This document discusses approaches to improving irrigation performance and water use in agriculture. It provides context on the importance of irrigation performance given population growth, changing diets, and water constraints. Key innovations that can improve performance are discussed for the farm/field level and system operations level, including laser land leveling, sprinkler systems, and use of new technologies. The document emphasizes that improving performance requires strengthening links between irrigation systems and farms, as well as leadership to set clear objectives, provide resources, and reward performance. Overall, better irrigation performance can reduce water diversions while enabling food security if it also increases farmers' livelihoods.

1. Approaches to Improving Irrigation
Performance and Water Use
Ian W Makin
Vice President (ICID)
Lead Specialist - Irrigation (IWMI)
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Indian Irrigation Forum (7 April 2016) – New Delhi

2. OVERVIEW
• Context of irrigated agriculture
• Key messages
• Innovations
• Conclusions

3. Context of Irrigated Agriculture

4. Why performance of irrigation and agriculture
is important.
• Growing population – changing diets
• Rural:Urban transition – increasing food and energy demands,
rural labour shortages
• Falling contribution of agriculture to employment and GDP
• Changing role of agriculture in many HH livelihoods (ageing
farmers, changing roles of women)
• Agriculture is largest user and consumer of H2O; climate change
• Multiple and Competing uses of water
• Growing water constraints (quantity and quality)
4

5. SECTOR CONTRIBUTION TO GDP (%) & EMPLOYMENT
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1950-51
1954-55
1958-59
1962-63
1966-67
1970-71
1974-75
1978-79
1982-83
1986-87
1990-91
1994-95
1998-99
2002-03
2006-07
2010-11
Agriculture Industry Services
http://planningcommission.gov.in/data/datatable/data_2312/DatabookDec2014%202.pdf
GDP contribution (%)Agricultural employment (%)

6. ARUN JAITLEY - 2016 INDIAN BUDGET SPEECH
“We need to think beyond ‘food security’ and
give back to our farmers a sense of ‘income
security’. Government will, therefore, reorient its
interventions in the farm and non-farm sectors to
double the income of the farmers by 2022. Our
total allocation (FY 2016/17) for Agriculture and
Farmers’ welfare is INR 35,984 crore (USD 5.42
bln).”
Arun Jaitley Minister of Finance February 29, 2016

7. Different farmers have
different needs
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• Improving I&D services will impact the
rural community – not just farmers –
support for transformation must include
increasing off-farm employment.
Farm Size
Farmer orientation
Subsistence Semi-commercial Commercial
Small XXX X X
Medium XXX XX
Large XX XXX

8. Definitions

9. Definitions: Irrigation Efficiency:
• Defined: estimated water requirement (m3) relative to water applied or
withdrawn (m3) from a source.
• Application: to assess “losses” in the distribution, conveyance, and application of
irrigation water.
• Appropriate for:
o Farm-scale irrigation investment and management decisions
o Design of irrigation conveyance and application systems
o “real-time” M&E of irrigation system operational performance
• Limitations:
o Does not account for the capture and reuse of water within broader
hydrologic systems (e.g., basins)
o Can lead to incorrect water allocation and investment decisions, faulty public
policy at the basin scale

10. Definitions: Irrigation Efficiency:
• Defined: estimated water requirement (m3) relative to water applied or
withdrawn (m3) from a source.
• Application: to assess “losses” in the distribution, conveyance, and application of
irrigation water.
• Appropriate for:
o Farm-scale irrigation investment and management decisions
o Design of irrigation conveyance and application systems
o “real-time” M&E of irrigation system operational performance
• Limitations:
o Does not account for the capture and reuse of water within broader
hydrologic systems (e.g., basins)
o Can lead to incorrect water allocation and investment decisions, faulty public
policy at the basin scale

11. • Defined: Output (in kg, $, or kcal) in relation to water use (in terms of water
withdrawn, applied or consumed).
• Application: To assess water allocation including accounting for:
o Multiple sources of water
o Multiple scales
o Multiple, sequential (re)use within a basin.
• Appropriate for:
o Water allocation decisions between uses (basin and farm scale)
o Post-season performance assessment of irrigated agriculture
• Limitations:
o Not applicable for operational management decisions
o More complex to evaluate
Definitions: Water productivity:
Molden 1997

12. • Defined: Output (in kg, $, or kcal) in relation to water use (in terms of water
withdrawn, applied or consumed).
• Application: To assess water allocation including accounting for:
o Multiple sources of water
o Multiple scales
o Multiple, sequential (re)use within a basin.
• Appropriate for:
o Water allocation decisions between uses (basin and farm scale)
o Post-season performance assessment of irrigated agriculture
• Limitations:
o Not applicable for operational management decisions
o More complex to evaluate
Definitions: Water productivity:
Molden 1997

13. OBJECTIVES OF IRRIGATION:
Simply:
i. provide essential moisture and transport of essential
nutrients for plant growth, and
ii. leach and/or dilute salts in the soil

14. MODERNIZATION IS THE:
“Process of upgrading infrastructure,
operations and management of irrigation
and drainage systems to sustain the water
delivery service requirements of farmers
and optimize production and water
productivity.”
Source: - Lance Gore, Arnaud Cauchois (ADB), Beau Freeman, Mike Chegwin (Lahmeyer), Ian Makin (IWMI), September 2015

15. MODERNIZATION
• Understand the real constraints – before investing
– MASCOTTE – FAO guidelines on modernization of irrigation service:
• What level of water delivery service does the system currently provide?
• What hardware (infrastructure) and software (operational procedures, institutional setup, etc.)
features affect this level of service?
• What improvements in the various components could make a significant difference in service
delivery to users?
• Manage Irrigation Assets for long-term performance
– Current practice tends towards deferred maintenance (build-ignore-
rehabilitate-ignore)
• Expand use of ICT to improve information and decision making

16. Innovations

17. 17
Key message
Improving agricultural performance in
irrigation requires:
• Capacity at farms and fields;
• Technologies to improve operation
of canals and drains;
• Enhanced management of irrigation
services
• Leadership and integrated actions

18. INNOVATIONS – FARM AND FIELD
• Surface irrigation often performs poorly, but:
– Improved farmer knowledge and simple tools work;
– Laser grading and levelling can transform performance
and reduce energy costs;
– Sprinkler, drip and trickle systems can reduce labour,
fertilizer and water requirements.
• On-farm storage and/or access to groundwater
enables farmers to get better performance from
irrigation services

19. INNOVATIONS – FARM AND FIELD
• Surface irrigation often performs poorly, but:
– Improved farmer knowledge and simple tools work;
– Laser grading and levelling can transform performance
and reduce energy costs;
– Sprinkler, drip and trickle systems can reduce labour,
fertilizer and water requirements.
• On-farm storage and/or access to groundwater
enables farmers to get better performance from
irrigation services

20. Laser levelling
Zero tillage
BUT IMPACTS OF TECHNOLOGY ARE NOT HOMOGENOUS
Different farms – different benefits
Ahmad et al., 2007
Different technologies – different benefits
Water Labor Fertilizer
SMALL MEDIUM LARGE ALL FARMS
Cropping intensity (%) before and after
adoption of conservation agriculture
CroppingIntensity
Lesson: When examining water productivity’s contributions to broader
development objectives, we must look not only at the overall benefits but
also their distribution and trade-offs.
176 %
198 %

21. INNOVATIONS – SYSTEM OPERATIONS
Technology can:
• Provide real-time data
• Remote operations
• Improved access to
information
• Offer new tools for manual
system operations

22. INNOVATIONS – SYSTEM OPERATIONS
Technology can:
• Provide real-time data
• Remote operations
• Improved access to
information
• Offer new tools for manual
system operations

23. MODERNIZING IRRIGATION SERVICES
Time
Managementeffort
Simple flood irrigation:
• Construct channels
• Flood land
Supply orientated management:
• Fix cropping at design stage
• Enforce designed cropping pattern
• Control by level, maintain FSL in main canals
Modern management:
• Agree cropping pattern with water users at
start of season based on available water
supply
• Schedule to match demands
• Measure and monitor allocations
• Assess performance
Additional effort
required to move from
one level to the next
Burton, Martin. 2011. Water Management in India: Options for Change. Presentation at the 2011 FAO
Investment Days Meeting, December 15-17.

24. IMPROVING IRRIGATION PERFORMANCE
• Requires:
– strengthening links between main system and
farmers' fields.
– problems identified by Chambers, Cernea in
1980s -Still is an issue
– Results
• Expansion of groundwater use and local storage
• Poor cost recovery, etc, etc

25. IMPROVING IRRIGATION PERFORMANCE
• But the solutions are not isolated in system
O&M, but require:
– Leadership to:
• Set and support clear objectives for system managers
and operators
• Provide timely resources for operations, maintenance
and repairs
• Rewards for performance

26. Conclusions

27. Improving irrigation performance:
– will not automatically and/or substantially reduce (&
may increase) agricultural water consumption!
– should enable reduced diversions from water bodies
– reducing impacts on flow-regimes
– will reduce return flows and agricultural pollution
(lost agrichemicals)
– must increase farmers livelihoods and food security
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28. Thank You
Ian W Makin
i.makin@cgiar.org
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