Irrigation
is very important for the agricultural sector. India,
with its vast diversity in terrain and climatic conditions, makes
the implementation of irrigation systems quite a challenging task.
Currently, the gross irrigated area in India is 59.3 million hectares
out of the gross sown area of 180 million hectares. This, despite
the fact that the irrigation facilities created in the country can
meet the requirements of 90 million hectares. The under-utilisation
of irrigation facilities is only due to improper and inadequate means
of supplying water to the fields.
The major
sources of irrigation include reservoirs, canals, rivers, tanks, ponds
and wells. The most widely used method of irrigation in India is surface
irrigation, which is popularly referred to as flood irrigation, in
which water is conveyed through open channels. Other methods such
as drip and sprinkler irrigation are rarely used, accounting for less
than one million hectares of the gross irrigated area.
“The
inefficiencies associated with surface irrigation cause a lot of wastage
of water and this is a matter of concern,” according to Anil B Jain,
managing director, Jain Irrigation Systems. “There is also a growing
concern for the detrimental aspects of surface irrigation methods,
which result in problems like salinity and water-logging,” says Jain.
Awareness
about methods of conserving water and maximising the yield per unit
volume of water is growing, as people are shifting from cultivating
crops merely to earn a livelihood to those that will yield better
and higher commercial gains.
It is
advantageous to carry water through pipelines since it can avoid conveyance
losses that are incurred while conveying water through canals and
field channels. The use of methods like drip and sprinkler systems
can improve the efficiency of use as well as the yield. The government
is considering the privatisation of irrigation projects.
Jain
asserts that the need of the day is to have equal participation between
the government and the beneficiary groups for running the existing
irrigation systems. “A government-controlled system can also be transferred
to the beneficiary group for effective operation and maintenance.
The group itself can contribute the necessary funds,” Jain adds.
