Under the Green Rural Livelihoods project, we are working with Rainmatter Foundation to create how-to guides and playbooks.
Blogs & Op-eds
Urban Water
Rural Futures
Technical Consulting
Platforms and Partnerships
Futures Research
Data to Insights: WELL Labs Tool Sifts Through Crop Statistics and Finds Cropping Patterns Within
In this blog, we explain how to use the agricultural statistics tool we developed that makes it easy to read and interpret data and thus build a more complete picture of a landscape and its cropping patterns.
Challenges and Opportunities for Catalysing Corporate Water Stewardship in India’s River Basins
Given the push for investments in the water sustainability space, businesses need to be better informed about where the big problems lie so that projects can be properly planned and executed. But there’s a data gap. Our comprehensive study of three important river basins — Cauvery, Ganga and Krishna — aims to address this gap.
Farmer Responses to Solar Irrigation in India: Agent-Based Modelling to Understand Sustainable Transitions
We applied an agent-based modeling (ABM) approach to understand farmer choices and transitions before and after solar irrigation in six districts
How Are Farmers Likely to Respond to Solar Irrigation? Insights from Our Modelling Exercise Covering 6 Districts
To our knowledge, this is the first research study that has attempted to apply the agent-based modelling method in the context of solar irrigation and its likely impact on farmers’ incomes and groundwater sustainability in India.
Landscape Review: Innovation Gaps in India’s Agritech Startup Ecosystem
Through this landscape review, we take a closer look at agritech startups to identify how to secure the livelihoods of farmers while simultaneously addressing environmental concerns
Towards Net Water Positive Towns
Published in EGov Magazine
How Reliable are Water Quality Monitoring Results from Field Test Kits
Published in Down to Earth
Five Lessons We Learned As An Ecosystem Builder
Ecosystem builders connect, empower, and collaborate with others to lift up the whole community to achieve its potential.
We Must Break ‘Lock-ins’ of Water Usage in Agriculture
Published in Mint
Can Farmers Make More Money While Using Less Water?
Farmers need to be able to transition to crops that use less water but yield a higher profit. This was the basis of an agent-based modelling exercise we did in six states.
The Ease of Doing Sustainability
No one wants to destroy the planet. People just want to avoid getting sick or spreading disease more than they want to save the planet.
Net Water Positivity in the Indian Context: A Framework for Exploring Industrial Pathways to Water Sustainability
We explore how to bring aquifers back into balance by increasing recharge and reducing abstraction. We also make the case for a system of water credits to effectively drive collective action.
‘A Gamble like the Stock Market’ in India’s Onion Belt
As erratic rain and unstable markets plague onion farming in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar, an FPO looks into protections from extreme weather
Field Notes from Anantapur’s Tomato Markets
At a time when tomato prices skyrocket in cities, piles of tomatoes lay discarded in the countryside. In Anantapur, farmers dump tomatoes despite having Asia’s largest tomato mandi in the next district
Insights from a Review of Water Security Plans
Water security plans (WSPs), which describe the current state of water challenges in the region under study and the interventions planned, are an important component of rural water security programmes. Based on our review, we argue that WSPs need to be more streamlined and must shift focus towards using water more efficiently (demand-side water management) and equitably.
Pain Points on a Rocky Road: Journey Mapping Challenges CSOs Face with Interventions for Small & Marginal Farmers
This report details the ‘pain points’ or challenges CSOs face as they attempt to intervene at different stages in the farming process. This is based on fieldwork we carried out in four states – Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
Leveraging Digital Tools and Shared Digital Assets to Address Rural Water Security in India
We conducted a series of interviews with Civil Society Organisations and philanthropic organisations to understand the role of data, maps, and digital tools in rural water security programmes. This report summarises our insights and suggested solutions.