15 Mar

Irrigation

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Contents

• Irrigation
• Watershed Development Program
• Micro-Irrigation

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• Introduction
  • Irrigation is crucial to ensure that farmers reap full benefit of better-quality seeds and fertilizers. But, as per ESI 2021-22, only 49% of India’s total cropped area is irrigated. Rest depends on Monsoon rainfall for agriculture. This is the most important factor which makes farming a vulnerable profession.
• Importance of Irrigation:
  1. Insufficient, Uncertain and Irregular Rains
  2. Higher Productivity of Irrigated Fields
  3. Multiple Cropping Possible
  4. Brining More Land Under Cultivation
  5. High Yielding Varities Program’s success depends to a large extent on the timely availability of ample supply of water.
  6. Reduces Instability in output levels
  7. Other Indirect Benefits of Irrigation: employment potential of irrigated land increases. It also helps in developing allied activities, means of water transport etc.
     • For e.g. it has been estimated that for every Rs 100 of direct benefits from Bhakra Nangal Dam, there was a generation of Rs 90 of indirect benefits.

A) DIFFERENT TYPES OF IRRIGATION IN INDIA:

• Sources of Irrigation in India can be divided into the following: (i) Wells/Tube Wells (ii) Canals (iii) Tanks, and Others
• Wells and Tube-wells are the most important source of irrigation in India.
  • They are spread over large areas of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu.
  • Advantages of Well and Tube well Irrigation: Simplest and cost-effective way, easily affordable by poor Indian farmers (wells). It is an independent source of irrigation and can thus be used whenever the necessity arises. Certain chemicals from ground water such as nitrate, chloride, sulfate etc. are generally found mixed in well water. This can be good for agriculture.
  • Disadvantages:
    • Only limited area can be irrigated (upto 1 to 8 hectare of land per day)
    • Excessive extraction has caused ground water depletion in several parts of the country.
• Canals contribute to irrigation of around 24% of the irrigated area. This includes large area of Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and some parts of southern states.
  • Digging of Canals in stony and uneven areas is difficult and unprofitable. Thus the canals are practically absent from the Peninsular plateau. However, the coastal and delta region of south India do have some canal system.
  • Advantages of Canal Irrigation:
    • Canals can convert dry regions into fertile territory (e.g. Rajasthan impacted by Indira Gandhi Canal)
    • They carry a lot of sediments carried by rivers -> this when deposited in agri field contributes to soil fertility.
    • It’s quite cheap in long run (initially it can be expensive due to the cost of multipurpose projects etc.)
  • Drawbacks:
    • Water logging along the canal route: It is caused by soaking on canal water into the ground.
    • Land Degradation: Capillary action brings alkaline salts to the surface and makes large areas unfit for agriculture.
    • Overflow of canals during rainy season also becomes a reason for floods.
  • Taken together, Canals and wells accounted for 86% of the irrigated area in 2012-13.
• Tank Irrigation is resorted to mostly in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and parts of West Bengal and Bihar.
  • A tank act as an irrigation storage system that is developed by constructing a small bund of earth or stones built across a stream.
  • Rivers of south don’t flow all the year around. Therefore, tanks are constructed for storing water in rainy season which is subsequently used for irrigation purposes.
  • Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) is the largest state of tank irrigation which has about 29% of tank irrigated area of India. The drainage system of Godavari and its tributaries have a large number of tanks.
  • Advantages:
    • Most of the tanks are natural and not expensive for their construction. Even an individual farmer has his own tank.
    • They are generally constructed on a rocky bed and has long life.
    • Fishing activities in some tanks adds to the food resources and income of the farmers.
  • Limitations:
    • They dry up during dry season and fail to provide the irrigation when it is needed the most.
    • Silting of the tank bed is a serious problem and it requires desilting of the tank at regular interval.
• Micro Irrigation (including Sprinklers, Drip Irrigation Etc.) have emerged as the new efficient way of irrigation.
• Various Initiatives to promote increase irrigation cover in India:
  1. Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program (AIBP) was launched in 1996-97 to provide Central Loan Assistance to states for completion of large and medium irrigation project which have been stuck for long due to fund crunch. It has been now subsumed under PMKSY (PMKSY-AIBP)
  2. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)is operational since 2015 with the vision of extending the coverage of irrigation “Har Khet ko Pani” and Improving water use efficiency “More Crop Per Drop”.
  3. Promoting water use efficiency:
     • To promote micro-irrigation a Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) with corpus of Rs 5,000 crore was created with NABARD during 2018-19. As of 1st Dec 2021, loans under MIF amounting to Rs 3,970.17 crores have been approved for 12.81 lakh ha of Micro Irrigation area.
     • Micro irrigation is also being promoted through the Per Drop More Crop component of PMKSY (PMKSY-PDMC) from 2015-16.
  4. Watershed Development Program (now part of PMKSY) also focuses on improving irrigation situation in rain-fed area.

B) PRADHAN MANTRI KRISHI SICHAYI YOJNA

• Introduction:
  » Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojna (PMKSY) is a flagship scheme launched by Government of India in 2015. the main objective of the PMKSY is to:
  i. Achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level.
  ii. Expand cultivable area under irrigation (“Har Khet ko Pani”)
  iii. Improve on-farm water use efficiency (“More Crop Per Drop”)to reduce wastage of water, Enhance the adoption of precision irrigation and other water saving technologies (Per Drop More Crop)
  iv. Enhance recharge of aquifers and introduce sustainable water conservation practices by exploring the feasibility of reusing treated municipal waste water for peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in precision irrigation.
• Key Features of the Scheme:
  • Amalgamation of Ongoing Schemes:
    • Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program (AIBP) of Ministry of Water Resource, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR, RD&GR) (Now Ministry of Jal Shakti)
    • Integrated Watershed Management Program (IWMP) of Department of Land Resources (DoLR) – MoRD
    • On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of Department of Agriculture and Cooperation – Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare
  • Decentralized State-Level Planning and Execution: States will draw their own irrigation development plan based on district irrigation plans and state irrigation plans.
  • It serves as a convergence platform for all water sector activities including drinking water and sanitation, MGNREGA, application and S&T through comprehensive plan.
  • Focused on “Protective Irrigation” by sustainably water conservation by harnessing rain water at micro level through ‘Jal Sanchay’ and ‘Jal Sinchan’
  • Special Focus on Micro-Irrigation to increase water use efficiency.
  • Other objectives include enhancing recharge of acquifers and introducing sustainable water conservation practice by exploring the feasibility of reusing municipal waste water and peri-urban agriculture and attract greater private investment in precision agriculture.
• The program has now been extended for another five years till Dec 2026. Three components AIBP, Har Khet ko Pani and Watershed development has been extended.

C) ACCELERATED IRRIGATION BENEFIT PROGRAM

• Need of AIBP
  » Irrigation a state subject -> states develop irrigation projects -> several major and medium projects were stuck due to inadequate provisions of funds locking the fund spent on these projects too.
  » Keeping the above in view, Central government in 1996-97, launched an Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Program (AIBP) to provide Central Loan Assistance (CLA) to these projects so that development could be accelerated.
  » Central assistance is released in the form of block loans and grants not tied to any sector of development or project.
• Types of Projects chosen
  » Special emphasis was to be given to Pre-fifth and Fifth Plan Project.
  » Priorities were also to be given to those projects which were benefitting Tribal and Drought Prone Areas.
  » After the revision in 1999-2000 onwards, AIBP could also be extended to minor surface irrigation projects of special category states (N.E Stats & Hilly state of HP, Sikkim, J&K and Uttarakhand)
• State’s contribution (after relaxation in Dec 2006) [25% (10% in special category states, projects benefitting draught prone areas, tribal areas, and flood prone areas)]
• Progress as of Dec 2021
  » Out of 99 projects, 44 projects have been reported to be completed/almost completed.

D) LONG TERM IRRIGATION FUND (LTIF)

• It was established by NABARD in 2016 to fund central and state share of 99 prioritized irrigation projects under the PMKSY.
• It gives loans to NWDA and State governments for the irrigation projects and thus funds and fast tracks implementation of incomplete major and medium irrigation projects during 2016-2020.
• 99 Projects of AIBP which have been identified:
  » 23 Projects for completion in 2016-17 (Priority-1)
  » 31 Projects for completion in 2017-18 (Priority-2)
  » 45 projects for completion by Dec 2019. (Priority-3)
• It had an initial corpus of about Rs. 20,000 crore (which was later extended to 40,000 crores)
  » The corpus will come from budgetary allocation from GoI, extra-budgetary allocation through GoI fully serviced bonds to be raised by NABARD.

E) INSTITUTIONS: NATIONAL WATER DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (NWDA)

• NWDA was set up in 1982 as Autonomous society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, to carry out the water balance and other studies on a scientific and realistic basis for optimum utilization of water resources of the Peninsular river system for preparation of feasibility report and thus to give
  concrete shape to Peninsular River Development component of National Perspective Plan prepared by Central Water Commission.
• Government subsequently modified the functions of NWDA to include the Himalayan Component of National Perspective for Water Resource Development.
• In 2006, it was also decided that NWDA will explore the feasibility of linking sub-basins of rivers in state like Bihar.
• It has also been tasked to prepare feasibility reports of intra-state links as proposed by the States

WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

• Introduction
  » Watershed is an area of land where surface water drains down to a single point (stream, lake or ocean).
  » Watershed development/management is the treatment of the entire catchment area around the village to ensure conservation and regeneration of natural resources, especially water and its judicious use.
  » Watershed development is all about making running water stop and standing water to sink inside. It is the only option for rainfed areas for water conservation and recharge and to prevent soil degradation.
• How is watershed development done?
  • It is done from ridge to valley basis. Watershed development starts from the top-most point (ridge) and progresses downwards towards the valley.
    • Structures such as Water absorption trenches (WAT), Continuous contour trenches (CCT), stone bunds, check dams, percolation dams, ponds, and channels are built from the ridge to the valley.
  • Main objective is to slow the movement of water
  • Note: Earlier method of focusing only on water storage structures had limitations like washing away of top soil and silting of the water storage structure (reduction in the capacity to store water).
• Watershed Development Programs in India: Key Programs
  a. Integrated Watershed Management Program (now a component of PMKSY)
  b. National Watershed Development Project for Rainfed Areas (NWDPRA)
  c. Watershed Development Project in Shifting Cultivation Area (WDPSCA)
  d. Watershed Development Fund (WDF)
  • With the help of NABARD
  • Unified fund to help various watershed development programs in India.
• How has watershed management programs contributed/ What are the objectives of these program?
• Water Conservation, Soil Conservation, Flood Control, Rehabilitation of Degraded Land, Better agri practices, better integration of non-agri activities, Increased farmer income, capacity building of farmers.

MICRO-IRRIGATION

• Introduction
  » Water is a scarce natural resource and faces a huge demand supply gap all over the world. Situation is worse in India which accommodates 17% of the world’s population with 4% of the water resources.
  » In India, more than 80% of water is used for irrigation purposes. Therefore, optimal utilization of water in irrigation can play crucial role in ending the water scarcity that exists. Here, micro-irrigation can play a crucial role.
• Micro Irrigation is an innovative water saving technology in which water is directly supplied to crops with very less conveyance and evaporation losses. Main types of micro-irrigation system include:
  1. Drip Irrigation: It allows water to drip slowly to the roots of plants, either from above the soil surface or buried below the surface.
     • In India, major crops cultivated under drip irrigation includes sugarcane, banana, cotton, lemon, grapes, oranges, mangoes, vegetables etc.
  2. Sprinkler Irrigation: It uses water sprinklers to irrigate agri-crops. The water is applied in a controlled manner in a method that is similar to rainfall.
     • In India, major crops cultivated under sprinkler irrigation include, wheat, mustard, millet, sorghum etc.
  3. Micro-Sprinkler Irrigation provide irrigation with very fine droplets. They are suitable for low volume irrigation in horticulture crops, fruit flowers, greenhouses, nurseries etc.
  4. Porous Pipe System: It is a system of sub-surface irrigation which can work on low pressure that can be provided by gravity (overhead tanks).
     • Water is dispensed gradually near the roots of the plant/tree.
  5. Rain Gun
     • Pressurized water through rain-guns are used to irrigate the crop.
• Drip Irrigation and Sprinkler Irrigation is the most common type of micro irrigation system used in India.
• Benefits of Micro Irrigation
  • Better water use efficiency, better fertilizer use efficiency, energy efficiency, increased productivity, crop diversification, better quality of produce, more income for farmers etc.
• Efforts towards promoting Micro-Irrigation in India
  1. National Mission on Micro Irrigation Program which was later subsumed under National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture.
     • It is now being implemented as “Per Drop More Crop” component under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY) from 2015-16.
     • Under it various Training and Awareness Programs, workshops, seminars and interactive meets are conducted.
     • 50% subsidy is provided to farmers for installing micro-irrigation system (MIS). (40% Centre, 10% state)
  2. Micro-Irrigation Fund with NABARD under PMKSY
     • It was set up in 2018 with the major objective of funding the states to facilitate them to mobilize resources which can be used to incentivize farmers towards micro-irrigation beyond the provisions available under PMKSY-PDMC.
     • Its initial corpus was Rs 5,000 crore which was increased to 10,000 crore in Budge 2020-21.