Water resources constraints in achieving silk production self-sufficiency in India

One of the main challenges for India is increasing food security and promoting economic development using the domestic finite and already stressed natural resources. In the last decades silk production has been booming in India in response to the 2025 silk self-sufficiency goal set by the Indian Ministry of Textile. It is not clear to which extent mulberry (Morus alba), used to feed silkworm in 70% of the total domestic silk production, can be expanded in the wastelands identified by the Indian Government as suitable for moriculture without both endangering natural resources and causing competition for natural resources with the food sector. This issue is here investigated by a) assessing mulberry water consumption (rain and irrigation) in the plantations presently cultivated and in all the wastelands selected by the government for the expansion of moriculture as well; b) analyzing annual and sub-annual water scarcity induced by mulberry plantations within the plantations; c) studying the potential competition for natural resources between food crops and mulberry. To this end the dynamic spatially distributed crop water balance WATNEEDS model has been used to analyze two different scenarios being the reference scenario considering the present climate and land cover, and the “silk expansion scenario” combining present climate and the new mulberry plantations. Results for the reference scenario show mulberry expansion areas already suffering food insecurity and water scarcity in the dry period. Here, the expansion of mulberry cultivation is shown to exacerbate water scarcity in pre-monsoon months especially in the North-Eastern Region affecting on a yearly scale eleven million people. Results also show expanding food production on wastelands rather than mulberry could be a viable solution for alleviating the burden of malnutrition.