IDENTIFYING THE PRIBLEMS IN AWARENESS AND ADOPTION OF MODERN IRRIGATION TECHNIQUES IN MAHARASHTRA.

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY

Mrs. NIDHI KASETWAR NILESH THORAVE(1054)

APPA MULE (1034)

KIRAN DESAI (1007)

MAHESH KHOPADE (1026)

MADHUMATI BRAHAMANE (1005)

MILIND AHIRE (1001)

CENTRE FOR MANAGEMENT EDUCATION

VAIKUNTH MEHTA NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT

PUNE 41100

Introduction

As we all know the Agriculture is the back bone of Indian economy. It refers to the art of raising plant life from the soil useful for mankind around 65% of Indian population is dependent on agriculture for employment. But the share of Agriculture in Indian economy is decreasing year by year. Which was about 52% in 1951 and about 16.6% in 2007? The growth rate of agriculture is about only 1-2% a year. As the other sectors are growing faster than the Agriculture. There are so many reasons for this situation, related to water availability, climatic condition etc. Among all these reasons the one cause that we can think about and try to minimise it, is the availability of water. The benefits of the ‘green revolution’ are then remaining concentrated to limited states. This is because those states are having irrigation facilities like Punjab is having canal system, but what about the rest?

Irrigated areas of India based on international water management institutes:

From above figures we can came to know that area under irrigation is less. So it affects the agricultural production. As government also has under taken the various projects in different states and also launches new schemes. Planning commission of India has also introduced a new classification of irrigation schemes:

1. Major irrigation Schemes: Those with culturable command areas (CCA) more than 10,000 hectares.

2. Medium irrigation Schemes: Those with culturable command areas (CCA) between 2,000 to 10,000 hectares.

3. Minor irrigation Schemes: Those with culturable command areas (CCA) upto 2,000 hectares.

With a view to ensuring early completion of projects for providing irrigation benefits to the farmers, Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) has been in operation since 1995-96. The government launched Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) in 1669-97.

Reasons for less irrigated area in India:

Economic condition of farmers. Less awareness about modern irrigation methods. Fragmented land holding. Unawareness about the different schemes about irrigation.

Availability of water after 4 months of rain is very low , therefore farmer unable to take more than 1 or 2 crops a year. As per the requirement of population we require 3 productive growing seasons a year.

So the objectives of the project is to find out the various causes of above problem and to suggest solutions .

WORKING

As we are identifying the constraints why the farmers are not aware or not adopting the modern irrigation methods in Maharashtra.

Nearly about the 19.6% of the total agricultural land in Maharashtra is irrigated which is negligible compaired to total agriculture land of Maharashtra. This shows the extent of unawareness about irrigation among the farmers. There is vast scope for undertaking irrigation projects throughout Maharashtra.

We have visited The Department of Irrigation & Drainage Engg.(IDE) of college of Agriculture, pune And Regional Office of Netafim Drip Irrigation India Pvt. Ltd. to collect the information regarding the modern techniques of micro irrigation.

There we also discussed the problems during the implementation of the modern methods.

The overall reasons for less utilization are as follows:

(i) Low water yield in the reservoirs.(ii) Diversion of irrigation water to non-irrigation uses.(iii) Tendency of farmers to grow cash crops, which are highly water intensive like sugarcane, banana, etc.(iv) Low utilization during kharif (rainy) season.(v) Reduction in storage capacity due to silting.(vi) Non accounting of irrigated area outside the command (influence area).(vii) Poor maintenance of the infrastructure due to financial constraints(viii) Non participation of beneficiaries in irrigation management.

( Dr. D.R. Jagtap. Explaining us the various facts and causes of the problem)

Then have also visited the demo plants of college of agriculture where all the research work is carried out.

Dr. D.R. Jagtap gave us the information regarding various departments of irrigation and horticulture. Also he has shown us the various equipments required for micro irrigation such as fertilizer tanks, Automation system, pumping unit, filtration unit etc.

( Micro sprinkler irrigation techniques used in green houses)

( Drip irrigation system in cabbage at fields of College of Agriculture, pune)

SUGGESTIONS

As there is low water yield in reservoir, Construct farm pond which can be used as a water source in summer season. Maharashtra Govt. Provides subsidy for the construction of farm ponds.

Motivate the farmers to cultivate different horticultural crops as there also subsidies available for cultivation and also for the drip irrigation system required.

Government should do awareness about modern irrigation techniques in farmers.

Government should provide subsidy to farmers to adopt these modern irrigation techniques as these are more expensive.