气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Water-food-energy challenges in India: political economy of the sugar industry

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DOI	10.1088/1748-9326/ab9925
	Water-food-energy challenges in India: political economy of the sugar industry
	Lee J.Y.; Naylor R.L.; Figueroa A.J.; Gorelick S.M.
发表日期	2020
ISSN	17489318
卷号	15 期号:8
英文摘要	Sugar is the second largest agro-based industry in India and has a major influence on the country's water, food, and energy security. In this paper, we use a nexus approach to assess India's interconnected water-food-energy challenges, with a specific focus on the political economy of the sugar industry in Maharashtra, one of the country's largest sugar producing states. Our work underscores three points. First, the governmental support of the sugar industry is likely to persist because policymakers are intricately tied to that industry. Entrenched political interests have continued policies that incentivize sugar production. As surplus sugar has been produced, the government introduced additional policies to reduce this excess and thereby protect the sugar industry. Second, although the sugar economy is important to India, sugar policies have had detrimental effects on both water and nutrition. Long-standing government support for sugarcane pricing and sales has expanded water-intensive sugarcane irrigation in low-rainfall areas in Maharashtra, which has reduced the state's freshwater resources and restricted irrigation of more nutritious crops. Despite its poor nutritional value, empty-calorie sugar has been subsidized through the public distribution system. Third, the Indian government is now promoting sugarcane-based ethanol production. This policy has the benefit of providing greater energy security and creating a new demand for surplus sugar in the Indian market. Our analysis shows that a national biofuel policy promoting the production of ethanol from sugarcane juice versus directly from molasses may help reduce subsidized sugar for human consumption without necessarily expanding water and land use for additional production of sugarcane. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd.
英文关键词	biofuel; India; nutrition; political economy; sugar; water; water-food-energy challenges
语种	英语
scopus关键词	Energy policy; Energy security; Ethanol; Fruit juices; Industrial economics; Irrigation; Land use; Nutrition; Public policy; Distribution systems; Ethanol production; Fresh water resources; Government supports; Human consumption; Indian government; National biofuel policies; Political interest; Sugar industry; food industry; political economy; sugar; India
来源期刊	Environmental Research Letters
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/153879
作者单位	Department of Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States; Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States; Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford UniversityCA 94305, United States
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Lee J.Y.,Naylor R.L.,Figueroa A.J.,et al. Water-food-energy challenges in India: political economy of the sugar industry[J],2020,15(8).
APA	Lee J.Y.,Naylor R.L.,Figueroa A.J.,&Gorelick S.M..(2020).Water-food-energy challenges in India: political economy of the sugar industry.Environmental Research Letters,15(8).
MLA	Lee J.Y.,et al."Water-food-energy challenges in India: political economy of the sugar industry".Environmental Research Letters 15.8(2020).