Groundwater is a major source of irrigation in West Bengal, with about 65 per cent of irrigated area under tube well irrigation (Agriculture census, 2011). Under the present government, there has been a rapid hike in power tariffs for agriculture and it has affected the cultivation of summer crops in the State, particularly the cultivation of water-intensive boro (summer) paddy.

Data for the last 34 years (in Table 1) show that the deceleration that started after 2000 in the growth of area under boro paddy has now been accentuated. Between 2010 and 2014, the annual compound rate of growth of area under boro paddy cultivation was -2.5 per cent. I argue, based on official statistics as well as field survey data, that the observed reduction in area under boro paddy is likely to be on account of the rise in power tariffs and consequent increase in cost of cultivation.

After the mid-1990s, the cost of irrigation rose because of high diesel prices and the slow rate of tube well electrification (Bakshi 2010; Mukherji et al.2012). To address the problem, the Government of West Bengal removed restrictions on issuing permits for tube well installation and reduced the electricity connection fee to between Rs 1,000 and Rs 30,000, depending on the connection load(Mukherji et al.2012).It was claimed that these policy changes would bring about a revolutionary growth in the agricultural sector in the State (ibid.). While it is true that the number of electrified tube wells in the State increased after the implementation of this policy, other problems have emerged. Specifically, I argue that the rapid hike in electricity tariff has increased costs of tubewell irrigation and overall costs of cultivation.

West Bengal has a universal metering system in the agricultural sector and electricity bills are charged to farmers based on consumption. The meters follow a Times of the Day (ToD) system, with three different rates according to the time of day. Figure 1 shows that there has been a rapid increase in every power tariff segment after 2010. By assigning equal weights to the three tariff segments, it is observed that the average tariff increased from Rs 3.19 per kWh in 2010-11 to Rs 4.81 per kWh in 2014-15. In addition, the power tariff for agriculture in West Bengal is now the highest among all major groundwater irrigated States in the country.

Official statistics show a fall in area under boro paddy and a rise in electricity tariffs in the state of West Bengal. To establish a link between the two, I turn to village-level data. Data from two rounds of village surveys in Panahar village of Bankura district in 2010 and 2015, conducted by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies as part of its Project on Agrarian Relations in India (PARI), and my recent visit to the village in July 2017, suggest that the hike in power tariff has increased water rates, particularly for boro paddy cultivation. Tube well irrigation is the main source of irrigation in Panahar. Access to water is dominated by a private water market in the village. The average water rate per acre for boro paddy cultivation increased from Rs 3,000 per acre in 2010 to Rs 5,000 in 2015, and Rs 6,250 per acre in 2017. In other words, irrigation costs for a typical cultivator more than doubled in seven years. In 2010, irrigation costs constituted about 15 per cent of the gross value of output, while it has increased to 25 to 30 per cent in 2015 for the water buyers.

In response, cultivators shifted from boro paddy to sesame (dry cultivation) in the pre-kharif season. Between 2010 and 2015, the area under boro paddy in total gross cropped area in the village declined from 19 per cent to 12 per cent. At the same time, area under sesame cultivation increased to 15 per cent in 2015, from 7 per cent in 2010.

In short, village survey data from a groundwater-irrigated village in Bankura district of West Bengal suggest that the rapid increase in power tariff for agriculture has affected tube well owners as well as water buyers in Panahar. The rise in power tariff has substantially increased water rates for those buying water for boro or summer paddy, and consequently, led to an increase in the cost of cultivation. In a situation where a suitably remunerative price for paddy is not obtained, cultivators are discouraged from sowing boro paddy. The observed shift from boro paddy to sesame cultivation in the pre-kharif season was, according to my respondents, on account of sesame requiring less water and less labour than boro paddy.

West Bengal is a leading paddy-growing State of the country. The recent trend of a fall in area under boro paddy cultivation may adversely affect the balance of food grain supply in the country. The shift from paddy to sesame can also have employment effects, as cultivation of sesame is less labour-intensive than boro paddy cultivation. A careful analysis of the costs of cultivation, including power tariffs in agriculture, needs to be undertaken.

References

Bakshi, A. (2010), “Rural Household Incomes,” PhD thesis submitted to the Department of Economics, University of Calcutta, Kolkata.

Mukherji, A., Shah, T., and Banerjee, P. (2012), “Kick-starting a Second Green Revolution in West Bengal,” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 47, no. 18, May 5.