IMPACT OF DRIP IRRIGATION ON FARMING SYSTEM: EVIDENCE FROM SOUTHERN INDIA - Management, Performance, and Applications of Micro Irrigation Systems - page 22

2.1 INTRODUCTION
Developing infrastructure for the water resources and their management have been the
common policy agenda in many developing economies, particularly in the arid and
semiarid tropical countries like India. A study by the International Water Management
Institute (IWMI) has shown that around 50% of the increase in demand for water by
the year 2025 can be met by increasing the effectiveness of irrigation [16].
The review of past studies lucidly shows that the solution to the problem of grow-
ing groundwater scarcity and persistent groundwater resource degradation across re-
gions is two fold. The fi rst is the supply side management practices like watershed de-
velopment, water resources development through major, medium and minor irrigation
projects, etc. The second is thorough the demand management by effi cient use of the
available water both in the short-run and long-run perspectives. This includes drip ir-
rigation and other improved water management practices. Recognizing the importance
of sustainable water-use effi ciency in agriculture, a number of demand management
strategies (like water pricing, water users association, turnover system, etc.) have been
introduced since the late-1970s to increase the water-use effi ciency, especially in the
use of surface irrigation water. One of the demand management mechanisms is the
adoption of micro irrigation such as drip and sprinkler methods of irrigation. Evi-
dences show that the water-use effi ciency increases up to 100% in a properly designed
and managed drip irrigation system [4, 17]. Drip method of irrigation helps to reduce
the overexploitation of groundwater that partly occurs because of ineffi cient use of
water under surface method of irrigation. Environmental problems associated with
the surface method of irrigation like waterlogging and salinity are also completely
absent under drip method of irrigation [11]. Drip method helps in achieving saving in
irrigation water, increased water-use effi ciency, decreased tillage requirement, higher
quality products, increased crop yields and higher fertilizer-use effi ciency [10, 15, 18].
Though the potential benefi ts generated by the drip irrigation methods are appar-
ent, the adoption of drip irrigation is yet to be widely promoted across regions, states
and elsewhere. It is found that the most ideal policy environment for promotion of
micro irrigation technologies in the well-irrigated areas would be pro-rata pricing of
electricity, which would create direct incentive for effi cient water use [7]. Adoption
of micro irrigation systems is likely to pick up fast in the arid and semi arid, well-
irrigated areas, where farmers have independent irrigation sources, and where ground-
water is scarce. Further, large size of farm and individual plots, and a cropping system
dominated by widely spaced row crops, which are also high-valued, would provide
the ideal environment for the same [6]. Evidences show that many researchers have
attempted to study the impact of drip irrigation [2, 5, 9, 10, 12, 15] and have found
that drip irrigation produces the desired positive impacts. It is evidenced that the drip
irrigation technology is technically feasible, particularly when the farmers depend on
groundwater sources [3]. Still, the studies on impacts of drip irrigation on the farming
system as a whole are scanty and yet to be explored much.
In this context, the drip irrigation has received much attention from policy makers
and others for its perceived ability to contribute signifi cantly to groundwater resourc-
es development, agricultural productivity, economic growth, and environmental