Moving beyond paddy |

India can improve water use and nutrient supply by replacing rice with alternative cereals such as maize, finger millet, pearl millet, or sorghum, which can reduce irrigation water demand by 33 per cent and provide more nutrition—protein, iron, and zinc. This is crucial as the current rice cropping system has contributed to chronic water stress in many parts of India and the situation is likely to worsen due to weakening monsoon rains due to climate change. There are four projected scenarios on how rice-harvested districts can be replaced with alternative kharif crops. In scenario 1 (A and E), rainfall dependency can be reduced by close to 21 per cent while iron levels can go up by 43 per cent. In scenario 2 (B and F), irrigation dependency can go down by close to 33 per cent. In scenario 3 (C and G), protein levels can be increased by 12.3 per cent. In the final scenario (D and H), iron levels can be increased by close to 50 per cent