Chapter 2 Water Management in Agriculture
2.5. P OLICY R ECOMMENDATIONS
2.5.1. Suggestions for irrigated areas
The Union Cabinet in its meeting held on 27th July, 2016 approved implementation of PMKSY in a mission mode. The mission objective is to complete 99 major and medium irrigation projects having potential of 76.03 lakh ha in phases by Dec., 2019, including command area development. For completion of these projects in a mission mode, innovative funding mechanism through NABARD is envisaged.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): About 70 per cent of the resources of MGNREGS are used for soil and water conservation activities in rural areas. The Department of Rural Development (DoRD) has been prioritizing construction of farm ponds and de-siltation of water bodies under the scheme. During the year 2016-17, more than 5 lakh farm ponds were constructed which have proved beneficial by providing protective irrigation during dry spells. It is saving irrigation at the critical stage of crop, that is important to de-risk crop cultivation. This approach is highly relevant in rainfed areas, and the efficiency can be improved by integrating conveyor pipeline and drip / sprinkler.
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY): RKVY empowers states to take up activities related to infrastructure development in agriculture sector. Many states have been accessing this resource for water conservation and management activities. RKVY funds can be best utilized if water management activities are taken up based on comprehensive work plan and involvement of community. Besides, RKVY, water harvesting and management activities are also supported in most of the agriculture development programmes as package of practices.
supply for irrigation could help regulate groundwater use. Ways must be explored to empower and entrust village communities with the right and responsibility to collect electricity charges and to undertake rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge. A gradual withdrawal of cultivation of rice, sugarcane and other water guzzling crops from the over-exploited western region of the country is the call of the day. Substitution of rice has to be a cautious approach, and has to be carried out simultaneously with increases in substitute cereals like millets, so that food security is not compromised.
The CGWB (Central Ground Water Board) report shows that Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Tamil Nadu have significant assessed units under over exploited category as the ground water consumption is more than the annual ground water recharge. Though Tamil Nadu has maximum number of ‘dark zones’ (358 out of 1139 assessed units), Punjab is the worst in percentage term with 105 (76%) of 138 assessed units. Similarly, 164 of 248 assessed blocks in Rajasthan are overexploited (66%), followed by Delhi where 15 (56%) out of 27 blocks are in ‘dark zones’. Haryana has 64 (54%) over-exploited blocks out of 119 assessed units.
Government is in the process of launching Atal Bhujal Yojana to focus on development of 30 per cent of the assessed blocks (fast depleting ground water) adopting efficient water management and strengthening of recharge through community participation. There is urgent need to expedite activities for better community driven water management, crop alignment and ground water recharge including artificial recharge to save these critical blocks from further depletion and sustaining the agriculture operations.
(ii) Creating secondary storages in tail end of canal commands
During peak monsoon periods, the reservoirs are at peak storage level. The availability of water in canal system is unrestricted and water is available in plenty even at the tail end of the system.
There is however minimum need for irrigation at such times, and if this water is stored in secondary storage structures constructed at feasible locations of the tail end of canal system, it will not only help in making water available during dry spells when it is scarce, but also reduce impact of flood to a certain extent. This network of secondary storage can also be taken up by accessing water from streams during rainy season, particularly in hilly terrains, for use during critical periods.
(iii) Irrigation development in eastern and north eastern region
In East and North East India ground water resources are under-utilized to the tune of 55-99 per cent, while also being blessed with high rainfall. Rice is a staple diet in major parts of India and food security at the country level may be ensured by enhancing its productivity and production in these regions. Care may however be taken to avoid paddy cultivation in uplands, which are common in this region. In Eastern, North Eastern and Coastal pockets of India, the abundantly availability of ground water may be used rationally and sustainably for good agricultural practices. In Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, parts of Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, other coastal regions and pockets, a battery of shallow and deep tube-wells can be installed for Rabi season cultivation, which will also act as sink for subsequent floods. Small and marginal farmers in Eastern States will benefit from community
tube-wells and mobile pump-sets for use by a group of farmers. FPOs may be promoted for this purpose. Create of such ground water irrigation potential in the Eastern and North Eastern States will also require attention to stable power supply by energizing new tube wells and soft credit for farmers to install tube-wells and pump-sets.
(iv) Completion of irrigation projects
As per available information, 149 major and medium irrigation projects are at various stages of implementation and have been pending completion for long. Of these Government has already identified 99 projects for completion on mission mode approach to bring about 7.6 million ha of cultivated land under irrigation by December, 2019. Thus, there will be about 50 remaining major and medium irrigation projects still requiring completion with scope to bring additional area under irrigation. Some of these projects are being taken up expeditiously by the State Governments for early completion. However, rest of the projects are either delayed due to challenges of land acquisition, fund constraints or lack of priority given by the states. These projects also need to be reviewed and feasible projects taken up for completion on mission mode approach in the line of 99 AIBP projects already taken up. This will take forward the component of ‘har khet ko pani’.
(v) To improve on-farm water management
On-farm water management can reduce wasteful use of water and, at the same time lead to increases in productivity. As irrigation water rates are generally low and also unrelated to the quantity of water use, farmers find no incentive to economize on its use. In cases of improper levelling of fields, farmers are found to apply excess quantity of water to ensure that enough water reaches plants situated on higher grounds. Farmers also resort to submergence of rice fields to check weed growth. These are all wasteful water use practices. Planting wheat on raised beds improves yields, increases fertilizer efficiency, reduces herbicide use, saves seeds, saves water on an average by 30 per cent and can reduce production costs by 25-35 per cent compared to permanent beds. This is just one example of positive effect of on-farm management in water conservation and lowering of production costs without compromising the yield levels.
The results of other All India Coordinated Research Programmes of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in water management network centres have successfully demonstrated, that there is a great scope for ensuring water economy, increasing crop productivity and improving water use efficiency, if available irrigation and other agro- technologies are transferred to farmers in irrigation commands.
Laser levelling of land also is effective in water saving to an extent of 25-30 per cent.
(vi) Participatory Water Management
Farmers are the first and prime stakeholders in water management. Farmers have been managing land and water resources for generations as they are much familiar of the surrounding environment, time of irrigation and overall demand in the neighborhood. Water is best used
when a proper water budget is developed for a particular village / group of farmers assessing the demand and supply positions. However, farmers do not show the same level of collective responsibility and social concern when it comes to publicity.
Organised water users associations (WUAs) would not only help in efficient crop planning and equitable distribution of water, but also would serve as channels for feedback and inputs to improve the performance and services provided by Government. WUAs need to ensure voluntary and active participation in water allocation and management activities. They can also take over the task of Operation and Management (O and M), of the tertiary system including field channels (now with the State Departments of Water Resources); and of collecting water rates (now mostly with State Revenue Department). Since, water user association adopts the process of group dynamics and represents the collective decision of the community to tackle their own problems, probability of acceptance of the decision is likely to be high and success of implementation can also be expected to be high.
(vii) Water pricing and regulatory mechanism
A commodity which is free and available in abundance is often misused. So is the case with irrigation water also. It is, therefore, necessary to supply metered water and charged accordingly at a reasonable rate to economize its use.
Alternately, a system that involves release of water on payment to be compensated by the targetted / entitled subsidy on water subsequently may be adopted, as in the case of DBT based LPG distribution. This will discipline water use, while helping farmers with water rate concession.
(viii) Measures to control water logging & soil salinity
Water logging leads to soil salinity. Problem of water logging is very often observed under surface irrigation system and also in the areas of poor drainage resulting in accumulation of water. Apart from lining of canals, wherever required there is a need for drainage development either through surface/sub surface/bio drainage or a combined approach followed by appropriate agronomic measures.
(ix) Emphasis on recycling of water
Currently, reuse and recycling of waste water are not practised on a large scale in India, and there is considerable scope to adopt this water source for irrigation after appropriate treatment.
This has particular role in urban and peri-urban areas, as agriculture / horticulture production that meets the urban demand for fresh produce can be met.
(x) Water footprint
Water budgeting i.e, a balanced water use plan taking into consideration the demand & supply and equitable distribution through participatory management is the key to achieving potential use of water. All agriculture commodities should indicate the water foot print and a definite range be prescribed for each commodity for being considered eligible for export and even for
government procurement.
2.5.2. Suggestions for rainfed areas