Water Users Association and Irrigation Management - Institute for ...

Chapter 1
Introduction
The natural limitations to ensure spatial and temporal uniformity in spread of rainfall to
sustain crop production necessitated evolving strategies to harvest the available surface and
ground water. As no grain can ever be produced without water, irrigation has obviously
been recognized as the most important single input for crop production. Different types of
irrigation systems were evolved from time to time, depending upon the local needs and
resources. This has enabled the extension of irrigation facilities even after the monsoon
period was over. Agricultural development is, therefore, inexorably interlinked with
irrigation development whether historically or in the present global or Indian context.
Irrigation accounts for 75 percent of the contemporary world's total use of water while
almost 30 percent of the average annual value of all developing countries' crop production
is from irrigated land. At present, 40 percent of all food production comes from 17 percent
of agricultural land that is irrigated and it provides employment for some 2.4 billion people
(DFID 1987). In fact, almost 60 percent of rice and 40 percent of wheat production in
developing countries is on irrigated land (World Bank-UNDP 1990). Irrigation plays a
crucial role in augmenting agricultural production to meet the food requirements of the
increasing population. Globally, the irrigated agricultural lands have increased almost by
2.4 percent in the 1970s to an additional 1.4 percent during 1980s and late 1990s. It is
projected to increase further by 0.4 percent per annum for the next 34 years (F AO 2000).
In India, irrigation constitutes the main use of water, which as of now is 84 percent of the
total water use. Food production has increased from 89.36 million tonnes in 1964-65 to
211.32 million tonnes in 2001-02 (Tenth Five Year plan). Following the economic
liberalization program that commenced in the early I 990s, agricultural commodities are
among India's fastest b1fowing export sectors. This has been mainly due to the expansion of
irrigation. Besides its contribution to food security and poverty alleviation, improvement of
the quality of life of the rural population has also been a significant spin-off from this
expansIOn.