Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
3.1 INTRODUCTION
Land and water are the basic needs of agriculture and economic development of any
country. The demands for these resources are continuously increasing. It is possible
to increase the intensity of cultivation up to 200-300% or more provided water is
available as India is having sunshine throughout the year. Further large areas of waste/
fallow lands are available and hence optimum use of the available water is very critical
at this juncture.
Water is a vital resource for life, human/societal development and environmental
sustainability. We must treat the water economic and socially good and that water
management must aim for the most worthwhile use ensuring equity, concerns, ad-
equate, effi ciency and environmental sustainability. Water planners, managers, users
and generally policy makers face many challenges: The need to meet the basic water
requirements of present and future generations; maintain the renewable fresh water
resources and develop public and private institutions capable of managing supply and
demand resolving confl icts; and protecting watersheds and allocating scarce water re-
sources.
Though water resources in India are good, but the utilizable water is about 110
M.H.M. (70 M.H.M from surface and 40 M.H.M from ground water). This utilizable
water can irrigate about 130−140 M-ha. This is only about 50−60% of the gross culti-
vable area in the country. Further, agriculture draws about 85% of the total water used
at present. It is estimated that the allocation will be reduced to 71% in the next 20−25
years, since the demand of water for industries and municipal purposes is expected to
increase. Therefore, we must fi nd ways and means to increase the area of irrigation and
production to feed the growing population.
The investment per hectare for irrigation projects has been increasing enormous-
ly from Rs. 1500 during 1951-1956 to about Rs. 100,000 during 9th plan and Rs.
150,000 during 12th plan. Though we have increased the production by fi ve fold in the
last 60 years (from 50 million tons in 1951 to about 250 million tons at present),still
the average production per Ha is less compared to many countries in the world, such
as: Egypt. China, Taiwan, Japan, etc. The main reason for this is due to inadequate
irrigation management, and not introducing pressure irrigation (Sprinkler and Drip ir-
rigation)on a large scale. Therefore, it is necessary to economize the use of water and
at the same time increase the productivity per unit area and per unit quantity of water.
The production of fruits/vegetables in India ranks 2nd in the world, but it is not
suffi cient for the minimum requirement of the population. Further, there is a good po-
tential of exporting these products to get suffi cient income to the farmers and foreign
exchange to the country. We get highest rainfall in the world, that is, 12,000 mm at
Chirapunji - India and at the same time less than 100 mm in Rajasthan and some other
parts of the country. Further the rain falls only in 3 or 4 months times during the year.
Even Chirapunji is facing drinking water problem before monsoon starts. Therefore,
there is a need to harvest, conserve and use the water effi ciently.
The food requirement in India will increase from 220 MT in 2000 A.D.to 450−500
M-tons in 2050 A.D. The present average production is about 2.2 tons per ha in ir-
rigated areas and about 0.75 tons/ha in rain-fed areas. These values can be easily in-
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