Reviving the Resource Base: a farmers’ movement

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ITC takes a holistic view of the linkages between the decline in agricultural productivity and the deterioration of the natural resource base.

It works to bring farm productivity back to a path of sustainable and remunerative growth by enabling farmers to:

develop water and forest resources to enhance soil fertility,
adopt soil and water management practices,
apply superior farming methods to improve quality and quantity of farm yields.

ITC’s contribution to augmenting forest cover and water harvesting works in tandem with its internal practices of energy efficiency and conservation. ITC has been water positive for the past 6 years, creating nearly 4 times more water harvesting capacity than its consumption, and carbon positive for the last 3 years, sequestering twice the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by its operations.

Indian agriculture – the eco-picture

Long term unchecked deforestation has reduced forest cover to only 11%. A minimum of 33% is considered desirable.
Diminished biomass cover has made water tables fall and caused loss of agricultural topsoil, severely impacting farm productivity already eroded by the decreasing size of landholdings.
Rural demand for water depends almost entirely on groundwater sources, which account for over 45% of total irrigation; and are the only source of water during drought.
Nearly 90 % of annual precipitation is lost due to surface run-off. Only 10% is harvested.
67% of cultivable land suffers from moisture stress 5 -10 months of the year, badly disrupting livelihoods.