An Assignment

On
CROP PRODUCTION DEPENDENCY ON IRRIGATION

Department of Agronomy
Course Title: Irrigation Water Management
Course Code: AGRO 509

Submitted By:

Submitted To:

Ashik Mahmud
Registration no: 11-04240
MS in Agronomy, Semester: I
Session: January-June/2015

Dr. Md. Shahidul Islam

Professor
Department of Agronomy
Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University

SHER-E-BANGLA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCTION
Increase in agricultural production and productivity depends, to a large extent, on the
availability of water.Hence, the importance of irrigation is, however, the availability
of irrigation facilities which is highly inadequate.For example, in 1950- 51, gross
irrigated area as percentage of gross cropped area was only 17%. Even now 60% of
gross cropped area depends on rain. That is why Indian agriculture is called a gamble
in the monsoon.Insufficient, uncertain and irregular rain causes uncertainty in
agriculture. The period of rain is restricted to only four months in a year, June to
September, when monsoon arrives. The remaining eight months are dry. There is
some rainfall during the months of December and January in some parts of the
country.Even during monsoon, the rainfall is scanty and undependable in many parts
of the country. Sometimes the monsoon delayed considerably while sometimes they
cease prematurely. This pushes large areas of the country into drought conditions.
With the help of irrigation, droughts and famines can be effectively controlled.
Productivity on irrigated land is considerably more than the productivity on unirrigated land.Since India has a tropical and sub-tropical climate, it has potentialities to
grow crops on a year-round basis. However, since 80% of the annual rainfall is
received in less than four months, multiple cropping is generally not possible.
Provision of irrigation facilities can make possible the growing of two or three crops
in a year in most areas of the country. This will considerably enhance agricultural
production and productivity.The successful implementation of the High Yielding
Programme enhances agricultural production to a great entent.Total reporting area for
land utilization statistics was 306.05 million hectares in 1999-2000. Of this 19.44
million hectares was current fallow land. Current fallows include lands which are
lying fallow for less than one year other than current fallows includes land lying unploughed for one to five years.Cultivable waste land comprises another 13.83 million
hectares. Cultivation On all such lands is impossible in some cases while in others it
requires substantial capital investment to make land fit for cultivation. Provision of
irrigation facilities can make some portion of this land cultivable.Irrigation helps in
stabilising the output and yield levels. It also plays a protective role during drought

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years. Since both income and employment are positively and closely related to output,
prevention of fall in output during drought is an important instrument for achieving
stability of income and employment in the countryside. Irrigation has enabled many
states to acquire partial immunity from drought. Irrigation confers indirect benefits
through increased agricultural production. Employment potential of irrigated lands,
increased production, helps in developing allied activities, means of water transport
etc. are improved income of government from agriculture. Availability of regular
water supply will increase the income of farmers imparting a sense of security and
stability in agriculture.

Irrigation Potential and Sources of Irrigation:

The principal sources of irrigation in India can be divided into the following:
(i) canals
(ii), wells
(iii) tanks and
(iv) others.

Water for food production

For vegetative growth and development, plants require, within reach of their roots,
water of adequate quality, in appropriate quantity and at the right time. Most of the
water a plant absorbs performs the function of raising dissolved nutrients from the soil
to the aerial organs, from where it is released to the atmosphere by transpiration:
agricultural water use is intrinsically consumptive. Crops have specific water
requirements, and these vary depending on local climatic conditions. Whereas an
indicative figure for producing one kilogram of wheat is about 1000 litres of water
that is returned to the atmosphere, paddy rice may require twice this amount. The
production of meat requires between six and twenty times more water than for cereals,
depending on the feed/meat conversion factor. Specific values for the water equivalent
of a selection of food products are given in Table 3. Water required for human food

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intake can be derived from these specific values in a grossly approximate way,
depending on the size and composition of the meals (see Box 1).
Water requirement equivalent of main food products

This table gives examples of water required per unit of major food products, including
livestock, which consume the most water per unit. Cereals, oil crops, and pulses, roots
and tubers consume far less water.
Food production: the dominant role of rain fed agriculture
Non-irrigated (rainfed) agriculture depends entirely on rainfall stored in the soil
profile. This form of agriculture is possible only in regions where rainfall distribution
ensures continuing availability of soil moisture during the critical growing periods for
the crops. Non-irrigated agriculture accounts for some 60 percent of production in the
developing countries. In rainfed agriculture, land management can have a significant
impact on crop yields: proper land preparation leading surface runoff to infiltrate close
to the roots improves the conservation of moisture in the soil. Various forms of
rainwater harvesting can help to retain water in situ. Rainwater harvesting not only
provides more water for the crop but can also add to groundwater recharge and help to
reduce soil erosion. Other methods are based on collecting water from the local
catchment and either relying on storage within the soil profile or else local storage
behind bunds or ponds and other structures for use during dry periods. Recently,
conservation agriculture practices such as conservation tillage have proven to be
effective in improving soil moisture conservation.The potential to improve nonirrigated yields is restricted where rainfall is subject to large seasonal and interannual
variations. With a high risk of yield reductions or complete loss of crop from dry
spells and droughts, farmers are reluctant to invest in inputs such as plant nutrients,
high-yielding seeds and pest management. For resource-poor farmers in semi-arid
regions, the overriding requirement is to harvest sufficient food stuff to ensure
nutrition of the household through to the next harvest. This objective may be reached
with robust, drought-resistant varieties associated with low yields. Genetic
engineering has not yet delivered high-yield drought-resistant varieties, a difficult task
to achieve because, for most crop plants, drought resistance is associated with low
yields.
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Role of irrigation in food production

In irrigated agriculture, water taken up by crops is partly or totally provided through
human intervention. Irrigation water is withdrawn from a water source (river, lake or
aquifer) and led to the field through an appropriate conveyance infrastructure. To
satisfy their water requirements, irrigated crops benefit from both more or less
unreliable natural rainfall, and from irrigation water. Irrigation provides a powerful
management tool against the vagaries of rainfall and makes it economically attractive
to grow high-yield seed varieties and to apply adequate plant nutrition as well as pest
control and other inputs, thus giving room for a boost in yields. Figure 3 illustrates the
typical yield response of a cereal crop to water availability and the synergy between
irrigation, crop variety and inputs. Irrigation is crucial to the worlds food supplies. In
1998, irrigated land made up about one-fifth of the total arable area in developing
countries but produced two-fifths of all crops and close to three-fifths of cereal
production.
Figure Typical response to water for cereal crops

The developed countries account for a quarter of the worlds irrigated area (67 million
ha). Their annual growth of irrigated area reached a peak of 3 percent in the 1970s and
dropped to only 0.2 percent in the 1990s. The population of this group of countries is
growing only slowly and therefore a very slow growth in their demand and production
of agricultural commodities is foreseen. The focus of irrigation development is
consequently expected to be concentrated on the group of developing countries where
demographic growth is strong. Increasing competition from the higher valued
industrial and domestic sector results in a decrease in the amount of overall water
allocated to irrigation. Figure 4 illustrates the case for the Zhanghe irrigation system in
China.
Map 1 shows irrigated land as percentage of arable land in developing countries. A
high proportion of irrigated land is usually found in countries and regions with an arid

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or semi-arid climate. However, low proportions of irrigated land in sub-Saharan

Africa point also to underdeveloped irrigation infrastructure. Data and projections of
irrigated land compared to irrigation potential in developing countries are shown in
Figure 5. The irrigation potential figure already takes into account the availability of
water. The graph shows that a sizeable part of irrigation potential is already used in
the Near East/North Africa region (where water is the limiting factor) and in Asia
(where land is often the limiting factor), whereas a large potential is still unused in
sub-Saharan Africa and in Latin AmericaFigure Competing uses of water in the
Zhanghe irrigation district, China

According to FAO forecasts, the share of irrigation in world crop production is

expected to increase in the next decades. In particular in developing countries, the area
equipped for irrigation is expected to have expanded by 20 percent (40 million ha) by
2030. This means that 20 percent of total land with irrigation potential but not yet
equipped will be brought under irrigation, and that 60 percent of all land with
irrigation potential (402 million ha) will be in use by 2030. The net increase in
irrigated land (40 million ha, 0.6 percent per year) projected to 2030 is less than half
the increase over the preceding 36 years (99 million ha, 1.9 percent per year). The
projected slowdown in irrigation development reflects the projected lower growth rate
of food demand, combined with the increasing scarcity of suitable areas for irrigation
and of water resources in some countries, as well as the rising cost of irrigation
investment. The first selection of economically attractive irrigation projects has
already been implemented, and prices for agricultural commodities have not risen to
encourage investment in a second selection of more expensive irrigation projects.

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Map 1Area equipped for irrigation as percentage of cultivated land by country

(1998)

Source: FAOSTAT, 2002.

Most of the expansion in irrigated land is achieved by converting land in use in
rainfed agriculture or land with rainfed production potential but not yet in use into
irrigated land. The expansion of irrigation is projected to be strongest in South Asia,
East Asia and Near East/North Africa. These regions have limited or no potential for
expansion of non-irrigated agriculture. Arable land expansion will nevertheless remain
an important factor in crop production growth in many countries in sub-Saharan
Africa, Latin America and some countries in East Asia, although to a much smaller
extent than in the past. The growth in wheat and rice production in the developing
countries will increasingly come from gains in yield, while expansion of harvested
land will continue to be a major contributor to the growth in production of maize.
Figure Irrigated area as proportion of irrigation potential in developing countries

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Future investments in irrigation

In many developing countries, investments in irrigated infrastructures have
represented a significant share of the overall agricultural budget during the second half
of the twentieth century. The unit cost of irrigation development varies with countries
and types of irrigated infrastructures, ranging typically from US$1 000 to US$10 000
per hectare, with extreme cases reaching US$25 000 per hectare (these costs do not
include the cost of water storage as the cost of dam construction varies on a case-bycase basis). The lowest investment costs in irrigation are in Asia, which has the bulk
of irrigation and where scale economies are possible. The most expensive irrigation
schemes are found in sub-Saharan Africa, where irrigation systems are usually smaller
and developing land and water resources is costly.
In the future, the estimates of expansion in land under irrigation will represent an
annual investment of about US$5 billion, but most investment in irrigation, between
US$10 and 12 billion per year, will certainly come from the needed rehabilitation and
modernization of aging irrigated schemes built during the years 1960-1980. In the
1990s, annual investment in storage for irrigation was estimated at about US$12
billion (WCD, 2000). In the future, the contrasting effects of reduced demand for
irrigation expansion and increased unit cost of water storage will result in an annual
investment estimated between US$4 and 7 billion in the next thirty years.
Typically, investment figures in irrigation do not include that part of the investment
provided by the farmer in land improvement and on-farm irrigation that can represent
up to 50 percent of the overall investment. In total, it is estimated that annual
investment in irrigated agriculture will therefore range between US$25 and 30 billion,
about 15 percent of annual expected investments in the water sector.

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Water use efficiency

Assessing the impact of irrigation on available water resources requires an estimate of
total abstraction for the purpose of irrigation from rivers, lakes and aquifers. The
volume extracted is considerably greater than the consumptive use for irrigation
because of conveyance losses from the withdrawal site to the plant root zone. Water
use efficiency is an indicator often used to express the level of performance of
irrigation systems from the source to the crop: it is the ratio between estimated plant
requirements and the actual water withdrawal.
On average, it is estimated that overall water use efficiency of irrigation in developing
countries is about 38 percent. Map 2 shows the importance of agriculture in the
countries water balance, and Figure 6 shows the expected growth in water abstraction
for irrigation from 1998 to 2030. The predictions are based on assumptions about
possible improvements in irrigation efficiency in each region. These assumptions take
into account that, from the farmers perspective, wherever water is abundant and its
cost low, the incentives to save water are limited. Conversely, if farmers can
profitably irrigate more land using their allocation in an optimum way, irrigation
efficiency may reach higher levels.
Map 2 Agricultural water withdrawals as percentage of renewable water
resources (1998)

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Improving irrigation efficiency is a slow and difficult process that depends in large
part on the local water scarcity situation. It may be expensive and requires
willingness, know-how and action at various levels. Table 4 shows current and
expected water use efficiency for developing countries in 1998 and 2030, as estimated
by FAO. The investment and management decisions leading to higher irrigation
efficiency are taken and involve irrigation system management and the systemdependent farmers. National water policy may encourage water savings in waterscarce areas by providing incentives and effectively enforcing penalties. When
upstream managers cannot ensure conveyance efficiency, there may be no incentives
for water users to make efficiency gains. With groundwater, this caveat may not apply
since the incentive is generally internalized by the users, and in many cases
groundwater users show much greater efficiency than those depending on surface
resources. Box 2 provides an overview of different aspects of potential improvements
in agricultural water use efficiency.
Future water withdrawals for irrigation
Irrigation water withdrawal in developing countries is expected to grow by about 14
percent from the current 2 130 km3 per year to 2 420 km3 in 2030. This finding is
consistent with the one given in Box 1 earlier but it is based specifically on individual
assessments for each developing country. Harvested irrigated area (the cumulated area
of all crops during a year) is expected to increase by 33 percent from 257 million ha in
1998 to 341 million ha in 2030. The disproportionate increase in harvested area is
explained by expected improvements in irrigation efficiency, which will result in a
reduction in gross irrigation water abstraction per ha of crop. A small part of the
reduction is due to changes in cropping patterns in China, where consumer preference
is causing a shift from rice to wheat production.
Figure Irrigation and water resources: current (1999) and predicted (2030)
withdrawals

Table Water use efficiency in 1998 and 2030 (predicted) in 93 developing

countries

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Source: FAO, 2002.

While some countries have reached extreme levels of water use for agriculture,
irrigation still represents a relatively small part of total water resources of the
developing countries. The projected increase in water withdrawal will not
significantly alter the overall picture. At the local level, however, there are already
severe water shortages, in particular in the Near East / North Africa region and in
large parts of Asia.
Of the ninety-three developing countries surveyed by FAO, ten are already using more
than 40 percent of their renewable water resources for irrigation, a threshold used to
flag the level at which countries are usually forced to make difficult choices between
their agricultural and urban water supply sectors. Another eight countries were using
more than 20 percent, a threshold that can be used to indicate impending water
scarcity. By 2030 South Asia will have reached the 40 percent level, and the Near East
and North Africa not less than 58 percent. However, the proportion of renewable
water resources allocated to irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and East
Asia in 2030 is likely to remain far below the critical threshold.
The special role of groundwater
Water contained in shallow underground aquifers has played a significant role in
developing and diversifying agricultural production. This is understandable from a
resource management perspective: when groundwater is accessible it offers a primary
buffer against the vagaries of climate and surface water delivery. But its advantages
are also quite subtle. Access to groundwater can occasion a large degree of
distributive equity, and for many farmers, groundwater has proved to be a perfect
delivery system. Because groundwater is on demand and just-in-time, farmers have
sometimes made private investments in groundwater technology as a substitute for
unreliable or inequitable surface irrigation services. In many senses, groundwater has
been used by farmers to break out of conventional command and control irrigation
administration. Some of the management challenges posed by large surface irrigation
schemes are avoided, but the aggregate impact of a large number of individual users
can be damaging, and moderating the race to the pump-house has proved difficult.
However, as groundwater pumping involves a direct cost to the farmer, the incentives
to use groundwater efficiently are high. These incentives do not apply so effectively
where energy costs are subsidized; such distortion has arguably accelerated
groundwater depletion in parts of India and Pakistan.

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The technical principles involved in sustainable groundwater and aquifer management

are well known but practical implementation of groundwater management has
encountered serious difficulties. This is largely due to groundwaters traditional legal
status as part of land property and the competing interests of farmers withdrawing
water from common-property aquifers (Burke and Moench, 2000). Abstraction can
result in water levels declining beyond the economic reach of pumping technology;
this may penalize poorer farmers and result in areas being taken out of agricultural
production. When near the sea, or in proximity to saline groundwater, over-pumped
aquifers are prone to saline intrusion. Groundwater quality is also threatened by the
application of fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides that percolate into aquifers. These
non-point sources of pollution from agricultural activity often take time to become
apparent, but their effects can be long-lasting, particularly in the case of persistent
organic pollutants.
Fossil groundwater, that is, groundwater contained in aquifers that are not actively
recharged, represent a valuable but exhaustible resource. Thus, for example, the large
sedimentary aquifers of North Africa and the Middle East, decoupled from
contemporary recharge, have already been exploited for large-scale agricultural
development in a process of planned depletion. The degree to which further
abstractions occur will be limited in some cases by the economic limits to pumping,
and promoted where strong economic demand from agriculture or urban water supply
becomes effective (Schiffle, 1998). Two countries, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Saudi
Arabia, are already using considerably more water for irrigation than their annual
renewable resources, by drawing on fossil groundwater reserves. Several other
countries rely to a limited extent on fossil groundwater for irrigation. Where such
groundwater reserves have a high strategic value in terms of water security, the
depletion of such reserves to irrigate is questionable.

Limitations of Irrigation on Account of Certain Problems Related to Irrigation:

Despite large-scale investment and expansion of irrigation facilities, it is a matter of
serious concern that about 60 per cent of the total cropped area is still dependent on
rain. There are a number of problems related to irrigation and they have to be solved.
(1) Delays in completion of projects:
The biggest problem in our major and medium irrigation sectors right from the First
Five Year Plan has been the tendency to start more and more new projects resulting in
wanton proliferation of projects. There is also delay in utilisation of potentials already
present. In most of the projects, there have been delays in construction of field
channels and water courses, land leveling and land shaping.

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(2) Inter-state water disputes:

Irrigation is a state subject in India. Development of water resource is, therefore, being
planned by states individually taking into account their own needs and requirement.
However, all major rivers are inter-state in character. As a result, differences with
regard to storage, priorities and use of water arise between different states. Narrow
regional outlook brings inter-state rivalries over distribution of water supply.
(3) Regional disparities in irrigation development:
The Ninth Five Year Plan Document estimated that the water resource development in
North Eastern region through major, medium and minor schemes is only at the level
of 28.6 per cent whereas in the Northern region it has reached about 95.3 per cent.
This indicates a wide regional variation in the development of irrigation facilities.

(4) Waterlogging and salinity:

Introduction of irrigation has led to the problem of waterlogging and salinity in some
of the states. The working group constituted by the Ministry of Water Resources in
1991 estimated that about 2.46 million hectares in irrigated commands suffered from
water logging. The working group also estimated that 3.30 million hectares had been
affected by salinity/alkalinity in the irrigated commands.
(5) Increasing cost of irrigation:
The cost of providing irrigation has been increasing over the years from the First Five
Year Plan to Tenth First Five Year Plan.
(6) Losses in operating irrigation projects:
While just prior to Independence (1945-46) public irrigation schemes showed a
surplus after meeting working expenses and other charges. The position deteriorated
considerably in the post-Independence period.
(7) Decline in water table:
There has been a steady decline in water table in the recent period in several parts of
the country, especially in the western dry region, on account over exploitation of
ground water and insufficient recharge from rain water.

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CONCLUSION

Water is one of the most important inputs essential for the production of crops. Plants
need it continuously during their life and in huge quantities. It profoundly influences
photosynthesis, respiration, absorption, translocation and utilization of mineral
nutrients, and cell division besides some other processes. Both its shortage and excess
affect the growth and development of a plant directly and, consequently, its yield and
quality. Rainfall plants. In India, however, rainfall is notoriously capricious, causing
floods and droughts alternately. Its frequency distribution and amount are not in
accordance with the needs of the crops. Artificial water supply through irrigation on
one occasion, and the removal of excess water through drainage on another occasion,
therefore, become imperative, if the crops are to be raised successfully. Water
management in India, thus, comprises irrigation or drainage or both, depending
considerably on the environmental conditions, soil, crops and climate. It is a situation
oriented entity.Water affects the performance of crops not only direclty but also
indirectly by influencing the availability of other nutrients, the timing of cultural
operations, etc. Water and other production inputs interact with one another. In proper
combinations, the crop yields can be boosted manifold under irrigated
agriculture.Water is a costly input when canals supply it. The constructing of dams
and reservoirs, the conveying of water from storage points to the fields, the operating
and the maintaining of canal systems involve huge expense. The misuse of water leads
to the problems of water logging, salt imbalance, etc. thus rendering agricultural lands
unproductive. Hence a proper appreciation of the relationship and economic
utilization of water resources for maximum crop production.

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