WATER FOR AGRICULTURE

Considering that water, in all its forms, is the primary source of agricultural production and the surface water are by far the most important, the core objective has been taken as: Accelerate the growth of Agricultural production from the canal irrigated and rain-fed areas by harnessing additional water resources and by the most productive use of water (more crop per drop) in conjunction with the most appropriate technologies.

Under this board objective, the following core objective, in addition to those relating to water resources development and the control of water-logging and salinity (treated separately) are proposed:

• Improve the management of the canal systems to make the most effective use of the available surface supplies taking into consideration the availability of groundwater and the incidence of rainfall, so as to meet the crop water requirements.
• For the traditionally cultivated areas, develop through research, methods for soil water conservation and local water harvesting in micro watersheds.
• Realize higher productivity of the irrigation water at the farm level in conjunction with appropriate agronomic practices

The immediate actions proposed in the FFA are:

• Develop real-time operating procedures for distribution of irrigation supplies to meet conjunctively the crop water requiems, supported with a MIS (Management Information System) and trained manpower introduce Structural improvements in irrigation systems based on appraisals for effective and equitable distribution of supplies. Increase the water charges to cover O&M expenses.
• Introduce promising methods of rainwater harvesting and conservation managements in ‘barani’ areas, based on research and supported with a land and water service.
• Introduce the concept of ‘production per unit of water’ and compile statistics accordingly.
• Introduce efficient methods of irrigation through action research.
• Develop, through research, profitable cropping patterns which economize on water.
• Introduce as part of extension a land and water use service.
• Improve measure for local supply of quality agricultural inputs.
• Unify the irrigation and agricultural departments after institutional studies and mobilizing grass roots level support.