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CHAPTER 2
The literature pertaining to the current study on “Impact of using Ground water irrigation on cropping pattern in selected village in Coimbatore district” is presented and discussed under the following heads.
2.1 Significance of ground water irrigation.
2.2 Ground water management and agriculture development.
2.3 Relationship between ground water irrigation and cropping pattern.
2.4 Ground water conservation.
2.5 Specific studies related with topic.
Ikbal singh (1992) analyzed the irrigation water efficiency through conjunctive use of surface and ground water in upper Ganga canal command. He states that that the success of high yielding varieties (HYV’s) of crops and application of fertilizers depend on timely availability of sufficient quantity of irrigation water. Therefore, irrigation is the prime input for increasing the output of food grains. This paper is to examine the impact of conjunctive use of surface and ground water on irrigation. The results of the study indicated that the total water availability in the canal command was 78.99 thousand-hectare meters.
The share of surface and ground water was 73% & 27% respectively. Optimization utilized the water to the land of 61.69 thousand-hectare meters, which was nearly 78% of the total water. Hence optimization saved nearly 22% of the total water. The respective shares of surface and ground water ought to be 83% & 17 % respectively. Improving water efficiency use can further be increased by going in for improved methods of irrigation such as drip and sprinkler method. The Conjunctive use can also take advantage of the economy in the use of surface water flowing under gravity and reliability of ground water to overcome the uncertainty of monsoon. Planning for conjunctive use will also help in the problem of water logging.
Shaik Haffis and Y.V.R Reddy (1999) has predicted in their study which is under taken with the objectives of studying the impact of irrigation water of submersible bore-wells on cropping pattern, employment and income. Data were collected for the study, through ‘ Rapid Rural Appraisal Survey’ method from all the farmers having successful as well as failure submersible bore wells in each village under mittemari water shed area. The data pertaining to investment made in each bore well cropping pattern, crops and returns from crops, etc. The data were analyzed by using Tabular analysis method. The total investment made by the farmers on these wells (successful and failure) in all the villages under mittemari water shed area was worked out to be as high as Rs.54.20 lakh. Cropping pattern and its economics during 1984 – 1985 indicated that the cost of cultivated varied from Rs.3,500 to Rs. 7,500 /ha. In the case of dry lands irrigation cropping pattern is cost Rs 1,500 to Rs. 2,961 /ha. The cost was low in finger millet and high in mulberry cultivation in case of irrigated crops. It is seen that the gross return occurred per hectare pronounced well in all the crops irrigated and dry land during 1984-85 at mittemeri watershed village impact of the overall irrigation on profits in real terms in 1990-91 over 1984-85 was worked out to be Rs 42.83 lakhs and Rs 7.10 lakhs accounting for 402% and 433% respectively based on gross and net return.
Dr. R.K sivanappan (2004) has studied, status, scope, constraint, and potential of micro irrigation in TamilNadu. The projected area is estimated about one million hectares (one % of the irrigated area) in another 5 years and about 10 Mha in 2020 AD/ 2025 AD. The studies conducted by various institutions have reveled that the water saving in this method compared to surface irrigation is about 40% to 80% and the increased yield is up to 100% for various crops. Numerous farmers in Coimbatore district in Tamilnadu state have taken up this irrigation for their coconut trees and it has proved successful. In some places, due to failure of rainfall, sufficient water was not available even for drip irrigation and due to this thousand of well-grown coconut trees died during 2002.
K.Palaniswami (2004) in his study assessed some policies for sustainable use of water. These issues are synthesized and summarized keeping in focus the farmers, government and ecology. The policy issues are made under the following heads.
· System management and water control.
· Water use efficiency.
· Cost recovery.
· Water shed and rainwater harvesting.
· Virtual water.
· Interlinking of the rivers.
· Privatization of water resources.
· Legislation
2.2 Ground water management and agriculture development
Navalawala (1993) studied farmer’s participation in irrigation management. In India, farmer’s participation is so far not widely propagated but in a number of cases the irrigation management by farmers has been a success. An investigating team was then sent to collect all data about the land use pattern during various seasons, the availability of the wells for irrigation, the problem of tail reach farmers, non availability of field channels, etc. The farmers no doubt showed healthy interest in on farm development programmed but they were not prepared to involve themselves in any discussion with the farmers of the upper reach, who are found to draw water out of turn. Another team of qualified young men was sent in as special workers in Irrigation, called Irrigation Community Organizers (ICO) to motivate the farmers. As the ICO’s were introduced as a catalyst, they made the farmers to initiate action on all aspects. The same model of forming the farmers association is being carried out in four other command areas also in Tamilnadu. Encouragement and success of water users associations for Indian irrigation management are largely dependent on adequate legislative backing to be provided through suitably amending the states ‘Irrigation Acts and on various financial incentives, giving more flexibility to the working of and providing opportunity more as a ‘village level resource management’ to the waters users associations. The prevailing engineering-oriented approach or, at best, managerial approach for Indian Irrigation management will have to be changed over to productivity management approach.
Vaidyanathan (1994) has studied the ground water depletion. There are two kinds of arguments available as far as the reasons for the over exploitation of groundwater are concerned. One group of researchers argue that development in the energisation of pump sets are the prime responsible factor for the over exploitation of groundwater. While others argue that cheaper tariff policies of electricity and shifting from pro-rate to flat rate are the main reasons. According to them, manipulating electricity tariff can control it. Importantly, the available data do not support this argument that groundwater area is more where there is more number of electric pump sets.
Rego (1999) analyzed wide disparities in the development and availability of irrigation facilities. During 1988-91 the range was from 12.23% in Maharashtra to 93.35% in Punjab. The coefficient of variation was 65.60%. In the same study it was seen that in some states like Assam, Kerala, Himachal pradesh, Orrisa and West Bengal, the position deteriorated overtime. Even among the states, which maintained their levels of development, wide variation is found. Generally, the need for irrigation is more acute in areas of low and medium rainfall. It is found that at all India level, 30.56%, 35.60% and 33.84% at NCA lie in high rainfall area (above 1150 mm), medium rainfall (750-1150 mm) and low rainfall area (below 750 mm) respectively. This shows that areas with medium rainfall enjoy a relatively higher share of irrigated area, which is a good feature, but such benefits are not available to low rainfall areas.
K.Ganguly & Dr. B.Singh (2000) stated that irrigation, as the main catalyst of agricultural development in India, accounts for the largest share in total investment in the agricultural sector. In the five-year plans, investment in irrigation has accounted for 8 to 10 % of total public investment. Normally the development of irrigation facilities is measured in terms of GIR (Gross Irrigation Ratio). At all India level, GIR increased, as stated above, from 17.40% in 1951-52 to 33.30% in 1990-91.the progresses is moderate. The study is also conducted Farmers participation in groundwater related issues is the only way to solve the problem of over exploitation of groundwater. Since groundwater structure are largely owned by individual farmers, intensive involvement of farmers would help reduce the over exploitation. It is well recognized that farmer’s participation is more in minor irrigation than the major and medium irrigation. The participation of farmers in groundwater management can be motivated in two ways – through collective works and jointly owning groundwater structures.
Rudrappan (2003) stated in his study the ground water management, environment security and agriculture development. He has predicted, water consumption for agricultural use has grown up by 6 times to meet the growing demand for food grains production. Scarcity of water becomes very acute in a state such as Tamilnadu where the surface is scarce; groundwater is remains the only source of fresh water for satisfying various human needs. Beginning from a net deficit of food grains for a population of nearly 350 million Indians in 1947,there has been a marginal surplus of food grains in the country for a population of over one billion people at the turn of the century. The recorded production and demand in the year (2000-20001) stood at 209 and 197 million tones respectively thus there was the fourfold increase in food grains production, while the populations had increased threefold.
Shah (2003) has assessed the direct regulation and water demand management, throughout South Asia, Like in the North China Plains (NCP) pockets. Where Ground water draft is exceeding long-term recharge and increasing by the day. Indian response to the challenge of sustainable ground water management is however still muted. Ground water professionals realized the need for applying brakes in growing pockets of resource over exploitation and keep exhorting the need for strong legislation and regulatory frame works.
T.Shah, M.Giordano, J.Wang (2004) had analyzed the irrigation institutions in a dynamic economy, what is China doing differently from India. Discussion on water institutions in India and her South-Asian neighbors are focusing on three key issues.
Ø How to improve the performance and financial viability of public irrigation systems
Ø How to make Ground water use sustainable in economic and environmental terms
Ø How to make a systematic transition from the water resource development mode to an Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) mode
Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM) and Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) as an institutional fix for all the problems enamor Indian discussion on public irrigation system. In reality, Policy action is paralyzed by a political economy in which half of the country’s population depends for livelihood on ground water draft that is rapidly becoming unsustainable. After independence, the need for expansion of irrigation facilities was fully recognized for increasing food grains production to meet the requirements of the growing population. Despite this, the expansion of irrigation facilities, operation and maintenance of irrigation system and distribution of water have not received due attention. The irrigation enquiry committee, 1938, also known as Visvesvaraya committee, had recommended entrusting the operation of irrigation to a village or a group of villages if the farmers were willing to take up cooperative irrigation.
The National Water Policy (1987) and Committee on Pricing of Irrigation Water (1992) also recommended farmers participation in the management of irrigation system. Most recently in the 9th plan (1997-2002), the same has also been given prime importance to the participatory irrigation management (PIM). In many African countries, PIM has done better where command areas are populated by white commercial farmers with large holdings; but has left black small holder communities is worse off (Samad 2002).
Narayanamoorthy (2004) analyzed Irrigational Management Transfer (IMT). In recent years, increased importance has been given to involve the farmers in irrigation water management activities worldwide including India, partly because of the pressure from donor agencies and partly due to its inherent advantages. While reducing expenditure on irrigation mainly for the state, the participation of farmers in management activities enhances the financial self-reliance of irrigation schemes. The study focuses two objectives, which are: (a) to test a methodology for quantitative impact assessment of irrigation management transfer applicable to similar sites, and (b) to provide insights into the impacts that might be expected to identify further research issues. Specifically, it examines the impact of IMT on government finance, maintenance of irrigation facilities, sustainability of irrigation, quality of irrigation services to the farmers, productivity and returns on crop enterprises.
2.3 Relationship between ground water irrigation and cropping pattern
Bhagavantagoudra (2003) studied that, how to save irrigation water in cabbage. Cabbage is one of the important leafy vegetables cultivated in an area of 220 thousand ha in India with an annual production of 4200 thousand tonnes. The average productivity of the crop is 19.09 tonnes per ha. The crop is extensively cultivated in the states of Punjab, HimachalPradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamilnadu. It can be grown on a variety of soils. Well-drained red loamy soils are ideal for its cultivation. Among the various production factors responsible for increasing the yield of the crop, water is one of the important inputs to boost up the production.
The efficient use of limited water resources in cabbage cultivation could be effectively managed as below:
1) Efficient irrigation scheduling: Amongst several practices, scheduling of irrigation (when to irrigate) plays an important role in efficient irrigation water management. Scheduling of irrigation is being done by adopting different techniques like soil moisture regime, critical stage approach and climatological approach (IW/CPE ratio) has shown a great promise, as this approach is conceptually sound and can be simplified for adoption by farmers.
2) Effective irrigation method: Quality of irrigation water application could be optimized by agronomic manipulations like methods of irrigation, avoiding excess irrigation and reducing evapo-transpiration either by mulching or practicing alternate furrow or alternatively alternate furrow irrigation without yield reduction. These are some of the innovations, which would help to formulate concrete strategies to implement the recent thinking of increasing production per unit volume of water, area and time.
Dhawan (2001) studied the experimental work backed by the CAR found that 20-40 % saving in irrigation water would be achieved through intermittent. Submergence and transplanting paddy seedling at above the time of inset of monsoon rains. Similarly, water savings are the order of 50% in the case of drip irrigation and 25% in the case of sprinkler irrigation can be realized.
According to the ninth five-year plan (1997-2002) the progress achieved so for in Participatory Irrigation Management (PIM), designed to improve water use efficiency, is rather slow. Irrigated area transferred to Water Users Association (WUA s) in India is only about 7% as against 45% in Indonesia, 66% in Philippines, 22% in Thailand .As regarding groundwater the rate of extraction has been fair above the rate of recharge as a result, the number of over exploited and dark- blocks has increased by nearly 70% over the last fourteen years. (Government Of Indian Planning Commission 2000)
Sivanappan (2004) studied the impact of water harvesting and conservation for increasing production in dry lands on watershed basis. Each watershed is an independent unit and it has become an acceptable unit of planning and implementation for optimum use and conservation measures include overall soil and water conservation, Rainfall failure occurs once in three to five years. (Rainfall failure = below 50 percent of the average annual rainfall of the region). During that period, the ground water level also goes down since water table fluctuation depends on the rainfall, whereas both surface and groundwater availability becomes critical. He also studied the strategies and techniques of water conservation in dry lands with the phases regarding upon location specific situations: direct rainwater conservation, in situ moisture conservation, water harvesting, and irrigation technology for harvested water and furrow irrigation by surface method, pair row/skip row irrigation and alternate furrow irrigation, overhead sprinkler method, pitcher method or porous cup method and drip irrigation method / micro irrigation.
The Institutional cum political constraints are:
Ø Policy instruments.
Ø Credit instruments (banks).
Ø Marketing institutions.
Ø Research institutions.
Ø Appropriate technology for rain fed farming and
Ø Extension agency for popularizing such technology.
It is very essential to pay greater attention in soil and water conservation and water harvesting measures, in order to increase production and sustain agriculture. The allotment of funds to take up conservation measures are very meager compared to irrigated areas in the country. About Rs. 7,500-10,000/ha ($200-300/ha) is needed to treat the land in all aspects. Even international agencies like the World Bank, UNDP, The Asian Development bank etc., provide funds for larger irrigation projects and not much attention is paid to dry land, wasteland and fallow land development programme.
S.Ghosh, Nanda & Varma (2003) studied the sustainability in Agricultural production depends considerably upon proper development, conservation and use of water and land resources at micro level. It is now widely recognized that much of the available ‘Exogenous’ technologies (emerging from formal research system) for management of watershed resources is not suitable for the small holding situation in India. The land and rainwater were being properly managed with efficient water harvesting and proper land use systems from ancient times, thus broadly encompassing the major principles of watershed programme management. Indigenous methods of rainwater management can be broadly divided into two groups, namely, run-off farming and in-situ farming. In-situ farming is primarily a means of encouraging more rainwater entering the root profile for extended moisture availability. He also stated that, in Gujarat people have developed a system, called virda, which is like a well in a tank. The system is of procuring potable sweet water in an area where rainwater is scarce and groundwater is saline.
UN World Water Development Report (WWDR) (2004) is studied national tensions over the distribution of water can quickly escalate into discord between groups dependent on a shared resource. Water tensions are brewing over shared rivers and basins in many countries around the world. Two or more countries or areas share over 200 bodies of water. Almost 70 % of available freshwater is used for agriculture. Over pumping of groundwater by the world’s farmers exceeds natural replenishment by at least 160 billion cubic meters a year. It takes an enormous amount of water to produce crops: one to three cubic meters to yield just one kilo of rice, and 1,000 tons of water to produce just one ton of grain. Land in agricultural use has increased by 12% since the 1960s to about 1.5 billion hectares. Current global water withdrawals for irrigation are estimated at about 2,000 to 2,555 cubic km per year. Pasture and crops take up 37% of the earths land area. Poor drainage and irrigation had led to saline build up in about 30 million hectares of the Worlds 240 million hectares of irrigated land, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). A combination of Stalinization and water logging affects another 80 million tonnes.
Pandimuruga chinnan (2004) studied the World’s thirst for water is likely to become one of the most pressing resource issues of the 21st century rose six fold between 1990 and 1995 more than double the rate of population growth and continues to grow rapidly as agricultural, domestic and industrial demand increase. In some areas, water withdrawals are so high relative to supply that surface water supplies are literally shrinking and groundwater reserves are being depleted faster than they can be replenished by precipitation’s a result of over exploitation of groundwater, water tables are dropping and some rivers often run dry before they reach the sea.
P.Sharma & Sharma (2004) have stated uncontrolled extraction of groundwater and low groundwater recharge due to changed rainfall pattern, shrinkage in rechargeable area and loss for surface run–off lead to a continuous decline in groundwater table. Decline in water table has, in turn, led to the drying up of open wells and increasing well failures causing higher costs of installing new wells, deepening of existing wells, and pumping and other maintenance activities The study uses primary data collected from the 280 farmers from the four districts representing both the arid and semi-arid regions of Rajasthan. Primary data on various aspects of groundwater markets were collected through household survey from the selected farmers with the help of specifically structured and pre-tested schedules. The survey data pertains to the agricultural year 1999-2000.
2.5 Specific studies related with ground water irrigation
David E.Kromm (1991) has predicted irrigators in the high plains are confronted with a wide range of information sources with respect to water-saving practices. From a survey of 709 irrigators in 10 countries the most widely accepted sources are identified, regional variability of information is examined, the role of irrigator characteristics on source selection is determined. Information sources viewed as important by many irrigators frequently influence adoption decision less than sources having a wide range of preference among irrigators. Mass media and advisor-oriented sources are much more significantly linked to adoption than inter personal sources such as friends and neighbors. The three sources that best discriminate adoption behavior are private agricultural consulting firm, university research station and trade magazines.
Arun S. Patel (1993) evaluated action research programme of mahi-kadana irrigation project. The objectives were, to provide an idea about the interim position of the irrigation agriculture and it’s problem for the over all 12,000 hectares, to evaluate the performance of the micro planned area of 1000 hectares in terms of various aspect of the farm economy and farmer’s reaction to various measures including improvement in water deliveries, introduction of warabandhi system. The study was based on 108 households from the micro planned area of 1000 hectares. The study concluded that the, total irrigated area had increased, farmers were total irrigated area had increased. Farmers were able to reduce the waste of canal water and canal water was used more rationally.
H.C. Sarmah (1993) has studied the one different type of pump “DHEKI PUMP”. A New Step In Irrigation. The farmers of south Salmar – Mankachar sub division of Dhubri district of Assam, have developed this technology. The technology that has been invented by farmers themselves is known as “ Dheki Pump”. Dheki means pedal. The technology is very simple. One can make Dheki pump with locally available materials. Three bamboo sticks of 1.05” diameter and around 15 to 20 feet in length, around three meters of perforated nylon cloth, two pieces of bamboo wood around three feet length and 1.05” diameter G.I pipe, two check valves, two iron piston rods and two plungers.
DHEKI PUMP
The G.I pipes have to be welded together keeping the hole of both the pipes intact. The pipes have to be welded so that there is only one hole at the bottom of the pipe and a bamboo can be inserted into the hole and water can come to both the chambers of G.I pipe through the gap left after welding die. Two check valves have to be placed at the bottom of the G.I pipe chambers to act as a check to one another. Two iron piston rods and plungers have to be fixed in each chamber of G.I pipe. The iron piston rods are connected to two-bamboo pedal that can be manually operated. The bamboo, which is inserted have to be, joins one above the other by bicycle tube, cloth, etc., so that there would be no leakage. The bottom side of the bamboo placed at rear end may be used as a filter. Making numerous holes in the bamboo makes the bamboo filter and then placing perforated nylon cloth on it. The boring is to be done with the G.I pipe for tube wells. After boring around 30 feet or so, depending upon water level, the bamboo pipe has to be lowered. Then the pump made out of G.I. pipe, iron piston rod, and plunger, check valve, etc. has to be fixed to the bamboo pipe. Two bamboo stubs of ¾ feet length can be used as pedals where both the piston rods are fixed. When a person stands on the pedal and uses his feet one after the other for pumping, the plunger will start working as the hand tube well and check valve of one side where pressure has been applied by foot will go up and water from bamboo pipe comes into that chamber and ultimately to the field, while the other chamber will be closed by the check valve. The total expenditure of the Dheki Pump will be around Rs.700.00 at 1993 prices. The Dheki Pump is useful for at least 10 years or so unless water level goes down. A Dheki pump covers up to a maximum of 3 big bags of land (8640 sq. ft.) if it is operated about 4 hours a day. It is hopped that this technology will help the farmers a lot as it is easily adoptable, easy to operate as well as less costly than other modes of irrigation.
Tomer (1997) has studied irrigation and fertilizers use efficiency in semi irrigated region in Haryana .In south- western part of Haryana, irrigation facilities are not sufficiently available due to underground water being mostly brackish and scarcity of canal water in the region. The study is based on cross-sectional data taken for the year 1991-92 from a randomly selected sample of 43 farmers of two villages. Simple tabular and regressing analysis has been used in the study. The irrigation and fertilizer use efficiency has been used in the study. The irrigation and fertilizer use efficiency has been studied in major rabi season. The cropping intensity of the region was only about 128 per cent. The results of the regression analysis to study the response of these inputs on the yields of wheat and mustard crops in the two districts also indicated no response on the yields of these crops, since the coefficients of regression for all these inputs except for irrigation in wheat crop were non-significant. It may be concluded that the yield of gram could be increased through the use of these major inputs i.e., irrigation, nitrogen and phosphorous as per the recommendation.
Klaus Bush (1999) analyzed, the urgency of ground water protection. The National Conservation Strategy-Agency (NCS-A) and the Department of Geological Survey. The project has the following objectives:
· Preparing the legislative basis and the institutional framework for a nation wide.
· Waste management.
· Making maps of groundwater vulnerability to pollution
· Setting up a data base
· Drawing up concepts for reducing, re using and utilizing soil wastes
· Drawing up feasibility studies to identify, plan and operate land fills
· Improving the qualification of staffs
· Enhancing public awareness concerning waste disposable and ground water protection
· Setting up an advisory service on landfills.
Mathew (2004) has analyzed a study on irrigation using surface water in conjunction with ground water. Conjunctive use requires careful design and operation of ground water pumping systems.
The study has the following objectives:
Ø Store water during periods of excess water supply and to reuse it during short supply periods.
Ø Use soil as a filter for natural purification of water
Ø Prevent salt water intrusion
Ø Absorb flood intrusion.
He conclude that using surface water in conjunction with ground water a farmer can improve the sustainability and reliability of irrigation water in his field. This will not only increase the profit but also improve the environment by avoiding water logging and related ill effects on environment.
R.Sakthivadivel. (2004) has analyzed the recent attempts to modernize irrigation tanks with a focus on physical rehabilitation, but little institutional development to maintain and manage them, have resulted in a vicious cycle. With the lack of maintenance and upkeep, rehabilitated tanks soon fall into disrepair, necessitating a new round of externally–induced rehabilitation. He has concluded that the study can form the basis for an effective institutional protocol that can enhance the effectiveness of tank rehabilitation and modernization.
Rahul ranade (2004) has dealt on the study of “Narmadha water for ground water recharge in North Gujarat”. He states that North Gujarath is naturally endowed with one of the richest alluvial aquifers of India but it uncontrolled exploitation for irrigation has resulted in many undesirable consequences. A major hydrological opportunity for rejuvenation of the aquifer system is provided by the availability of the utilized flows from Narmada basin. An evaluation of two recharge scenarios in north Gujarat shows that using pumped water for recharging outside the designated command area may prove to be an uneconomical proposition, unless there is substantial increase in the productivity of water. Recharge within the command would be much more economical.
Linda (2004) studied an aggregate economic model, usually a regional linear programming model is integrated with a physical model. The results of twenty-one studies conducted in various regions of the U.S. that examine the relationships between agrochemical treatments on crops, farm incomes, and ground water quality both at the farm level and at the aggregate level are reviewed. Analysis of these studies indicates that across most regions, chemicals, and types of farms there is a trade-off between farm incomes and increased ground water quality. However, most studies indicate that as reductions in agricultural chemical leaching to ground water increase, reductions in farm income increase as well.
The Finance Minister Mr.p. Chidambaram (2005) has announced The National Project last July for the repair, renovation and restoration of water bodies will be launched in the month of March 2005. The pilot project is planned for 16 districts in 9 states and will cover nearly 700 water bodies, and 20,000 hectares of additional land will come under irrigation. The allocation for the pilot project has been increased to RS.100 core in 2005-06.The Accelerated Irrigation Benefit programme (AIBP) has been reviewed and the focus turned to early completion of truly last mile projects. In BE 2004-05, he had provided a sum of Rs.2, 800 cores. Having regard to the improvement in the pace of implementation, the outlay has been increased to Rs.4, 800 cores for the year 2005-06. He also stated that in his budget the water – use efficiency in Indian agriculture is one of the lowest in the world. Government will promote micro – irrigation technology, comprising drip and sprinkler irrigation, on a large scale. About 1.2 million hectares have been covered under micro-irrigation so far, and the plan is to increase the coverage to 3 million hectares by the end of the 10th plan and to 14 million hectares by the end of the 11th plan. Accordingly, he has provided Rs.400 crore for promoting micro-irrigation in 2005-06.
Bhakar and H.Choudhary (2005) studied the disparities in the development of irrigation in Rajasthan. The objective of this study is to examine the reasons for disparities in the development of irrigation infrastructure for different districts/regions of the state. It also aims to suggest specific strategies for irrigation expansion suitable for different districts in order to maximize growth and to minimize inter district disparities regarding irrigation facilities in the state. At the time of independence, the irrigation system mostly consisted of traditional sources of irrigation like bunds, tanks and open wells. While canal irrigation at that time was confined to only Sri Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. Approximately 60 % of the total irrigated area is being irrigated by open wells and tube wells at the commencement of the plan period (2002-2007)
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