If you have been
following the news closely, you will be glad to know that we are remarkably
consistent in being remarkably inconsistent.
First we said that we would feed the world with wheat. So, we exported 7.23 million tonnes of it last year (which was more than what had been exported in the earlier seven years put together, so someone’s been feelin’ generous) and then promised more (unlike that awful story in Oliver Twist). This is, of course, a most noble thing to do, with the small - and, sort of, unnecessary - footnote that, in a recent survey, about 7% of Indian children were found to be severely wasted, 19% wasted and 35% stunted.
(I delight in spoiling the party, but, no, it doesn’t run in the family.)
That’s great, we need those Pharaohs (and that odd cone-like thingy made of stone) on our side.
So, everyone’s diggin’ deeper and deeper down.
And building dams and reservoirs to store all that river water that is otherwise wasted when it flows (Sensible river, no flow - old Antarctic proverb)
….all of which can then be used….
….to grow rice and wheat….
….the excess of which can then be exported.
Take wheat again (time to hold your breath. I do such yoga regularly). Each kilo of wheat takes 1654 litres of fresh water (most of it – say, 80% - from below the ground or our rivers). Time for some math:
Ground or river water used for wheat per kilo = 80% of 1654 = 1300 litres (thereabouts)
Wheat exported in last year’s feeding-frenzy = 7.23 million tonnes
Hence, water exported (sort of…it’s called ‘virtual water’, by the way) = 94 billion tonnes of water.
That is 94,000,000,000,000 litres (took me a while to do that, hope you’re impressed).
Wheat, rest assured, is well fed. As is rice.
For half the pop that needs clean water, well (I had to pun….), it’s work in progress. Stay posted (but don’t, repeat, don’t hold your breath).
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