Agricultural water demand in West Bengal: report from Grassroots Field Exposure Session - December 2018

The India-UK Water Centre (IUKWC) promotes cooperation and collaboration between the complementary priorities of NERC-MoES water security research. Agriculture is an important aspect of livelihood development in India. Increasing area under agriculture, coupled with changing cropping patterns has led to overarching demand for water for irrigation. Unregulated and inefficient development of water resources for agriculture is resulting in overexploitation of water resources and growing water stress. This is leading to increasing vulnerability of local communities in terms of year-round water security and water quality, and the availability of clean drinking water in particular. In this context, a Grassroot Field Exposure Session (GFES) was organized in the Sundarbans region of the state of West Bengal by IUKWC from 10th to 12th December 2018. Scientist and researchers from various academic, non-government and research agencies from India and UK participated in the session, which was a unique approach to understand the emerging issues in field. The participants engaged in dialogue with stakeholders and through field observations arrived at key research agendas for improving knowledge and understanding of the situation in the region. This report outlines the key activities, learning and outcomes of the GFES event.