Abstract:
Agriculture consumes over 80% of the present water supply. Irrigated land makes up roughly 48.8% of India's 140 million hectares (mha) of agricultural land. Rainwater is used to irrigate the remaining 51.2 percent. Mizoram is India's only state that is not watered.
In India, canal irrigation is the most common type of irrigation. It is less expensive. During 2008-09, canals irrigated around half of the 165.97 lakh acre area in the country, with the Northern Plain accounting for half of the irrigated land.
Canal irrigation area as a percentage of overall irrigated area in the country has decreased from around 40% in 1950-51 to less than 25% today. The states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Bihar account for over 60% of the country's canal irrigated land.
In India, rice has the largest irrigation area. Rice cultivation covers around one-fourth of India's total planted land.
Drip irrigation is the most efficient of all irrigation technologies and may be used on a wide range of crops, including vegetables, orchard crops, flowers, and plantation crops.
Micro-irrigation can boost yields while lowering water, fertiliser, and labour costs. The approach lowers water loss by conveyance, run-off, deep percolation, and evaporation by providing water directly to the root zone.
The Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Micro Irrigation was started by the Ministry of Agriculture's Department of Agriculture and Cooperation in January 2006. (CSS).
Micro irrigation penetration varies by state in India. In comparison to countries like Israel, the United States, and even China, India's average penetration is only 5.5 percent. Karnataka (8.16 lakh ha) is top, followed by Andhra Pradesh (7.17 lakh ha) and Gujarat (7.17 lakh ha) (7 lakh ha). In the last five years, 43.71 lakh acres of land in India have been irrigated via micro irrigation.
