India should encourage farmers to use water efficiently to prevent a looming crisis, according to an Economic Survey submitted by the Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman to the country's parliament.

The country should introduce improved methods of irrigation, use new technologies and change the structure of crops to reduce the use of groundwater, of which 89% is extracted for irrigation purposes.

India is one of the world's largest consumers of groundwater, and its depleted reserves are the main cause of the country's acute shortage of water.

According to a report by the NITI Aayog government agency, some 600 million Indians are experiencing water shortages in extreme and extreme situations, and the situation will worsen as water demand increases.

One of the main reasons for the decrease in groundwater levels is the sowing structure, which is focused on crops that consume more water. Rice and sugar crops together consume more than 60% of the water available for irrigation.

Another, no less important reason is the lack of an adequate support price structure and subsidies in India, which reduce the interest of farmers in growing water-intensive crops.

The focus should shift from “land productivity” to “irrigation water productivity,” the Economic Survey says.