Towards a sustainable sugarcane industry in India : improving livelihoods and increasing water use efficiency in sugarcane growing in India throughadoption of improved practices and technologies :evaluating progress between 2016 and 2021

Abstract

This report presents the findings of the evaluation of the Sustainable Water Fund project by Solidaridad and its partners, which aimed to improve irrigation techniques and farming practices in the Sugarcane sector in two states in Southern India. Farmer data was collected and analyzed in three years: 2016 (baseline), 2018 (midline) and 2021 (endline). A project document review and project staff interviews were used to explain and validate results. These results show initial improvements in the adoption of good agricultural practices, including the use of improved irrigation practices, as well as improvements in productivity, followed by deteriorations in more recent years as a result of various challenges affecting the sugarcane sector. For future projects we recommend, among others, to consider shocks and improve farmer resilience, to apply different interventions for different types of farmers (including non-commodity focus interventions) and to engage farmers more strongly in the design of interventions.