Influencing irrigation policy in India

Influencing irrigation
policy in India
A Success Story
www.iwmi.org
www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/Success_Stories/index.aspx

Irrigation has been crucial to Indian agriculture for millennia

Irrigation has been crucial to Indian agriculture for millennia
but…

...in the past 40 years, Indian irrigation has faced unprecedented challenges

A new trend...
Infrastructure and management of large-scale irrigation schemes have deteriorated
Farmers are growing a wider range of crops than the old staples of rice and wheat

In need of more flexible irrigation, Indian farmers are taking water supply into their own hands
Now, millions of farmers are pumping groundwater when and where they choose

Groundwater is now the main water source for most of India’s farming areas outside large canal commands
Growth in groundwater use in selected countries
India
Cubic km/year
Source: Shah, T. (2009). Taming the Anarchy: Groundwater Governance in South Asia. Washington D.C.: RFF press.
Supplies are shrinking fast

Research into action
The IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program began in 2000

The mission: face the new realities of groundwater use and revitalize irrigation

The question: how can India integrate centrally managed irrigation systems with the new trend for intensive groundwater use?

The work of IWMI and its partners spans the globe
Their research allows IWMI to contribute to the work of Indian practitioners and policymakers

As a result, groundwater use – which supports more than 80% of India’s irrigated agriculture – has become central to the irrigation debate

The responseUS$400 million from the Indian Government…...for well recharge projects in 100 districts in 7 states where water stored in hard-rock aquifers had been overexploited

The money will fund 7 million structures to divert monsoonal runoff and help farmers purchase equipment
The diversion structures include desiltation chambers and pipes to collect surplus rainwater

Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat are already using the fund to implement groundwater recharge programs

A leading light
IWMI worked with Indian policymakers on large projects in the Indus-Gangetic and Yellow River basins:
Photo: IRRI
Ground Governance in Asia
Basin Focal Project for the Indus-Gangetic Basin
Drip Irrigation, Capacity Building and Management Initiative for Maximizing Productivity and Income (TNDRiP Initiative)

While considering the physical, socioeconomic, governance and policy perspectivesof groundwater...
...these projects asked: how can Indian agriculture use groundwater in a productive and sustainable way?

Research is helping policymakers to develop effective groundwater management policies, such as the Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act 2009…
...which has helpedcut groundwater use by 7% annually
Photo: IRRI

How does the Act save water in Punjab?

Simply by having farmers delay paddy transplanting until after the 10th of June
Waiting until then avoids the extremely high evaporation of early summer
Photo: IRRI

2,180 million cubic meters of water

This is what IWMI estimates can be saved through this one policy – almost 1 million Olympic swimming pools

Photo: Ian Burt
As well as saving 175 million kilowatt-hours of energy used for pumping – equivalent to more than 100,000 barrels of oil

What next?
The Planning Commission of India has invited IWMI scientists to write a paper on the future of government irrigation projects, as well as chair a working group that will design strategies for large irrigation systems in India’s 12th Five-Year Plan

IWMI will also examine how to rationalize the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Program – the vehicle through which the central government provides funds to states for irrigation development
Photo: IRRI

The IWMI-Tata Water Policy Program is supported by the Sir Ratan Tata Trust.
Collaborators
Indian Council of Agricultural Research
State irrigation departments
Agricultural universities
Non-governmental organizations

For more information
IWMI report
Groundwater Governance in the Indo-Gangetic and Yellow River Basins: Realities and Challenges
http://tinyurl.com/2f2zvk3
All IWMI publications are available online free of charge at www.iwmi.org/Publications
Improving the management of land and water resources for food, livelihoods and the environment

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Influencing irrigation policy in India

by International Water Management Institute (IWMI) on Feb 23, 2011

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Influencing irrigation policy in India — Presentation Transcript