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By:

Parashram Patil

14 January 2026 at 8:49:45 pm

Crops of Conflict

As water and climate become instruments of geopolitical leverage, India has an opportunity to turn agricultural resilience into a new form of South-South diplomacy. Climate change is making an old truth harder to ignore: food security is national security. As water becomes scarcer, harvests more erratic and trade policies more protectionist, agriculture is moving from the margins of geopolitics to its centre. Nowhere is this clearer than in Africa, where fragile food systems intersect with...

Crops of Conflict

As water and climate become instruments of geopolitical leverage, India has an opportunity to turn agricultural resilience into a new form of South-South diplomacy. Climate change is making an old truth harder to ignore: food security is national security. As water becomes scarcer, harvests more erratic and trade policies more protectionist, agriculture is moving from the margins of geopolitics to its centre. Nowhere is this clearer than in Africa, where fragile food systems intersect with contested rivers, conflict and disrupted supply chains. For India, this presents not merely a humanitarian challenge but an opportunity to practise a more strategic form of food diplomacy. Clear Warning The Nile basin offers the clearest warning. Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia depend heavily on the river, directly or indirectly, for agriculture and livelihoods. Egypt obtains roughly 90-95 percent of its water from the Nile, with most of its withdrawals going to agriculture. Wheat, rice, maize and cotton are therefore inseparable from the country's water security. Sudan is similarly dependent on the Main Nile and its Blue and White Nile tributaries for crops including sorghum, wheat, cotton and sugarcane. Ethiopia, by contrast, relies much more heavily on rain-fed agriculture, but the Blue Nile remains crucial to its plans for agricultural and economic expansion. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) has transformed this already delicate equation. The Blue Nile supplies roughly 85 percent of the Nile's runoff, giving Ethiopia substantial geographical leverage upstream. Egypt and Sudan, downstream and more dependent on the river, have consequently viewed the dam through the prism of food and water security. The dispute has its roots partly in the 1959 agreement that allocated Nile waters between Egypt and Sudan, but the rise of Ethiopia as a major upstream power has altered the political balance. The stakes are enormous. A disruption to water availability is not simply an environmental problem when millions depend on irrigated agriculture. It can affect food prices, livelihoods, migration and political stability. Across the basin, the consequences potentially extend to hundreds of millions of people. The lesson is straightforward: rivers can become geopolitical infrastructure, and crops can become strategic assets. Critical Role This is where India can play a useful role. Its longstanding diplomatic, commercial and maritime links with Africa give it an established platform. Its experience in producing wheat, rice and millets, meanwhile, gives it something more tangible: the ability to contribute to food-supply resilience. Egypt, for instance, remains heavily dependent on imports and is projected to require around 13 million tonnes of wheat imports to bridge its consumption gap. Sudan’s agricultural crisis is still more acute. Conflict and climate stress have sharply reduced cereal production, leaving output well below recent historical averages. India could therefore build food diplomacy around two complementary tracks. The first is supply. Predictable grain arrangements and strategic food buffers could help vulnerable countries absorb shocks in international markets. The second is technology. India's experience with micro-irrigation, precision farming and water-use efficiency offers tools that may help African farmers produce more with less water. The Per Drop More Crop component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana is one example. Drip irrigation, improved canal management, seepage reduction and precision agriculture cannot resolve a dispute over the Nile, but they can reduce the amount of water required to produce a given crop. For this to become a durable strategy, however, India will need to move beyond individual projects. Bilateral agricultural agreements with African countries could be converted into longer-term trade corridors and grain-supply arrangements. Multilateral platforms, including BRICS, could provide mechanisms for greater transparency in food distribution and market stabilisation. Seed exchanges could focus on drought-tolerant millets, biofortified wheat and heat-resistant maize suited to increasingly volatile climates. Indian private enterprise could be brought into this architecture. Agritech startups and Farmer-Producer Organisations could be encouraged to enter African markets through export-linked grants, incubation programmes and risk-sharing mechanisms. EXIM Bank credit lines and export guarantees could reduce the financial risks of deploying solar cold chains, irrigation systems and agricultural technologies in politically volatile markets. Public-private partnerships could also help Indian firms adapt AI-based crop advisory systems and IoT-enabled water sensors to African soils and farming practices. The larger opportunity is strategic. India’s relationship with Africa need not be confined to trade, infrastructure or diplomatic declarations. Agriculture offers a practical form of South-South cooperation in which food, technology and water efficiency reinforce one another. (The writer is a member of Maharashtra Agriculture Price Commission. Views personal.

Nurturing Changemakers

Writer: Aditi Pai
Aditi Pai
Sep 24, 2025
3 min read

The nine days of Navratri celebrate goddesses who embody strength in different forms; valour, compassion, creativity, austerity, devotion, justice, protection, forgiveness and wisdom. In our annual Navratri series, we celebrate the lives of nine women who strive to build happy and safe spaces for themselves and those around them.


Part - 4

 

Name: Sunanda Pawar | Where: Baramati, Maharashtra
Name: Sunanda Pawar | Where: Baramati, Maharashtra

In a world where progress often tends to be measured in terms of economics and infrastructure, there are leaders who redefine development through care, compassion, and human growth. One such leader is Sunanda Pawar who has spent over five decades as a driving force for rural development and women’s empowerment in Maharashtra. As Trustee of the Agricultural Development Trust (ADT), Baramati, she has combined vision, compassion, and practical action to transform the lives of women, especially those from farming communities. Her approach is rooted in nurturing—ensuring that women are not only educated and skilled, but also confident, independent, and respected.


Sunanda’s work is rooted in the understanding that women are the backbone of families and communities and, yet, their potential remains untapped due to lack of access or opportunity.


Her approach has been nurturing—ensuring that women are not merely given aid, but are encouraged to discover their own strengths. Through initiatives spanning education, skill development, health, and social awareness, she has built a quiet revolution—one that uplifts women not just economically, but emotionally and socially as well.


Sunanda’s journey began in 1971 with the ADT where she saw firsthand the lack of opportunities for rural women. Recognizing that education is the cornerstone of empowerment, she spearheaded the establishment of a women’s educational complex in Sharadanagar, Baramati, in 1989. Today, this institution educates more than 6,000 girls from 15 districts across Maharashtra, offering them a chance to dream bigger and achieve more.


In 2006, she founded Sharda Mahila Sangh, a platform to organize and empower women’s self-help groups. Through more than 100 training programs, over 3,000 rural women have received skills in agriculture, food processing, tailoring, computer literacy, driving, and more. By forging partnerships—such as an MoU with Women on Wings from the Netherlands—she ensured that women not only gained skills but also access to markets, packaging expertise, and entrepreneurial confidence.


Perhaps one of her most impactful contributions has been the creation of Bhimthadi Jatra, a national-level exhibition for women entrepreneurs and self-help groups. Over the last decade, it has showcased products from more than 3,000 groups across India, generating revenues of ₹19 crore. This initiative not only provided financial independence but also celebrated women’s creativity and enterprise on a large stage.


Her nurturing spirit extends to young women aspiring for public service. In 2006, under her guidance, ADT established a Police Training Academy for rural girls. The academy has trained nearly 900 girls, with over 540 securing placements in the Maharashtra Police and several in national services like the CRPF—an extraordinary achievement for those once denied opportunities.


Beyond education and livelihood, Sunanda has been a champion of women’s health and dignity. She has led large-scale menstrual health initiatives, training Anganwadi and ASHA workers and reaching over 15,000 girls and women in Baramati alone. With a goal of impacting one lakh women, this programme is breaking taboos, ensuring hygiene, and enabling young girls to continue education without interruption.


With a focus on education, Sunanda nurtures rural girls with guidance on education, culture, and competitive exams through the Swayamsiddha initiative. With Let’s Create Prosperous Villages, she has worked on water harvesting, sanitation, solar energy, and organic farming, helping villages build resilience against droughts and climate challenges. Medical camps, eye surgeries, and sanitation drives further underline her holistic vision of welfare.


For her tireless work spanning five decades, Sunanda has been honored with numerous awards, including the Jijamata Krushi Bhushan Award (2009), Mahila Bhushan Award (2013), and Jeevan Gaurav Award (2015). Yet, her true legacy lies in the countless women she has nurtured into confident change-makers.


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