Micro-irrigation in Drought and Salinity Prone Areas of Haryana: Socio-economic Impacts

Socio-economic impacts of micro-irrigation

Abstract

Water has become increasingly scarce worldwide and is being presumed that shortly more than one-third of the global population would face absolute water scarcity. Rising demand for urban and industrial water supplies pose a serious threat to irrigated agriculture. However, to achieve the required food and fiber production for ever-increasing population, water is to be used most judiciously. One of the key ways to boost overall agricultural production is to implement better soil-water management techniques in arid and semi-arid areas. One of the water management strategies introduced relatively recently in Indian agriculture is micro-irrigation (MI). Unlike flood method of irrigation, MI supplies the water at the required interval and in desired quantity at a place where water is demanded using a pipe network, emitters and nozzles. Therefore, MI in principle results in low conveyance and distribution losses leading to higher water use efficiency. The net utilization of irrigation water in drip system is 90% and through sprinkler system, it is 82% and thus,MI is having paramount importance with brighter future prospects. The adaptations of MI, however, is not encouraging including in the agriculturally advanced states like Haryana. To find out the bottle-necks and   other socioeconomic impacts of MI, a NABARD-funded study was undertaken in salinity and drought-prone three districts of Haryana namely Bhiwani, Mohindergarh and Nuh. This study was completed through exhaustive consultation of literature, field observations, interaction with officers and farmers, and pre-designed proforma-based survey for collection of field data from 150 beneficiary farmers from 6 blocks (a cluster of 25 farmers in each block) in 3 districts. A detailed account of the socio-economic impact of MI has been reported in this paper.