Your search found 12 records
1 Sikka, A. K.; Islam, A.; Bhatnagar, P. R. 2008. Enhancing groundwater utilization for increasing crop productivity in Eastern Gangetic Plains: scope and constraints. In Palanisami, K.; Ramasamy, C.; Umetsu, C. (Eds.). Groundwater management and policies. New Delhi, India: Macmillan. pp.19-29.
Groundwater development ; Groundwater irrigation ; Pumping ; Water market ; Tube wells / India / Eastern Gangetic Plains
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: 631.7.6.3 G635 PAL Record No: H041969)
2 Shah, Tushaar. 2013. Research to lead development in the eastern Gangetic Plains. In Sharma, Bharat R.; Prathapar, Sanmugam A. Moving from water problems to water solutions: research needs assessment for the eastern Gangetic Plains. Proceedings of the International Workshop held at the National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India, 7-8 May 2013. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). pp.36-39.
Research projects ; Development projects ; Food security ; Households ; Ecosystems ; Policy making / India / Eastern Gangetic Plains
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046109)
(6.60 MB)
3 Amarnath, Giriraj. 2013. Cascading Ganges: floods and their impact in the eastern Gangetic Plains. In Sharma, Bharat R.; Prathapar, Sanmugam A. Moving from water problems to water solutions: research needs assessment for the eastern Gangetic Plains. Proceedings of the International Workshop held at the National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India, 7-8 May 2013. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). pp.55-64.
Flooding ; River basins ; International waters ; Models ; Remote sensing ; Vegetation ; Indicators ; Satellite surveys / Nepal / Bangladesh / Eastern India / Eastern Gangetic Plains
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046111)
(6.60 MB)
4 Shah, Tushaar. 2013. Water-energy nexus in the eastern Gangetic Plains: old issues and new options. In Sharma, Bharat R.; Prathapar, Sanmugam A. Moving from water problems to water solutions: research needs assessment for the eastern Gangetic Plains. Proceedings of the International Workshop held at the National Agricultural Science Complex (NASC), Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, India, 7-8 May 2013. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). pp.68-70.
Poverty ; Groundwater resources ; Groundwater irrigation ; Pumps ; Energy generation ; Costs / South Asia / India / Bangladesh / Eastern Gangetic Plains
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H046113)
(6.60 MB)
5 Sugden, Fraser. 2017. A mode of production flux: the transformation and reproduction of rural class relations in lowland Nepal and North Bihar. Dialectical Anthropology, 41(2):129-161. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-016-9436-3]
Agricultural production ; Climate change ; Cultivated land ; Lowland ; Landowners ; Agrarian structure ; Tenant farmers ; Labour ; Living standards ; Political aspects ; Capitalism ; Feudalism ; Colonialism ; Rural communities ; Households ; Social aspects ; History ; Caste systems ; Migration ; Economic situation ; Indebtedness ; Farm income ; Remuneration / Nepal / India / North Bihar / Tarai / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Madhesh / Mithilanchal / Madhubani / Dhanusha / Morang / Purnea / Sunsari
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047834)
(2.24 MB)
The Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia represents a peripheral region far from the centers of global capitalist production, and this is all the more apparent in Mithilanchal, a cultural domain spanning the Nepal/Bihar border. The agrarian structure can be considered ‘semi-feudal’ in character, dominated by landlordism and usury, and backed up by political and ideological processes. Paradoxically, Mithilanchal is also deeply integrated into the global capitalist market and represents a surplus labor pool for the urban centers of Western India as well as the Persian Gulf in a classic articulation between pre-capitalist and capitalist modes of production. A review of the changes in the agrarian structure over recent decades in the context of globalisation, out-migration and climate stress, shows that while landlordism remains entrenched, the relationship between the marginal and tenant farmer majority and the landed classes has changed, with the breakdown of ideological ties and reduced dependence on single landlords. The paper thus ends on a positive note, as the contemporary juncture represents an opportune moment for new avenues of political mobilization among the peasantry.
6 Suhardiman, Diana; Nicol, Alan; Mapedza, Everisto. 2017. Water governance and collective action: multi-scale challenges. Oxon, UK: Routledge - Earthscan. 190p. (Earthscan Water Text)
Water governance ; Collective action ; Water law ; Water security ; Water management ; Water control ; International waters ; Political aspects ; Dams ; Watersheds ; Groundwater ; Cooperatives ; Community involvement ; Agriculture ; Land ownership ; Peasant workers ; Stakeholders ; Lakes ; Gold ; Mining ; Cooperation ; River basin management / South Asia / Ethiopia / Cambodia / Thailand / India / Pakistan / Malawi / Mexico / Upper Pampas Watershed / Tonle Sap Lake / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Cerro de San Pedro / Indus River Basin
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H048342)
(3.77 MB)
7 Leder, S.; Sugden, F.; Raut, Manita; Ray, D.; Saikia, P. 2019. Ambivalences of collective farming: feminist political ecologies from eastern India and Nepal. International Journal of the Commons, 13(1):105-129. (Special issue: Feminist Political Ecologies of the Commons and Commoning) [doi: https://doi.org/10.18352/ijc.917]
Collective farming ; Collective action ; Resource management ; Gender relations ; Women ; Political ecology ; Tenant farmers ; Land fragmentation ; Land management ; Commons ; Water management ; Dry season ; Social aspects ; Labour ; Case studies ; Villages / India / Nepal / Eastern Gangetic Plains / West Bengal / Madhubani / Cooch Behar / Alipurduar / Saptari
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049381)
https://www.thecommonsjournal.org/articles/10.18352/ijc.917/galley/919/download/
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049381.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049381.pdf
(0.60 MB) (616 KB)
Collective farming has been suggested as a potentially useful approach for reducing inequality and transforming peasant agriculture. In collectives, farmers pool land, labor, irrigation infrastructure, agricultural inputs and harvest to overcome resource constraints and to increase their bargaining power. Employing a feminist political ecology lens, we reflect on the extent to which collective farming enables marginalized groups to engage in smallholder agriculture. We examine the establishment of 18 farmer collectives by an action research project in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, a region characterised by fragmented and small landholdings and a high rate of marginalised and landless farmers. We analyze ambivalances of collective farming practices with regard to (1) social relations across scales, (2) intersectionality and (3) emotional attachment. Our results in Saptari/ Eastern Terai in Nepal, Madhubani/Bihar, and Cooch Behar/West Bengal in India demonstrate how intra-household, group and community relations and emotional attachments to the family and neighbors mediate the redistribution of labor, land, produce and capital. We find that unequal gender relations, intersected by class, age, ethnicity and caste, are reproduced in collective action, land tenure and water management, and argue that a critical feminist perspective can support a more reflective and relational understanding of collective farming processes. Our analysis demonstrates that feminist political ecology can complement commons studies by providing meaningful insights on ambivalences around approaches such as collective farming.
8 Clement, Floriane; Harcourt, W. J.; Joshi, Deepa; Sato, C. (Eds.) 2019. Feminist political ecologies of the commons and commoning. International Journal of the Commons; International Journal of the Commons, 13(1):1-174. (Special issue with contributions by IWMI authors)
Political ecology ; Gender ; Women ; Natural resources management ; Commons ; Land management ; Reclamation ; Projects ; Water management ; Collective action ; Hydropower ; Common property ; Collective farming ; Irrigation programs ; Living standards ; Cooperatives ; Social aspects ; Economic aspects ; Strategies ; Case studies / India / Nepal / Egypt / Mexico / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Nile Delta
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049383)
https://www.thecommonsjournal.org/35/volume/13/issue/1/
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049383_TOC.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049383_TOC.pdf
(0.29 MB)
9 Urfels, A.; McDonald, A. J.; Krupnik, T. J.; van Oel, P. R. 2020. Drivers of groundwater utilization in water-limited rice production systems in Nepal. Water International, 45(1):39-59. [doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02508060.2019.1708172]
Groundwater irrigation ; Water use ; Agricultural production ; Rice ; Shallow tube wells ; Irrigation scheduling ; Irrigation efficiency ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Resilience ; Water market ; Pumps ; Electrification ; Solar energy ; Model / Nepal / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Rupandehi / Banke / Kailali
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049516)
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02508060.2019.1708172?needAccess=true#aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cudGFuZGZvbmxpbmUuY29tL2RvaS9wZGYvMTAuMTA4MC8wMjUwODA2MC4yMDE5LjE3MDgxNzI/bmVlZEFjY2Vzcz10cnVlQEBAMA==
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049516.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049516.pdf
(2.85 MB) (2.85 MB)
Most rice farmers in Nepal’s Terai region do not fully utilize irrigation during breaks in monsoon rainfall. This leads to yield losses despite abundant groundwater resources and ongoing expansion of diesel pumps and tubewell infrastructure. We investigate this puzzle by characterizing delay factors governing tubewell irrigation across wealth and precipitation gradients. After the decision to irrigate, different factors delay irrigation by roughly one week. While more sustainable and inexpensive energy for pumping may eventually catalyze transformative change, we identify near-term interventions that may increase rice farmers’ resilience to water stress in smallholder-dominated farming communities based on prevailing types of irrigation infrastructure.
10 Bastakoti, Ram; Raut, Manita; Thapa, Bhesh Raj. 2020. Groundwater governance and adoption of solar-powered irrigation pumps: experiences from the eastern Gangetic Plains. Washington, DC, USA: World Bank. 16p. (Water Knowledge Note)
Groundwater irrigation ; Water governance ; Irrigation methods ; Solar energy ; Pumps ; Groundwater extraction ; Water use efficiency ; Water market ; Electricity supplies ; Business models ; Policies ; State intervention ; Water costs ; Subsidies ; Entrepreneurs ; Community involvement ; Farmers' attitudes ; Case studies / Nepal / India / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Ganges Basin / Bihar / West Bengal
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049596)
https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/33245/Groundwater-Governance-and-Adoption-of-Solar-Powered-Irrigation-Pumps-Experiences-from-the-Eastern-Gangetic-Plains.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049596.pdf
https://vlibrary.iwmi.org/pdf/H049596.pdf
(0.97 MB) (992 KB)
Solar-powered irrigation pumps (SPIPs) have been promoted in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) in recent decades, but rates of adoption are low. This case study assesses the evidence from several solar pump business models being adopted in parts of the EGP, particularly eastern Nepal and northern India, and explores how different models perform in various contexts. It documents lessons for increasing farmers’ resilience to droughts through better groundwater use by promotion of SPIPs. Groundwater access for agriculture in the past was dependent on diesel and electric pumps, respectively constrained by costs and reliability of energy. Both government and nongovernment agencies have promoted SPIPs in the Ganges basin for irrigation and drinking purposes. SPIPs receive different levels of subsidies across countries and states in the region to facilitate adoption and ensure continuous and timely irrigation, which particularly benefits small and marginal farmers. Because the EGP faces variability in water availability, the SPIPs could help in building drought resilience. However, because low operating costs for SPIPs does little to incentivize farmers to use water efficiently, one critical question is how to balance equitable access to SPIPs while ensuring groundwater overdraft is not perpetuated. Farmers’ awareness of efficient water management options is crucial to avoid overextraction of groundwater.
11 Dutta, S. K.; Laing, A. M.; Kumar, S.; Gathala, M. K.; Singh, A. K.; Gaydon, D. S.; Poulton, P. 2020. Improved water management practices improve cropping system profitability and smallholder farmers’ incomes. Agricultural Water Management, 242:106411. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2020.106411]
Cropping systems ; Water management ; Farm income ; Profitability ; Smallholders ; Farmers ; Irrigation water ; Zero tillage ; Water use efficiency ; Crop management ; Dry season ; Maize ; Rice ; Agricultural productivity ; Production costs ; Crop yield ; Soil water content ; Simulation models / South Asia / India / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Bihar
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H049964)
(4.13 MB)
In the Eastern Gangetic Plain of South Asia, cropping systems under conventional crop management are frequently unprofitable due to the inefficient use of resources, particularly irrigation water and energy. Across the Eastern Gangetic Plain, farmers generally produce a wet-season rice crop followed by an irrigated dry season crop: maize has been recently introduced as the dry-season crop and is rapidly growing in popularity. Irrigation water is commonly applied using diesel-powered pumps and fluctuating fuel prices are a major factor affecting cropping system profitability. We hypothesised that the adoption of zero tillage crop establishment in a rice-maize system would reduce irrigation requirements compared to a conventionally-established rice-maize system, while maintaining comparable crop yields. Thus, higher water use efficiency and economic profitability would be achieved under the improved crop management compared to conventional practice. Field experiments over two years in Sabour, Bihar, demonstrated that early sowing of maize resulted in 8% higher maize grain yields, while zero tillage establishment produced 7% higher maize grain yields than conventionally established maize. Using the APSIM cropping systems model we tested our hypothesis over 49 years, from 1969 to 2018. Over the longer-term, zero-till maize grain yields were 9% higher than those of conventionally established crops. Under these improved management practices fuel savings of 8–15 % and labor savings of 34–43 % were achieved compared to conventionally managed crops, leading to higher water use efficiency in all treatments under improved management. Overall, gross margins in rice-maize systems under improved management practices were 20–39 % higher than rice-maize systems under conventional management. In rice-maize cropping systems in the Eastern Gangetic Plain, improved crop management practices can improve the efficiency of water use and thus increase farming households’ profitability and incomes.
12 Karn, Sujeet; Sugden, Fraser; Sah, K. K.; Maharjan, J.; Shah, T. N.; Clement, F. 2020. Shifting gender relations in agriculture and irrigation in the Nepal Tarai-Madhesh. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE). 34p. (WLE Research for Development (R4D) Learning Series 10) [doi: https://doi.org/10.5337/2020.211]
Gender relations ; Agricultural sector ; Women’s participation ; Women’s empowerment ; Gender equality ; Vulnerability ; Groundwater irrigation ; Communities ; Migration ; Role of women ; Farmers ; Land ownership ; Land tenure ; Water availability ; Irrigation canals ; Tube wells ; Climate change ; Water user associations ; Capacity building ; Social change ; Caste systems ; Households ; Livelihoods ; Villages ; Constraints ; Labour ; Poverty ; Economic resources ; Microfinance ; Remittances ; Enterprises ; Institutions ; Decision making ; State intervention / Nepal / Eastern Gangetic Plains / Tarai-Madhesh Region / Sunsari / Siraha / Ekamba Village Development Committee / Amaduwa Village Development Committee / Lohani / Kharotole / Bhagwanpur / Fulkahakati
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: IWMI Record No: H050103)
(2.95 MB)
This report explores how women perceive participation and empowerment vis-a-vis access to water and other agricultural resources in the Tarai/Madhesh of Nepal. The report argues that gendered vulnerability is indeed intricately connected with other axes of difference, such as caste and economic status, despite women’s critical role in agricultural production and their active engagement in access to water and irrigation in agriculture. Overall, women’s well-being seems to have decreased as a consequence of male out-migration. However, there are women who have also become empowered in new ways, taking up enterprise opportunities.
The authors point out that at the level of policy and external development interventions, a dominating narrative on women’s limited participation in agriculture being a result of ‘social norms’ exists. Public irrigation agencies have used this myth to absolve themselves of the responsibility for ensuring gender equality in program implementation.
The report concludes that strengthening equitable irrigation user groups alongside capacity building for farmers and program implementers are critical measures for improving women’s access to irrigation and overall well-being. Women should be ensured meaningful participation, including leadership roles.
Finally, this report recommends linking irrigation user groups to other income-generation schemes, and facilitating access to better credit, finance and agricultural inputs.
The authors point out that at the level of policy and external development interventions, a dominating narrative on women’s limited participation in agriculture being a result of ‘social norms’ exists. Public irrigation agencies have used this myth to absolve themselves of the responsibility for ensuring gender equality in program implementation.
The report concludes that strengthening equitable irrigation user groups alongside capacity building for farmers and program implementers are critical measures for improving women’s access to irrigation and overall well-being. Women should be ensured meaningful participation, including leadership roles.
Finally, this report recommends linking irrigation user groups to other income-generation schemes, and facilitating access to better credit, finance and agricultural inputs.
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