Irrigation

Irrigation is the mock application of water to soil or land. It helps in the budding of agricultural crops, re-vegetation of disturbed soils in parched areas as well as in upholding of landscapes. In addition, irrigation also has some other uses in the production of crop, which embraces protecting plants against frost, restraining growth of weed in grain fields & averting soil consolidation. On the contrary, agriculture that relies only on unswerving rainfall is known as dry land farming. The boost in agricultural production depends mainly on the availability of water. The availability of irrigation facilities is extremely insufficient in our country.

Reasons for the importance of Irrigation in Indian context:

• Uncertain, insufficient & irregular rains

• Manifold cropping possible

• Advanced production on irrigated land

• Role of irrigation in new agricultural approach: The triumphant execution of the High - Yielding Variety Programme depends mainly on the timely accessibility of sufficient water supply.

• Fetching more land under cultivation: The entire reporting region for land utilization information was 305.69 million hectares in 2008 - 09. Of this, 17.02 million hectares was uncultivable and infertile land, 10.32 million hectares fallow land, whereas 14.54 million hectares was current fallow lands.

• Lessens unsteadiness in output levels