Chapter 3

The methodology adopted in the current study on “ the impact of using Ground water irrigation on cropping pattern in selected village in Coimbatore district” is presented and discussed under the following heads.

Surrounded by the fairy queen, the Nilgiris and Blue hills by north, the revolutionary western ghats side of Kerala in the west, the tobacco and vegetables Dindigul district in the south and the highly agricultural commercial turmeric Erode district in the east there lies this highly progressive, entrepreneurial and commercial district in Tamilnadu. With geographical position of the district is lying between 10”10’ and 11”30’ north latitude and between 76”40’ and 77”30’ east longitude. The area of the district is about 7469 sq.km. According to the census 2001 the total population is about 4271856, in that male population is 2176031, female population is 2095825, rural population is 1451653 and urban population is 2820203. The density of population is 572. From the total population literates were about 2945278. From the total population cultivators about 177211 and agricultural labors were about 397614 and rest of them were coming under the other works such as household industries, marginal workers etc… therefore the district is high concentration of small scale industries besides a number of medium and large industries.

The temperature in the plains maximum at 39.2⁰Celsius and minimum of 16.0⁰Celsius.And in hill stations the maximum of 32.0⁰ Celsius and minimum of about 10.4⁰ Celsius.

THE RAINFALL RECEIVED IN THE COIMBATORE DISTRICT FOR THE PAST TEN YEARS (1992-93) TO (2002-2003)

Year	South west Monsoon june-sep	North east Monsoon oct-dec
Normal	348.07	179.02
1992-1993	335.05	300.00
1993-1994	219.07	194.02
1994-1995	179.03	262.01
1995-1996	175.07	105.08
1996-1997	346.02	104.0
1997-1998	526.00	98.00
1998-1999	367.08	160.09
1999-2000	763.83	70.33
2000-2001	155.33	244.77
2001-2002	31.04	146.05
2002-2003	192.09	327.00

The table 3.1.1 shows that the rainfall during the southwest monsoon is Maximum of 763.83 mm for the year 1999-2000 and minimum of 31.04mm for the year 2001-2002. It also indicates the north east monsoon is maximum with 327mm in the year 2003-2004 and minimum with 98 mm for the year 1997-98.

Utilization of the land	Area under cultivation	Percentage (%)
Total cultivable area	331932	100.00
Net area sown	318988	96.10
Area sown more than once	12944	3.90
Area under production of principle crops	185901	56.00
Net area irrigated by ground water	139630	42.05
Total net area irrigated	152963	46.08
Gross area irrigated	160241	48.28
Area of surface water irrigation	14828	4.48
Area of groundwater irrigation using bore well	283082	85.28

The above table 3.1.2 shows that from the total cultivable land the maximum average of 85.28 % are covered by the area of ground water irrigation using bore wells.

The agricultural soils, which are available in Coimbatore districts, are classified into five different types. They are red loam, black soil, sandy coastal alluvium, red sandy soil, and calcareous soil. From these types of soils the red loam, black soil and sandy coastal alluvium where found more in Coimbatore north and south, but the red sandy soil and calcareous soil where found in Avinashi, Pollachi, Palladam and Tirupur.

Coimbatore district has twenty-one blocks. They are as follows; Papanayakan palayam, S.S.kulam, Perur, Thondamuthur, Madukarai, Pollachi(north), Pollachi (south), Anamalai, Kinathukadavu, Valpari, Udumalpet, Gudimangalam, Madathukulam, Tirupur, Pongalur, Avinashi, Annur, Palladam, Sultanpet and Sulur. (Source: Joint director, soil survey and land use Coimbatore district profile).

Water pumps	1994	1997
Worked by oil engine	5816	6360
Worked by electric power	51618	63184
Total	57434	69544

Data for the study were collected under the two- fold method, primary and secondary data. The survey method was used to collect information on the socio economic factors of the farmers in Theethipalayam village, Thondamuthur block, Coimbatore district for the year 2003-2004, and the secondary data is collected from Coimbatore district profile. The study implies the ground water irrigation used for the cultivation of the different crops.

Accordingly the total population of Theethipalayam village is 1,657 in this about 90% of the people were engaged in agricultural activities. The number of families were about 600, from that 450 families were fully engaged in agricultural activities. So we have Purposely selected 60 farmers who use bore wells for irrigation purposes. Hence, specifically the study was made from this village. They adopt mainly groundwater irrigation for the cultivation of different crops by using bore wells. Here the land type is dry and the soil type is red soil. The total area covered by this village is about 1338.96 sq.km, the cultivable land is about 1260.23 sq.km, area under pond is 3.29 sq.km, and the rest of 78.73-sq.km lands are used for other purposes.

The Total bore wells in this village are about 193 and from that we have selected 60 bore wells from the farmers.

The data so collected were arranged and tabulated for giving precise and concise information. Further, the following tools were applied to analyze the data.

Chi square test was calculated to know the relationship between the variables namely family income of the farmers, size of the bore well and area of cultivation. The formula used for estimating the chi- square test is

If the calculated value of the chi-square is less than the table value at a 5% level of degree of freedom the sum is said to be significant. And if the calculated value is greater than the table value the sum is said to be non significant.

Analysis of variance is an statistical technique specially designed to test whether the means of more than two quantitative variables are equal. The variables included for in this analysis are depth of the bore well, family income, area of cultivation, cost incurred, size of the bore well and number of hours water pumped for irrigation purpose. The formula used for estimating the analysis of variance is:

If the calculated value of F is greater than the table value, it is concluded that the difference in sample means is significant. If the calculated value of F is less than the table value, the difference is not significant.

1. The values predicted from the primary and secondary data were the estimated values and not the actual value.

2. It is a micro level study. Thus the findings of the study may not be applicable for the macro level.

3. The study has used the annual data collected from the annual profile. If monthly or quarterly data have been available the results might have been different.

Year

South west

june-sep