After two years of insufficient rainfall, India is planning to borrow US$12.6 billion through overseas loans in order to finance irrigation projects, reports Bloomberg.

 

After seeing crop outputs drop amid drought conditions, the country plans to meet climate change head-on and drought-proof its farms in order to better ensure food security.

 

Shashi Shekhar, head of India’s water resources ministry, told Bloomberg in an interview that the state-owned National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development will likely head the borrowing for the projects, which are estimated to add 13 million hectares, or 32.1 million acres of irrigated farmland to the country’s arable land bank.

 

Lenders being considered include the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and foreign state owned banks, to provide financing on terms that could be as long as 25 years, according to Live Mint.

 

Rain is the key source of moisture for India’s crops, with 45% of the country’s agricultural land, or 141.6 million hectares having access to irrigation, however, the strongest El Niño in twenty years caused rainfall to decline by 14% below the 50-year average.

 

Agriculture is key to India, Asia’s third largest economy, which is home to 18% of the world’s population and 4% of its water. The industry is the top employer in the country and accounts for 15% of its gross domestic product (GDP).

 

“We want to use the next 10 years to drought proof the country,” Shekhar told Bloomberg. “Agriculture must become resilient to climate change.”