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economics of on-farm development - Institute for Social and ...

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7.3.3 Technical c<strong>on</strong>straints<br />

The major technical c<strong>on</strong>straints <strong>for</strong> irrigati<strong>on</strong> <strong>development</strong> In Kcrala may be<br />

classified as:<br />

I) Design <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the projects exclusively <strong>for</strong> paddy cultivati<strong>on</strong>;<br />

2) The water distributi<strong>on</strong> networks in the comm<strong>and</strong> areas do not permit to<br />

introduce dem<strong>and</strong> based supply <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> water;<br />

3) Irrigati<strong>on</strong> infrastructure <strong>and</strong> water distributi<strong>on</strong> networks are in dilapidated<br />

c<strong>on</strong>diti<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong> there<strong>for</strong>e, need immediate rehabilitati<strong>on</strong> to· allow designed<br />

discharge <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> water in the canals; <strong>and</strong><br />

4) Improper design <strong>and</strong> alignment <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> some <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the canals <strong>and</strong> field channels<br />

adversely affecting water distributi<strong>on</strong>.<br />

A major c<strong>on</strong>sequence <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the projects being designed exclusively <strong>for</strong><br />

paddy cultivati<strong>on</strong> is that crop diversificati<strong>on</strong> is not legally permitted to take<br />

advantage <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the abundant water available in the canals left unutilised in the<br />

absence <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> paddy cultivati<strong>on</strong>. Though the <strong>farm</strong>ers have undertaken crop<br />

diversificati<strong>on</strong> in some <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the irrigati<strong>on</strong> comm<strong>and</strong>s, there are several practical<br />

problems arising out <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> inflexible design <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> water distributi<strong>on</strong> network enabling<br />

crop diversificati<strong>on</strong>. Since the terrain in many <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the irrigati<strong>on</strong> comm<strong>and</strong>s in<br />

Kerala is undulating, effective utilisati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> canal water necessitates significant<br />

investment <strong>on</strong> OFD both from the irrigati<strong>on</strong> department upstream side <str<strong>on</strong>g>of</str<strong>on</strong>g> the<br />

canal system as well as the <strong>farm</strong>ers downstream.<br />

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