Last Updated :
29 June 2010 at 17:15 IST
Water shortage may force India, China to import food
MUMBAI (Commodity Online): Strategic Foresight Group (SFG) has warned that China and India, the two most populous countries in the world, may have to depend on import for the food grains that are supposed to decline significantly due to the depletion of water resources by 2030.
According to Sundeep Waslekar, President of SFG, the rampant depletion of water resources and glacial melting would impact the very agriculture systems of China and India, which eventually compel them to import 200 million metric tons of food grains to meet domestic demands by 2030.
Waslekar was addressing an international water conference in Singapore. Water security is a key challenge and if the current trend continues, renewable fresh water resources in the Himalayan basin may decline by 275 billion cubic meters in the next 15-20 years, he said.
He released a report prepared by the SFG on water security in the Himalayan basin and said production of
Wheat and rice may shrink by 30%-40% in the Himalayan basin in the next four decades.
India and China are almost self-sufficient in grains but because of water scarcity, this status is unlikely to last. Their import demand is expected to surge, which can cause global shortages and push up the international prices of wheat and rice, he said.
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