Indias Irrigation Economy:

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Indias Irrigation Economy

• In the throes of a transition..

Tushaar Shah International Water Management
Institute www.iwmi.org
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Highlights

• History of Indian irrigation Three Phases and a
  Turning Point.
• Since 1975, Indian agriculture has emerged as the
  worlds largest user of groundwater to grow food
  and fibre.
• The groundwater boom is fired by population
  pressure on land and demands of intensive
  diversification of farming.
• India and Pakistan together lost over 5 million
  ha of canal irrigated areas tubewells are
  canibalizing flow irrigation.
• Investing in flow irrigation under BAU is
  throwing good money after bad.
• Indias irrigation challenge is one of managing
  its sub-continental aquifer systems, a vast
  reservoir we have left unmanaged.

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Evolution of Indian IrrigationEra of adaptive
irrigation-upto 1830

• Community was the unit of irrigation management

Contribution to aggregate Farm output and
incomes
Rainfall and Soil moisture
Flow irrigation from tanks, canals, rivers
Lift irrigation from wells and surface sources
of water consumptively used in agriculture
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Evolution of Indian IrrigationEra of canal
construction-1830-1970

• State emerged as the architect, builder, manager
  of irrigation

Soil moisture management
Contribution to aggregate Farm output and
incomes
Flow irrigation from tanks, canals, rivers
Lift irrigation from wells surface sources
water consumptively used in agriculture
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Evolution of Indian IrrigationEra of atomistic
pump irrigation-1970-todate

• Individual farmer as the irrigation manager

Contribution To Farm output incomes
Soil moisture management
Flow irrigation
Pump irrigation from wells, tubewells, canals
of water consumptively used in agriculture
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India is the worlds largest userof groundwater
in agriculture in the world.
India has over 20 million irrigation wells. We
add 0.8 million/year. Every fourth cultivator
owns an irrigation well non-owners depend on
groundwater markets.
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Groundwater share in irrigated Areas 70 and
rising
Govt. numbers Suggest 60 Irrigated areas Depend
on GW, But
National Sample Survey, 2003, 59th
roundProportion of area under different
irrigated crops Served by pump and flow
irrigation
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Pump irrigation expansion is driven by
population pressure on farm lands..
Throughout the world, intensive groundwater
irrigation is a response to water scarcity. Not
in South Asia. Here, it is a response to
scarcity of farm lands. The rise of a
water-scavenging irrigation economy..
60 of tubewells in use Were made during
the 1990s numbers are Still accelerating..
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Minor Irrigation Census 2001Districts with high
rural population density experience intensive
well irrigation
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Our irrigation planning is preoccupied with food
grains Indian farmer is diversifying in a hurry.
Canal and tank irrigated areas condemned to
low-value crops unresponsive to precision
irrigation. Much diversification is Occurring
outside Command areas (IFPRI). Much
diversification Requires small dozes
of Year-round, on-demand Irrigation. Value added
farming Will expand with Waste-water irrigation
and Groundwater.
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Area irrigated by public canals are stagnant
despite growing investment in public irrigation.
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Throughout South Asia, surface irrigation is
giving Way to pump irrigation. India, Pakistan
and Bdesh Lost 5.5 m ha of surface irrigation
during 1994-2001
This process has gathered Momentum since 1995
Pump irrigation is cannibalizing flow irrigation.
Irrigation systems are unable to Support
groundwater irrigation
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For sustainable irrigation, conjunctive
managementof ground and surface water is
essential.
Mismatch between ground and surface irrigation
in India 578 districts covered by Minor
Irrigation Cesus 2001 (GoI 2005)
Effective conjunctive management Means more well
irrigation in command Areas. In Indian
districts, the situation is the opposite.
Only 12 of Indias wells are In command areas
and this Proportion is dropping every year
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Implications 1Wake up to new realities.

• Recognize and respond to the new reality.
  Governments role as irrigation provider is no
  longer the most critical.
• Investing in surface irrigation is throwing good
  money after bad..
• Irrigation reforms around PIM are doomed to
  failure because flow irrigation itself is
  ebbing..
• Irrigation Departments mission statement needs
  to be rewritten.

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Implications 2Groundwater recharge is the game
we must master.

• Surface water dams deliver 150 km3/year
• aquifer system delivers 220 km3/year which is far
  more productive.
• Managing the sub-continental system of aquifers
  ought to be Indias top priority but this is
  nobodys concern.
• India gets 4000 km3 of precipitation we use
• 220 km3 of groundwater. Nature itself puts 4-10
  of rainfall into aquifers. If we focus recharge
  effort at the right places, sustaining
  groundwater irrigation is possible.
• The challenge is to increase recharge in arid
  areas (north-west)
• and hardrock aquifers (peninsular India).

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Implications 3Reinvent surface irrigation
management.

• We need new institutional models to arrest
  erosion of public irrigation commands.
• What Indian farmer demands is on-farm water he
  can scavenge at will for high frequency
  precision-irrigation wells will always score on
  canals and tanks.
• Rajasthans program of lined farm ponds on Indira
  Gandhi Nahar Yojana canal water fill up the pond
  every 21 days farmer run sprinklers with it.
• Gujarat governments new scheme to create local
  irrigation entrepreneurs who will lay
  drip-irrigation infrastructure and operate an
  irrigation service from public canals.
• Maharashtras experiments in Northern Krishna
  basin.

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Implications 4high crop/drop

• Accelerate agricultural diversification
• Embrace and propagate water saving farming
  systems aerobic rice, System of Rice
  Intensification,
• Zero-tillage, alternate wet-and-dry irrigation.
• Reform micro-irrigation subsidies that shrink
  drip-and-sprinkler equipment market instead of
  expanding it.

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Implications 5Practical strategy for
groundwater management

• Evolve a practical, implementable tool-kit for
  groundwater management.
• Groundwater laws are unenforceable pricing is
  impractial GW Authoritys writ does not run in
  the country-side.
• Indirect instruments
• Punjabs experiment with electricity supply and
  rice procurement schedules to shift rice
  transplanting.
• Gujarats Jyotirgram Yojana of rationing quality
  power to farmers for irrigation

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Source Down to Earth