Water shortages could lead to a reduction in food exports from India, which has become the leading supplier of a number of food products in the world, the Minister of Water Resources of India warned.

Initially a food-scarce country, India has become the main exporter of food, but in order to maintain this achievement, it needs to revive its reservoirs, lakes and other traditional bodies of water, a statement by Gajendra Singh Shehawat said.

“Prudent use of water can save India from future disasters,” Shehawat said.

In 2012, India became the world's largest rice exporter, annually selling about 12 million tons of this food product to the world market, including 4 million tons of the aromatic variety of basmati grown exclusively in India and Pakistan.

But rice requires a lot of water. Government research bodies and experts claim that Indian farmers need between 4,500 and 5,000 liters of water to grow one kilogram of rice.

There is usually not enough water in the summer months, but this year the situation was especially grim in the western and southern states, where during the monsoon season in 2018 there was less than the average rainfall, by an average of 38%.

According to last year's forecast by the National Institute for the Transformation of India (NITI), water demand in India will double by 2030.