What ails Indian Agriculture?

A Reality Check on Our Irrigation Policy

Tushaar ShahInternational Water Management Institute

www.iwmi.org

Highlights of the Analysis• History of Indian irrigation: Three Phases and a Turning Point.

• Since 1975, Indian agriculture has emerged as the world’s largest user of groundwater to grow food and fibre.

• The groundwater boom is fired by population pressure on land anddemands of intensive diversification of farming.

• India and Pakistan together lost over 5 million ha of canal irrigated areas; tubewells are canibalizing flow irrigation.

• Investing in flow irrigation under BAU is throwing good money after bad. Yet, 11th FYP has allocated nearly US $ 50 billion to these..

• India’s irrigation challenge is one of managing its sub-continental aquifer systems, a vast reservoir we have left unmanaged.

Highlights of the Recommendations

• Ensure at least 15 irrigations of 800-1000 m3/ha JIT, on-demand; and Indian agriculture will boom; this is possible but not by canals and dams.

• Small-farming in the north and east is facing an energy-squeeze from rising diesel prices. Investing in rural electrification can create more irrigation here than public irrigation.

• In west and south, energy-squeeze takes the form of an invidious electricity-groundwater nexus that is imposing a huge cost on entire rural society. Jyotirgram in Gujarat is the answer.

• In hard-rock areas, 65% of India, groundwater recharge has to be the mantra for rejuventating agricultural economy.

• Reservoir-based systems need to be reinvented; consider retrofitting some of them to deliver piped, pressurized irrigation.

Evolution of Indian Irrigation:Era of adaptive irrigation-upto 1830

• Community was the unit of irrigation management

Rainfall and Soil moisture

Flow irrigation from tanks, canals, rivers

Lift irrigation from wells and surface sources

% of water consumptively used in agriculture

% Contribution to aggregateFarm output and incomes

Evolution of Indian Irrigation:Era of canal construction-1830-1970

• State emerged as the architect, builder, manager of irrigation

Soil moisture management

Flow irrigation from tanks, canals, rivers

Lift irrigation from wells & surface sources

% water consumptively used in agriculture

% Contribution to aggregateFarm output and incomes

Evolution of Indian Irrigation:Era of atomistic pump irrigation-1970-todate

Individual farmer as the irrigation manager

Soil moisture management

Flow irrigation

Pump irrigation from wells, tubewells, canals

% of water consumptively used in agriculture

% ContributionTo Farm output & incomes

India is the world’s largest userof groundwater in agriculture in the world.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

cubi

c km

/yea

r

US W.Europe SpainMexico China IndiaPakistan Bangladesh Sri LankaVietnam Ghana South AfricaTunisia

India has over 20 million irrigation wells. We add 0.8 million/year.

Every fourth cultivator owns an irrigation well; non-owners depend on groundwater markets.

Figure Changing structure of Indian agricultural production

65 66 62 5746

21 21 2121

28

11 10 1316 19

4 3 4 6 7

0%

10%20%

30%

40%

50%60%

70%

80%90%

100%

1961-62 1971-72 1981-82 1991-92 2000-01

% o

f val

ue o

f agr

icul

tura

l out

put

Field crops, sugar, fibres High value crops Milk Other livestock

Canal and tank irrigated areas condemned to low-value crops unresponsive to precision irrigation.

Much diversification isOccurring outside Command areas (IFPRI).

Much diversification Requires small dozes ofYear-round, on-demandIrrigation.

Value added farming Will expand withWaste-water irrigation andGroundwater.

Our irrigation planning is preoccupied with food grains; Indian farmer is diversifying in a hurry.

Classes of Irrigators in India

Gross revenue &Irrigation cost/ha

20-22 mha

Million ha of irrigated area

cana

ls &

tank

s

30-32 mha

Own

ele

ctri

c pu

mps

10-12 mha

Elec

tric

pum

p pu

rcha

se12-15mha

Own

die

sel p

ump

7-8mha

Rent

ed d

iese

l pum

p

Own and rented gen-sets

Most diesel pump irrigation is in Eastern India.

15-18 million Marginal farmers

and share cropper families

These buy irrigation for food

security and to absorb family

labour

In the Ganga-Brahmaputra basin, over 80% of irrigated areas are dependent

on diesel pumps; rising diesel prices are hitting small-holder irrigation hard.

Irrigation Challenge 1

Energy Divide in South Asia’s groundwater irrigation economy

Mostly electric

Mostly diesel

Rising diesel price is driving out small-holder irrigation in Ganga-Brahmaputra basin..

Increase in diesel price relative to food and general price index (Base: 1996=100)

050

100150200250300350400450

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Diesel price indexFood price index for farm laborersGeneral price index for farm laborers

Index No of Diesel price, irrigation price and farm produce: Eastern Uttar Pradesh

0100200300400500600700800900

1990 1995 2000 2005 200719

90=1

00

Diesel (Rs/l) 5 hp Pump Irrigation (Rs/hr)Diesel Pump Irrigation Price (Rs/hr, 5 hp)Wheat (Rs/kg), farm gatePaddy (Rs/kg), farm gateSugarcane (Rs/kg), farm gate

Rural electrification;Chinese pumps;

In western and peninsular India, the invidious electricity-groundwater nexus is the big

challenge.

Irrigation Challenge 2

Over 90% of India’s electric pumps aIn western and peninsular India; theiDemand for power is derived demanFor water which peaks on 30-40 day

Of moisture stress. IntelligentPower rationing is the answer.

IWMI researchIs contributing

To some way out

Figure 1 a Electricity Network Before Figure 1 b Electricity Network after

Rural Gujarat Rewired under Jyotirgram Yojana

Impact of Jyotirgram Yojana: PerceptionsIWMI collaborative Study

---Groundwater irrigated area-----Water buyers, landless laborers, tenants---Tubewell owners: No. of hours ofpower supply

+++Tubewell owners: quality and reliability of power supply

-----Pump repair, motor rewinding, tubewell deepening, etc

+++++Non-farm trades, shops, cottage industries, rice mills, dairy co-ops, banks, co-operatives

+++++Students, teachers, patients, doctors+++++Rural housewives, domestic users

Positive (+)/Negative (-)

Stakeholder group

In hard-rock areas of peninsular India, groundwater recharge is the big answer; and

some 10 million large dug wells can bea major vehicle for farmer-participatory

recharge movement.

Irrigation Challenge 3

Western and Southern India have 10 millioDugwells. Many are out of use but are

Excellent recharge structures.

100 over-exploitedHardrock districts alrea

Have 7-7.5 million open That can be readily

used.

India has built some 200 billion m3 of surface storage which is proving a dead-eight. It irrigates

only 10-12 m ha while the same amount of groundwater irrigates 5 times more.

We need to stop throwing good money after bad before finding out how to get the most out of

these investments.

Retrofitting canal systems as piped systems delivering pressurized irrigation needs to be

considered.

Irrigation Challenge 4

Reinvent Reservoir Irrigation Systems• Reservoir and canal systems

• Canals use up 4-7% of command area

• Can not deliver water JIT, on-demand

• Can not deliver pressurized irrigation

• WUAs, private participation unattractive due to lack of water control

• Canal systems are reduced to recharge role; Bhakracommand irrigates 75% by tubewells; in Narmada, farmers refuse to build distribution systems.

• Piped systems

• Save land; can use the same storage to irrigate 30-50% more; saves water; eases pressure on groundwater and energy used for pumping it;

• Amenable to JIT, on-demand irrigation;

• Public private partnership• Creates new jobs in water

distribution and retailing;• Carbon credits• Massive environmental

benefits

Implications: Wake up to new realities.

• Recognize and respond to the new reality. Government’s role as irrigation provider is no longer the most critical.

• Investing in surface irrigation is throwing good money after bad.. To survive, it needs to be reinvented.

• Irrigation Department’s mission statement needs to be rewritten.

• Managing the Energy-irrigation is the central irrigation challenge

• Groundwater recharge needs to be the new mantra of agricultural development in hard-rock India.

Source: “Down to Earth”