ISSUE TEN: Irrigation Subsidies

Welcome to the monthly newsletter for journalists about the impact of subsidies, produced in partnership by IPS - Inter Press Service and GSI - Global Subsidies Initiative.

THIS MONTH'S FOCUS:
ESTIMATING IRRIGATION SUBSIDIES
In most countries, water for irrigated agriculture is subsidised by governments, with far reaching implications for food security, patterns of agricultural development, trade, government finances, and, more generally, the sustainable use of water.
ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTER

Subsidies —transfers of public money to private interests— are so common that for the most part they go unnoticed; they can also be arcane and complex, posing tremendous challenges for journalists. Yet, many experts believe that subsidies are one of the most critical factors in determining the sustainability of a government’s economic, social and environmental policies. Read more here about the organisations that have partnered to bring you this newsletter, and why.

 

The Need for a Common Methodology
By Ravinder P.S. Malik
Agriculture is the leading consumptive user of water, accounting for between 70 to 90 percent of the total water used in developing countries and more than one third of the water consumed in many OECD countries.  
More information about subsidies
The Global Subsidies Initiative cooperates with an international network of researchers working on subsidy related issues. Journalists working on stories that involve subsidies, and who are in search of expertise, information and support are invited to contact Javed Ahmad, the GSI's Director of Communications, at info@globalsubsidies.org.

Ravinder P.S. Malik - Bio

Ravinder P.S. Malik currently works with the Agricultural Economics Research Centre, University of Delhi. He has published extensively on a wide range of water-related issues in agricultural and other sectors, including on issues related to the estimation of water requirements, financing of the water sector, indirect economic impacts of dams, watershed development, subsidies, and the environmental implications of groundwater extraction. Prior to his current post he has worked for The World Bank, the World Resources Institute, and the Afro-Asian Rural Reconstruction Organisation.

SUBSIDIES STORIES FROM IPS - RECENT ARTICLES

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Cotton Farmers in Distress - Relief Given Elsewhere
By Jaideep Hardikar
PUNE, Maharashtra, Mar 21 (IPS) - On Mar. 4, barely four days after Indian Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced a mammoth loan waiver for farmers, 55-year-old Dattu Chaudhary, who owned 3 hectares (ha) of land committed suicide in Nara village in Maharashtra state.


DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Subsidies Cornered by Politically Powerful
By Jaideep Hardikar
PUNE, Maharashtra , Mar 21 (IPS) - An intensifying agrarian crisis claimed the life of at least one cotton farmer every day last year in Maharashtra, western India. But government subsidies were monopolised by the state’s powerful sugar lobby.
DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Two Villages, Two Very Different Stories
By Jaideep Hardikar
DORLI, Maharashtra, , Mar 21 (IPS) - It is hard to find smiling farmers in Dorli, rural Vidarbha, a cotton growing belt in western India’s Maharashtra state.
Q&A: Car-Centric Urban Growth Fuelled By Subsidies
Interview with Anumita Roychowdhury
NEW DELHI, Mar 5 (IPS) - Pollution and road congestion are at crisis proportions in India’s cities. Yet, the government encourages car-centric urban growth, subsidised by public largesse, says Anumita Roychowdhury of the non-governmental Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which is leading a campaign for cleaner air in Delhi.
ENVIRONMENT: Galápagos Islands in Search of Clean Energy
By Stephen Leahy
TORONTO, Feb 29 (Tierramérica) - Ecuador has taken the first step towards ending the oil dependence of its Galápagos Islands, in the eastern Pacific Ocean, with the official opening of a 10.8 million dollar wind energy facility on the island of San Cristóbal.
CLIMATE CHANGE: Lula Calls for Flexibility from Rich Countries
By Mario Osava
BRASILIA, Feb 21 (IPS) - Industrialised nations must live up to their Kyoto Protocol commitments and be flexible in trade negotiations in order for the world to make progress towards solutions to climate change and to prevent the poor from being steeped in poverty for a long time to come, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Thursday.

RELATED WEB SITES
Subsidies – Who really benefits?
http://ipsnews.net/new_focus/subsidies/index.asp
Subsidy Watch Archive
http://www.globalsubsidies.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=33
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