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

cotton and sugarcane. However, the extent of degradation in the irrigation projects or
fanners awareness about the need for preventive measures and their efforts to minimize
sueh degradation is not mentioned in any of these studies.
The extent of reduction in paddy yield due to waterlogging is examined by Murthy (1991 )
for Sriram Sagar in Andhra Pradesh and Tungabhadra projects in Karnataka. In the Sriram
Sagar project, all the six selected villages show reduced yields due to waterlogging where
the reduction ranged between 0.5-1.5 tonnes per hectare. Although paddy is moderately
tolerant of waterlogging, the yields would decline in soil profiles with more salts, hence the
study recommends the removal of toxic substances produced in the prevailing cropping
pattern and also the provision of subsurface drainage. In the Tungabhadra command area,
the decline in yields ranged between 0.2-2.5 tonnes per hectare in all the seventeen selected
fanns. The reasons for the decline in yield are lack of drainage and presence of heavy black
soils.
There are a few studies on the Tawa irrigation project in Madhya Pradesh that has tried to
assess the extent of decline in yields after the introduction of canal irrigation. The study by
Mishra (1986) noted that with the introduction of the Tawa irrigation project, average
wheat yield declined from 785 kg per hectare before irrigation to 765 kg per hectare after
irrigation and of maize from 1,200 kg per hectare to 1,000 kg per hectare, respectively.
Similarly, the study by Padaria ct al. (2000) on Tawa irrigation project has pointed out that
335.20 hectares has been atfected by waterlogging and these areas were spread over 25
villages. The yield of wheat has come down to 7 quintals per hectare from 23 quintals per
hectare due to the adverse effects on soil. Also, the yield of gram reduced to 5 quintals per
hectare from 14 quintals per hectare. Severely waterlogged areas became unsuitable for
cultivation and remained as marshy barren lands. Even the fann and village roads have
been affected by waterlogging, because of which transport and communication has also
become difficult in those villages. The study has attributed a number of reasons for such
adverse effects, like faulty on-fann development works carried out by the government,
careless and excess irrigation by the fanners, and lack of fanners' cooperation and
participation in the operation and maintenance of canals. Seepage coupled with high
rainfall and moisture retentive deep black cotton soil further aggravated the problem of
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