South Asia Water Studies Journal
The tube well questionnaire was designed to elicit specific information on: (i) details of socio-economic characteristics of the head of the Mandali, (ii) operational land holding and caste characteristics of the farmers adopting MIS, (iii) technical and economic performance of the MIS, and (iv) farmers’ perception of the overall socio-economic and environmental benefits of the MIS. While the information for the kharif season was collected for the year 2013, the data for rabi and summer seasons were gathered for the previous agricultural season of the year 2012. Further, Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted to get more insights into the performance of the MIS and its overall economic, social, and environmental benefits.
1.2.Profile of MIS installed tube wells in Banaskantha By and large, farmers are mostly dependent on MIS during the rabi and summer seasons, as the amount of rainfall is less during these seasons. Table 4 shows the status of adoption of MIS across the study talukas in Banaskantha. It emerges that almost half of the total command area under the tube wells are covered by MIS (47.9%) with notable variation across talukas. For instance, Dantiwada taluka reports the highest coverage (72%), though the total tube well command area is not significant. In Deesa taluka, around 67% of farm land with tube wells is irrigated through MIS. In contrast, a relatively lower amount of agricultural land is covered in the three talukas of Bhabhar, Kankrej, and Tharad. Irrigation dependency during the rabi season is found to be higher (87%) compared to the kharif (43%) and summer seasons (51%). Table 4. Distribution of tube-well irrigated area adopting MIS in Banaskantha talukas
Taluka Bhabhar Dantiwada Deesa Deodar Dhanera Kankrej Palanpur Tharad Vadgam Total
Total area under PINS/ MIS (in ha) 6.71 11.22 213.50 22.90 50.67 21.05 167.94 3.47 60.97 558.43
Source: Viswanathan & Bahinipati 2014
% of total command area 12.5 72.1 66.5 41.4 57.0 22.7 41.2 26.0 51.9 47.9
MIS area as % of total irrigated area 13.7 72.1 70.2 41.4 58.7 37.8 67.3 26.0 68.8 60.9
(%) Area irrigated during 3 seasons Kharif Rabi Summer 44.8 82.8 0.0 21.7 62.9 62.9 64.8 90.3 56.9 0.0 93.9 61.6 38.4 79.9 40.6 39.6 83.5 19.8 31.4 84.6 49.3 0.0 33.3 33.3 28.8 98.2 57.2 43.3 87.4 51.3
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