Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
of the Indian population would face under water scarcity. Water supply
for horticultural crops and livestock will face more intense competition
among the multiple users of water, and therefore, investment in microir-
rigation for horticultural crops will need attention to mitigate the problem.
Currently most of the water used to grow crops is derived from rainfed
soil moisture, with nonirrigated agriculture accounting for about 60% of
production in developing countries.
The strategies for increasing water use efficiency include appropri-
ate integrated land and water management practices like: (1) appropriate
scheduling of irrigation, (2) soil-water conservation measures through ad-
equate land preparation for crop establishment, rainwater harvesting and
crop residue incorporation, (3) efficient recycling of agricultural waste-
water, (4) conservation tillage to increase water infiltration, reduce runoff
and improve soil moisture storage, and (5) adequate soil fertility to remove
nutrient constraints for maximizing crop production for every drop of wa-
ter available through either rainfall or irrigation. In addition, novel irriga-
tion technologies such as supplementary irrigation, deficit irrigation, drip
irrigation and sprinkler irrigation can improve the water use efficiency of
crops. Application of irrigation water at critical stages of the crop is one of
the basic components of irrigation scheduling.
4.10.8 MICRO IRRIGATION FOR INCREASING WATER
PRODUCTIVITY OF HORTICULTURAL CROPS
Drip irrigation practices are becoming popular now-a-days in horticultur-
al crops due to their beneficial effects on water use efficiency and yield
which has been successfully demonstrated in different parts of country.
Since drip irrigation is a high capital-intensive technique, there are quite
a few doubts among the farmers about its net profitability. No doubt, the
initial capital investment for drip irrigation system is high. However, the
fixed investment is not very high when compared with the benefits real-
ized from the drip method of irrigation. The cost of the drip system varies
depending upon the nature of the crops, its space, amount of water require-
ments, conditions of the terrains, discharge capacity of the emitters and,
of course, distance from the source of water. It is clear from an estimate
that the per hectare cost of drip irrigation is substantially high for the nar-
row spaced crops like vegetables and banana. For instance, per hectare
