Contrasting Irrigation, Agriculture, Livelihood Linkages in Coastal and Non-Coastal Districts of Odisha and West Bengal

Abstract

An analysis of irrigation, agriculture, livelihood links in coastal and non-coastal districts of Odisha and West Bengal was carried out. District-wise scenario of irrigation, agriculture, livelihood and poverty revealed with the help of different indexes (value ranged from 0 to 1) developed for the study. The coastal districts of Odisha showed relatively better irrigation, agriculture and livelihood scenario as compared to non-coastal districts. While in West Bengal, districts of Gangetic plains (districts like Bardhaman, Birbhum, Hooghly, Midnapore (W), Murshidabad and Nadia) had better irrigation, agriculture and living scenario as compared to coastal districts. Six districts in Odisha showed higher irrigation and agriculture index values (>0.6) that included four coastal districts viz., Bhadrak, Balasore, Puri and Jagatsinghpur. Only one of three coastal districts in West Bengal showed higher value (>0.6) of irrigation and agricultural indexes. The surface water irrigation system was found predominant as groundwater irrigation contributed to about 14 per cent irrigation potential created in Odisha, while the same was 46 per cent in case of West Bengal. It is evident that relatively better groundwater development in West Bengal (40%) had lead to better irrigation and agricultural scenario in comparison to Odisha (28%) barring the coastal districts of Odisha. The links and/or missing links between irrigation resources, agriculture development, poverty and level of living were explored through correlation and linkage matrix. The indexes found to be mostly significantly correlated; however, linkages between them seemed to be more in case of poorer condition of different sectors; while betterment in one sector had not linked to betterment of other sectors in many of the districts.