Irrigation Management water at farm level (viz. surface flooding, improperly leveled fields, uncontrolled irrigations during wee hours/night etc.) are most important factors for realizing the production potential under irrigated agriculture. In addition to water management concerns, the deterioration in the quality of soil and water resources, decline in soil fertility due to imbalanced use of fertilizers, micronutrient deficiencies, deterioration in groundwater quality, incidences of new pests and diseases, water logging, secondary soil Stalinization and alkalization, shrinkage of fertile agriculture lands due to increasing demands from housing and industrial sectors, poor economic condition of farmers, defunct Water Users' Associations (WUAs'), nonavailability of quality seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, credit facilities, pricing of agricultural commodities and their marketing besides the impact of climate change on water resources availability and variability. Future irrigation need The projections for future population and food requirement of the country indicated that the population of India may stabilize around 1.6 to 1.7 billion by 2050 AD and to sustain that it would require about 450 million tons of food grain annually at the required level of food consumption. It is estimated that the irrigation water need to be supplied to at least 130 Mha area for food crops alone and 160 Mha for all crops to be able to meet the demands of the
country by 2050 for attaining food security. The crop area under High Yield Varieties (HYV) grew from 7 to 22 percent of the total cultivated area during the first decade of the Green Revolution. More than 70 per cent of the wheat, 35 per cent of the rice and 20 per cent of the millet and maize cropped area had been covered under HYV seeds. This had also led to intensification of water storage reservoirs and canals for providing irrigation, hydro-electric power generation and employment. In this context, it is imperative to provide assured irrigation and give emphasis on On-farm water management activities. Moreover, with the present population
20 Agriculture World | October 2016
of 1.25 billion, per-capita land availability reduced to 0.1 ha against the world average of 2.2 ha, water availability projected to be deteriorated from water scarcity to the water stress level by 2025. Therefore, the productivity can only be sustained with adoption of HYVs' along with matching improved agricultural water management and production technologies. Nonetheless, the irrigation sector in India would require about 30% more water from the present level of 588 billion cubic meter to meet the food demand of burgeoning population by 2025. In this context and due to growing competition for water among the domestic and industrial sectors, there is a greater challenge in the agricultural sector to produce more food from less water. To achieve this, efficient irrigation methods viz. micro irrigation, use of treated and untreated waste water for irrigation as per crop suitability leading to enhanced irrigated area besides the Crop Water Productivity (CWP). Plausible solutions Every single drop of water used for crops, trees and livestock needs to produce more value in order to improve water productivity while conserving the natural resource base (per crop more crop). Though it is believed that an integrated approach to soil, water, crop and nutrient management is essential for increasing crop water productivity besides the input use efficiency. In this www.krishijagran.com