WWF - For a living planet

The Godavari River is the second-largest river in India. It flows 1,465km east across the country, and its basin extends over some 312,812sq km. The Godavari is sacred to Hindus and has been a place of pilgrimage for thousands of years.

The Godavari River and its tributaries are home to endemic fish and wetland birds, and support a number of important grassland, wetland and forest habitats. It also provides water resources for agriculture.

Threats

Irrigation for agriculture accounts for over 90% of the water abstract from the Godavari river.

The crops grown in this region – sugar, cotton and rice – are known as ‘thirsty crops’. This means they require significant volumes of water, which contributes to the problem of water abstraction. For instance, sugarcane takes up just 4% of the land in the state of Maharashtra but uses 60% of the state’s irrigation supply.

Other sources of fresh water in India are equally under threat, and climate change is increasing the incidence of drought. This puts India under increasing pressure to use water efficiently and to ensure water is available to poor rural communities.

Agriculture provides a livelihood for between 60-70% of the population of India and makes up a quarter of the country’s gross domestic product. Aside from the impacts of drought and population overload, water scarcity in India is largely due to inefficient agricultural systems. Some 21 million farmers in India are mining groundwater resources twice as fast as they are being replenished. While some of this water will reach crops, most of it is lost from irrigation channels as a result of groundwater seepage and as run-off from fields.

Agriculture is also a major polluter of water courses due to the excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers. Cotton cultivation accounts for 50% of all pesticides imported to India and a high percentage of families involved in cotton production in the country report pesticide-related sickness and disease.

The depletion of natural fresh water sources also places the future of local wildlife in jeopardy.

Solutions

Supported by funding from the EU, WWF’s Thirsty Crops project is working closely with India’s national and state governments, as well as sugar, cotton and rice farmers, and sugar and cotton businesses to reduce the amount of water and pesticides used in sugarcane, cotton and rice production. By helping to promote and implement better management practices among local farmers, we aim to ensure there are sustainable sources of clean fresh water from the Godavari River to support the livelihoods of poor communities.

The programme will demonstrate ways to increase the availability of fresh water to state-level decision-makers.

The programme will also link with other organisations (including retailers) to improve cotton and sugar production, through defining measurable standards that the market chain can use to reduce the negative environmental and social impacts of producing these crops. For example, water and pesticide use can be reduced through the use of better management practices among farmers.

The Thirsty Crops project is supported by the EU.

The contents of this webpage are the sole responsibility of WWF-UK and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

This page was last updated 8 September 2008.
    
For more information visit http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/projects/index_en.htm