss (Andow & Hidaka, 1998).

The intensification encouraged by the Green Revolution also led to soil

degradation and groundwater depletion. This leads to another important aspect of natural farming for making the current ways of agriculture in Punjab more sustainable: the application of water management. The focus of the main interdisciplinary research is on the water stress occurring in Punjab and the consequences for the environment.

Considering the sustainability of the irrigation techniques of natural farming makes the initiative a well proposed solution. Not only is the water scarcity caused by aquifer depletion, but also by the pollution of water sources by the use of toxins in pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Natural farming does not include the use of toxins, making it a better solution when it comes to water scarcity as well.

Looking at the way natural farming could help prevent further aquifer depletion and make the way of agriculture currently carried out in Punjab more sustainable it can be considered to be a niche development; as the positive outcomes could benefit the population personally (due to lowering health risks) and economically (due to eliminating dependence on companies) it could be recommended to the regime to help encourage the implementation of natural farming on a large scale in Punjab.

2.3.2 CSR initiatives

Natural farming is one part of the solution, another one is diminishing the depletion of water resources by beverage corporations. The CSR concept is already in use as a tool for companies to be responsible for the social and environmental consequences of their production.

When looking at Coca-Cola's CSR initiatives it can be seen that it puts a focus on communities, health and the environment. It has set up various education programs for primary schools, supported community-based rainwater harvesting projects to restore water levels and sets up projects to educate local communities about ways to conserve water. They have also employed many students who live near the bottling plant of Varanasi. In addition to these initiatives, the company also claims to commits itself to checking its own business operations including:

- Compliance with all regulatory environmental requirements - Prohibit the use of refrigeration equipment containing CFCs - Wastewater treatment facilities with trained personnel - Energy conservation programs

- Environmental impact assessment are conducted before operations are initiated (Hills & Welford, 2005).

PepsiCo operates three ongoing initiatives to better the environment. First of all they replenish water. Secondly, they educate community members on how to segregate and recycle their waste. Thirdly, they have partnered with farmers in order to boost their productivity and income. This is done by for example contract farming and giving farmers potato seeds of high quality. In 2009 PepsiCo India announced that it is the first business which has achieved a positive water balance in the beverage world (PepsiCo India, 2015). After this statement, many critic followed on whether this was true or false. The India Resource Centre extensively analyzed PepsiCo’s claims concerning their water balance and came up with some counterarguments (2011):

- Fiddling the numbers - PepsiCo severely understates the amount of water they use in India. They claim to use 5.168 billion liters water in India. As an example, for producing some of their snacks they use 75000 tons of potatoes which require many liters of water. According to the Water Footprint Network it takes 291 liters of water to make 1 kilogram of potatoes in India. As a result it takes 21.82 billion liters of water to produce 75000 tons of potatoes. Thus amount already exceeds their claim of water used in India (India Resource Center, 2011). - Water credits - the vast majority of water credits PepsiCo claims are outside the

area of where their factories are based. Only 2 out of the 42 plants where in the same area as where PepsiCo provided water credits.

- Not representative - There isn’t a realistic expectation of a ‘’water balance’’ because the vast majority of the water savings being conducted lie outside the watershed where the water is extracted or used. Only 133 million liters of water which was given back was done in their own plant (from the total of 5.168 they claim to use) (PepsiCo India, 2015).

- Oxfam evaluates many brands (methods) based on 7 criteria: land use, climate, transparency, women, farmers, employees and water. This evaluation report is then summarized in a scorecard (see Appendix A). According to Oxfam, PepsiCo scores a 5. They acknowledge that PepsiCo reckons with human water rights and works on its water consumption, but they aren’t open about how they work in areas where water is scarce. Coca-Cola also scores a 5 for the same reason (Behind the Brands, 2015).

The type of CSR initiatives PepsiCo and Coca-Cola undertake consist of all dimensions of Carroll's pyramid. However, how they operate CSR initiatives on the philanthropic level can and should be improved. According to the Indian Resource Centre, both companies implement their initiatives in areas which are barely or not affected by their bottling plants. So, the farmers which suffer the most due to their bottling plants are barely compensated for. This can form a serious threat for both companies because not helping farmers near their bottling plants causes more protests when these companies want to open a new bottling plant. In recent years, community protests have eventually led to impeding the opening of new bottling plants.

2.3.3 Results

An overview of the previously mentioned results is presented beneath.

Landscape Socio- Technical Regime Niche-Level developments. - Water depletion. - Colonisation. - Pollution. - Modernization - Population growth. - Globalisation. - Market orientation. - CSR - HYV seeds - Hot/dry season - Subsidy system - Pesticide use causing

health problems

- Natural farming. - Helping communities

3. Discussion

When considering solutions for the agrarian crisis in Punjab it is important to realize how complex the problem is. In this research the effect of climate change was not considered, while the effect on evapotranspiration and (seasonal) water recharge in the area could be significant. Also, the size of the research area is quite large as the area of the Indian state exceeds 50,000 km2 _{(Maps of India, n.d.). Therefore, it is difficult to understand the}

effects on aquifer depletion and the effectiveness of the proposed solution: natural farming. The different regions within Punjab and underlying aquifers vary geologically, which affects the groundwater pumping and the different techniques of natural farming which should be implemented. This is why it is difficult to be concrete in proposing solutions concerning natural farming, as it consists of many elements. When researching the KVM initiative, it was concluded this was applicable for Punjab. However, for further research, more detailed techniques of natural farming could be addressed per region and agricultural district.

In this paper a large amount of attention had been given to the policies of the current socio-technical regime that are exploitative towards the water resources in Punjab. However,there are already some policies in place that try to ameliorate the exploitation of water resources in Punjab like the Drought Prone Areas Program (DPAP) and the Desert Development Program (DDP). It would be interesting for further research to look at how the niche developments can be picked up or connected to the openings and policies that are already in place in the current policy regime and thereby identify possible transition pathways.

A further challenge to switch towards more natural farming can be the sunk-in costs of the socio-technical regime towards using the aforementioned technologies which expect a certain investment return. This sunk in cost not only translates in material costs but also the policy and institutional mindset that have been market oriented which might pose a challenge towards thinking differently. Especially since natural farming is less dependent on market forces and human made technology. Changing the way of approaching the problem by using natural farming, instead of using technology as a solution, can take time but might also give rise to a conflict of interest. Especially when certain companies or institutions rely on there being a stable demand for certain

agricultural products in a market. It is thus important to investigate which parties would actually welcome a solution like natural farming as to see how realistic it is.

Another aspect which has to been taken into account are the CSR initiatives of both PepsiCo and Coca Cola India. Most locations in which they implement their initiatives lie outside the area of their bottling plants and therefore it can be stated that these initiatives are barely representative. Besides that, there is barely information available about CSR developments near bottling plants in the Punjab region. These factors strengthens their image as ’hypocritical companies’ which pretend to care about the consequences of their business activities. They are rather busy with managing their

reputation and improving their financial performance, which is, seen from their perspective, understandable; the main objective of a multinational corporation is

achieving profit maximization. Even though CSR initiatives might be controversial, fact is that the corporations at least try to help the affected communities. Many studies have shown that CSR initiatives do have a positive effect on the financial performance of a company. According to Margolis and Walsh, there were 127 empirical studies conducted between 1972 and 2002 which examined the relationship between corporate social responsibility and financial performance of companies. There were 109 studies which used CSR as an independent variable, 22 studies who used CSR as a dependent variable and 4 studies who used both directions. The majority of the studies showed a positive relationship between CSR and financial performance (70), 7 showed a negative

relationship and the rest of the studies reported a non-significant relationship. The most notable features of these results are that all the negative correlations occurred when CSR was used as an independent variable (Margolis & Walsh, 2003, p.273).

4. Conclusion

The water issues in Punjab are serious and need to be dealt with, if nothing is done about it, a scenario in which the ecosystem will reach its tipping point and and collapse is very well possible. Because it is an interdisciplinary problem, it requires an interdisciplinary approach. This report identified multiple bottlenecks regarding the water issue. The bottlenecks described are regarding government policies, CSR, crop

cultivation and the excessive use of pesticides. To integrate these different problems the Multi-Level Perspective (MLP) is used.

In order to prevent further depletion and pollution of the water aquifers in Punjab a set of recommendations have been done. As became clear in the discussion, this research could not take all of the possible problems in account. Still one of the recommendations could provide a solution for the water issues.

Some of the problems identified in relation to water use in the current cropping regime were; (1) using higher-evapotranspiration varieties (2) thirsty HYV varieties that need more water than native species (3) irrigation/planting during the hot/dry season. This water intensive agriculture has been made possible through the subsidized power to tubewells which Hira (2009) identifies as ‘a sweet poison’, as it contributed to the indebtedness of farmers. Furthermore, these water consuming crops are used for export to ‘distant lands’ in a market oriented economy which can create moral hazards.

The solution, that is most suitable to tackle the current issues, might be natural farming. This is expected to influence the current farming strategies and results in a positive way. Not only will it benefit the local community by eliminating the high number of health issues, but also economically. By implementing natural farming systems, the farmers will be less dependent on the market and will not require costly and dangerous fertilizers. Next to this, natural farming will be assumed to reduce the negative effects of

groundwater pollution on the environment by eliminating the use of toxic fertilizers. The implementation of this technique will also suppress further aquifer depletion as it

encourages sustainable irrigation techniques. This will pressure the excessive pumping of groundwater in Punjab, India. Which will be expected to, in the end, help the agriculture sector to recover from the crisis.

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