Rainfed agriculture (1.25 billion hectares out of 1.55 billion hectares arable area) plays an important role globally in improving livelihoods and food security as it covers 63 per cent of total agriculture in Asia and 97 per cent in Africa. These areas are not only the hotspots of poverty but are also food insecure, hotspots of malnutrition, water scarcity, prone to severe land degradation and more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.1 With increasing demand for food production to meet the needs of the growing population (9 billion by 2050), growing incomes and changing food habits, water scarcity will also intensify. The per-capita availability of water has declined considerably; for example, in India water availability was 1,820 cubic metres per person in 2001 compared to 5,177 cubic metres in 1951, and it is expected to decrease further to 1,341 cubic metres by 2025 and 1140 cubic metres by 2050.