Drip Irrigation

Page 1


Drip Irrigation

TBS Rajput Neelam Patel Water Technology Centre Indian Agricultural Research Institute New Delhi 110 012

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ICAR

Directorate of Knowledge Management in Agriculture Indian Council of Agricultural Research Krishi Anusandhan Bhavan, Pusa, New Delhi 110 012


PRINTED : FEBRUARY 2012

Project Director : Incharge (English Editorial) Editor

Chief Production Officer Technical Officer

Dr T P Trivedi

Dr R P Sharma Ravindra Verma Dr V K Bharti Anil Seth

Š All rights reserved 2012, Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi

ISBN : 978-81-7164-110-9

Price : ? 600.00

Published by DrT P Trivedi, Project Director (DKMA), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi 110 012, lasertypeset at M/s Print-O-World, 2579, Mandir Lane, Shadipur, New Delhi 110 008, and printed at M/s Viba Press Pvt. Ltd., C-66/3, Okhla Phase-ll, New Delhi 110 020


Contents Acknowledgement

iii

Preface List of Abbreviations

vii

Units, Constants and Conversions

xi

v

1.

Introduction

2.

Types of Drip Irrigation Systems

13

3.

Merits and Limitations of Drip Irrigation System

30

4.

Components of Drip Irrigation System

50

5.

Drip Irrigation System Design

75

6.

Subsurface Drip Irrigation System

109

7.

Drip Hydraulics

118

8.

Soil Moisture Measurement and Crop Water Requirement

152

9.

Fertigation

182

10.

Automation in Drip Irrigation

234

11.

Softwares for Drip Irrigation

246

1

12. Potential and Prospects of Drip Irrigation

254

13. Installation and Management of Drip Irrigation System

267

14. Economics of Drip Irrigation

285

15.

Standards in Drip Irrigation Industry

304

References

322

Index

338


1

Introduction TNDIAN agriculture has been witnessing phenomenal growth since Independence. The first Aphase of agricultural development during 1949-50 to 1964-65 was characterized by use of traditional technology and using available varieties with a growth rate of about 2.8%. The subsequent phase in the Seventies witnessed the use of high-yielding varieties and new technologies. The third phase during the Eighties emphasized on management aspects, which enabled to achieve a growth rate of 3.5% in the agriculture sector. The fourth phase emerged as a period of concern in the post-green revolution era. During this period the emphasis was on diversification, sustainability and judicious utilization of natural resources and paradigm shift in agriculture. The 21st century is confronted with the growing needs of a vast population of over one billion with a targeted growth rate of 4.5% in agriculture sector. The total geographical area of India is 328 million hectares, about 45 % of which is net sown area. There are hardly any chances of significant increase in land area availability for cultivation. Increasing food grain requirements for our growing population needs to be met from the same land area. This necessitates efficient utilization of all inputs to agriculture, especially water, as its timely and adequate supply is crucial in increasing agricultural productivity. India’s population is estimated to stabilize at 1.64 billion by 2050. The total food grain production in the country has increased from 50.82 million tonnes in 1950-51 to 230 million tonnes in 2008-2009. The food grain demand for the year 2011-2012 has been projected at 254.9 million tonnes from the present level of about 230.6 million tonnes assuming a population growth of 1.95 percent (Bist 2010).

WATER RESOURCES AND ITS UTILIZATION IN INDIA There is same amount of water on earth today as there was when earth was formed. However, with increase in human and cattle population, the demand for food, fiber and fodder has been increasing. As a result, water resources are progressively getting exhausted and competition for available water between agriculture, the domestic and industrial sectors is increasing day-by-day. India’s average annual rainfall is about 120 cm. But it is important to note that not only does the whole rainfall occur in about 4 months in a year but the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall is so uneven that the annual average has very little significance for all practical purposes. In fact, one-third of the country is always under threat of drought not necessarily due to deficient rainfall but many times due to its uneven occurrence. In dryland areas, like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, a portion of Haryana and Punjab, Maharashtra,


2

Drip Irrigation

parts of Tamil Nadu, a large portion of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, fanners have to face aberrant weather conditions in different areas such as abnormal rains, lower than normal rainfall, early commencement of normal rains followed by long drought or very late onset of

monsoon with its abrupt end. At the national level we are always anxious to build huge dams, large reservoirs, long canals, etc. We get anxious about problems of equity in distribution and hence try to distribute the water to as many people as possible, and even overstretch the distribution network. If the water is just sufficient for eighty thousand hectares, we build for supply of water to one lakh and twenty thousand of hectares or more so that a larger number of people could get the benefit. Also there has been tremendous growth of tube wells in the country but the water -use efficiency at the field level has remained very low and a constant cause of concern. What methods are going to be followed by the farming community to use judiciously the water that is given to them at huge cost, is never thought of. Agriculture sector is the largest consumer of water. In India, 91.6 per cent of water is used for irrigation purpose as compared to 84 per cent in Asia and 71 per cent in the world (Magar 1995). In the global scenario, the demand for water has been on the rise from all fronts, whether be it agriculture, industry or domestic use. Irrigated agriculture produces about one-third of world’s food demand and in Asia it contributes to about 40 per cent of the region’s food production. In India, about 56 per cent of total agricultural production comes from irrigated agriculture land, which is approximately 36 per cent of the net sown area. Increasing competition with urban, industrial and environmental sectors limits the quantities of water available for further irrigation expansion. Consequently, it will be imperative to adopt modem irrigation technologies to increase the area under irrigation and also to enhance agricultural productivity per unit volume of water applied, so that more amount of water is available for domestic and industrial uses. Modernization of irrigation in the form of micro -irrigation has provided a solution to this problem. We have spent more than ? 80,000 crores and claim to have created an irrigation potential of over 90 mha (an increase of 65 mha since independence) (10th five year plan, MoA). However, the production and the level of productivity from irrigated agriculture have not been at par with developed countries as well as some developing countries. Further increase in irrigation potential may be increasingly more difficult and expensive. Rising demand for water for rapid urbanization, large-scale industrialization and environmental demands also necessitate that the available water is efficiently utilized. Traditionally the emphasis has been on the creation of physical facilities for irrigation, which needs to be changed to efficient utilization of created irrigation potential. The total utilizable water resource in the country is estimated as 112.20 M ha m (CWC 2000), which includes both surface and ground-water. The ultimate irrigation potential is 139.9 Mha. Realizing the fact that irrigation is the most crucial factor in Indian agriculture, during different plan period, GOI laid major emphasis on creation of irrigation potential. By 1997-2002 irrigation potential has been created for 93.98 Mha with a utilization of 86.80 million hectares. As per Central Water Commission Report (2000) the annual demand for fresh water, which was 470 km3 during 1985 and 630 km3 during 2000 and is expected to rise to as high


Introduction

3

as 770 km3 during 2025. But the growth rate in gross irrigated area dwindled down to 1.53 per cent in 1990-91 from 3.12 per cent, which was recorded during the decade of 1960-1970. Undoubtedly, the major, medium and minor irrigation projects played a big role in the green revolution, and helped the nation to attain self-sufficiency in the food front. In the current era, the major irrigation projects, becoming a white man’s burden, the micro-irrigation are to play a major role in saving the freshwater and for its economic usage.

IRRIGATION METHODS All water users should make efforts to curtail water wastage. Irrigation is one of the most essential uses of water. Without irrigation, the production of many fertile areas would drop or even become non-existent. Irrigation traces back for centuries and some of the same methods used 100s of years ago are still being used today. The dominant method of irrigation practised in large parts of the country consists of diverting a stream from head of field into furrows or borders and allowing it to flow down the grade by gravity. In conventional irrigation methods, the plants are stressed for a good part of irrigation interval from the desirable water regime of field capacity of root zone. On the other hand, drip irrigation system allows frequent application of small quantities of water, which ultimately provides a nearly constant low-tension soil water condition in the major portion of the root zone. Generally under surface irrigation methods, only less than one-half of the water released is utilized by the crop. A good part of the applied water is lost in conveyance, application, runoff and evaporation. Accordingly, the efficiency of surface irrigation methods is low. Pressurized irrigation methods including sprinkler and drip irrigation methods minimize conveyance losses and are more efficient, 80-95% (Nakayama and Bucks 1986). The comparative irrigation efficiencies under different methods of irrigation are given in the following Table 1.1. Table 1.1 Irrigation efficiencies under different methods of irrigation

Irrigation efficiencies Conveyance efficiency

Application efficiency Overall efficiency

Surface 40-50 (canal) 60-70 (well) 60-70 30-35

Method of irrigation (Percent) Sprinkler 100 70-80 50-60

Drip 100 >90 80-90

(Source: Sivanappan et al. 1998)

The high water-use efficiency of drip irrigation results from two primary factors. The first is that the water soaks into the soil before it can evaporate or runoff. The second is that the water is only applied where it is needed, i.e. at the plant’s roots rather than sprayed

everywhere. With increasing demands on limited water resources and the need to minimize environmental consequences of irrigation, drip irrigation technology will undoubtedly play


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Drip Irrigation

an even more important role in the future. Drip irrigation also provides many unique agronomic and water and energy conservation benefits that address many of the challenges facing irrigated agriculture, now and in the future. An in-depth understanding of the unique benefits and limitations of drip irrigation system is needed. Adoption of latest methods of water application including sprinkler and drip irrigation, may help in saving significant amounts of water and increase the quality and quantity of produce. These techniques are very well suited for water scarce areas and areas where adequate land leveling is either undesirable owing to less soil depth or uneconomical. There have been serious efforts by the Government of India in the last decade for popularizing these methods among the farmers. The Government has already allocated ? 250 crores and ? 375 crores during VIIIth and IXth Five Year Plans, respectively, to be provided to farmers as subsidy for adopting drip irrigation. With the current coverage of over 2 million hectares under micro -irrigation, India is one of the leading countries of the world in promoting this technology. The information regarding different aspects of drip irrigation system including selection of its components and their design, installation, regular repair and maintenance along with the details about fertilizer application through drip irrigation, need to be made available to agriculture extension workers and drip users. The use of drip irrigation is rapidly increasing around the world, and it is expected to continue to be a viable irrigation method for agricultural production in the foreseeable future.

DRIP IRRIGATION Drip irrigation is based on the fundamental concepts of irrigating only the root zone of the crop rather than the entire land surface and maintaining the water content of the root zone at near optimum levels and it is one of the latest methods of irrigation, which is becoming increasingly popular in areas with water scarcity and salt problems. Drip irrigation is defined as the application of water through point or line sources such as emitters on or below the soil surface at a low operating pressure of 20 to 200 kPa (0.2 to 2.0 kg/cm2) and at a low discharge rate of 1 to 30 Lh'1 per emitter, resulting in partial wetting of the soil surface. Drip irrigation is also known as trickle or dribble irrigation. Another related and more broader term micro irrigation is defined as the water is applied not only by emitters on or below the soil surface, but also by sprayers, micro jets or bubblers above the soil, conveying water through the air and not directly to the soil, also resulting in partial wetting of the soil surface. Micro irrigation differs from sprinkler irrigation by the fact that only part of the soil surface is wetted in microirrigation (Dasberg and Or 1999).

CHRONOLOGY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF DRIP IRRIGATION The concept of drip irrigation goes back at least to the ancient Egyptians who placed porous pots in the soil and filled them with water. Use of subsurface clay pipes for irrigation in Germany led to doubling of crop yields in 1860 and perhaps that was the beginning of the concept of applying irrigation water directly to the root zone. Nehemiah Clark, in 1873,


Introduction

5

obtained the first known US patent for a water-emitting device as a dripper (a simple hole). Almost at the same time experiments of irrigating with porous pipes began. Originally, drip irrigation was called subsurface irrigation, since the principle started as an attempt to bring the water directly to the root zone. Since then, the system has been mostly moved to the top of the soil surface. The first work in drip irrigation in USA was carried out by E.B. House at Colorado State University in 1913 (Reinders 2006) and he indicated that the concept was far too expensive for practical use. Drip irrigation in principle evolved from subsurface irrigation when in 1920, the drainage tubes (with open joints) of subsurface irrigation were replaced experimentally by porous pipes. The supply of water to the soil was due to soil suction and not due to the pressure inside the pipe. During the next decades, several modifications were done on subsurface irrigation. Another version of porous pipe was the perforated pipe, which allowed the exit of water through holes or slits in its wall and the flow caused by the pressure inside the pipes. The perforated pipe is used in Germany, which made the concept feasible, and various experiments were then centered on the development of drip system using perforated pipe made of various materials. In the 1930s, the peach growers in southern parts of the state of Victoria, Australia devised a system of irrigation with 5-cm galvanized iron piping laid along a line of trees. Water was supplied through a triangular hole, usually cut with a chisel, at each tree. Adjustment for visual uniformity of flow to each tree was made by turning each length of pipe to position the outlet higher or lower on the side of the pipe. Usually about 500 litres were applied at one time at a rate of 70 Lh1 before the pipe was moved to the next row. During early 1940, Symcha Blass, an Israeli engineer observed that a large tree near a leaking faucet exhibited a more vigorous growth than the other tree in the area, which were not reached by the water from the faucet (Blass 1971). This example of leaking faucet led him to the concept of an irrigation system that would apply water in small amounts. Eventually, he devised and patented a new low-pressure system. When Blass conceived the idea of drip irrigation, the material needed to build a low-pressure system at reasonable cost was not available. Only with the rapid development of plastics industry after World War II, appropriate materials for making chemically resistant, flexible tubings of small diameter could be produced economically. The capillary tubes of small diameter (one millimeter) attached to larger pipes. Friction in the capillary tubes restricted the flow of water into the soil from a given discharge of two to four litres per hour. In 1956, the volmatic system, in which the water passing through a generally 85 cm long and 0.8 mm diameter capillary tube, was invented in Denmark. This supplied water at the rate of about 2 Lh'1 at a pressure of about 2 m. The high pressure long path emitter, in which 3 m long fine tubes of 1.2 to 1.4 mm inner diameter, stuck into the wall of a distribution pipe, dissipated the 1 atm pressure in that pipe and created in each an outflow of 2 Lh'1, was developed by Symcha Blass in Israel in 1962. For convenience the tubes were wound around the distributing pipe. Later this was improved and changed into the long path emitter, which is used at present. Micro tubing, which was originally called greenhouse leader-tubing was the first controllable low flow equipment that Blass worked with when he introduced the idea of irrigating crops on a field scale at frequencies similar to those in greenhouses. The micro-


6

Drip Irrigation

tubing emitters could be adjusted to most types of terrain, compensating through variable lengths and bores for line pressure changes and changes of elevation. For a number of practical reasons, clogging, fragility, and a high labor factor for installation and maintenance, the micro tubing has largely been replaced by compact emitters that embody the principle of the micro-tube, but not its hydraulic adjustability or facility for locating the drip points away from the pipe. The first successful compact emitter was the spiral tube emitter, which was designed in Israel. This emitter was simply a modification of the micro-tube, or spaghetti tube as it was sometimes called, in which the “tube� was a spiral, cut in plastic and surrounded by a plastic casing. The drip system was developed for field crops in Israel in the early 1960s and in Australia and America in late 1960s. The major difference between these earlier systems and the systems deployed now-a-days is that the modern drip irrigation systems operate at much lower flow rates on mature fruit trees. This change has enabled the economics of small pipe diameters to be introduced into the system and water can now be economically reticulated to all trees or vines simultaneously. In the early 1960s, experiments in Israel reported spectacular results when they applied the system developed by Blass in the desert areas of Negev and Arava. S. Davis installed the first field experiment with a subsurface drip irrigation system on a lemon orchard at Pomona, California, USA during 1963 (Davis 1974). Richard Chapin developed a drip tape for vegetable crops. During 1964, Norman Smith on Long Island, NY first used his drip tape on cantaloupe melon. It became the prototype for modem drip irrigation systems. Zohar (1971) was the first irrigationist to successfully experiment with drip irrigation under field conditions and drip irrigation was first commercially used for glasshouse culture in England (Waterfield 1973). The interest of scientists and engineers kept increasing in the field of drip irrigation resulting in increasingly larger number of attempts for its improvement and adoption. The first international meeting on drip irrigation was held in Israel in 1971, at which 24 papers were presented. The second International Drip Irrigation Congress was held in San Diego in 1974, at which 83 papers were presented; while at the third Congress held in Fresno, California in 1985, 160 papers were presented. An International Micro Irrigation Congress was also held in Adbury, Australia in 1988 with 89 presentations and recently, in 1995, in Orlando, Florida, where 156 papers and posters were presented. Bringing the drip system to the ground surface solved a great many of the clogging problems of the system. Improved manufacturing methods resulted in precisely sized uniform emitters, more dependable, cheaper and longer lasting. The availability of a wide range of emitters and auxiliary equipment and fittings brought about the great increase in the use of drip irrigation in many countries in the world and to the increase in drip-irrigated areas all over the world, there has been a parallel increase in types of crops irrigated, from deciduous fruits and vegetables to include almost all crops such as field crops, citrus, subtropical fruits and decorative plants in fields and in greenhouses. There have also been similar increases in the range of soils used and in the range of water qualities. Modem micro irrigation systems have shown rapid growth in the last three decades all over the world and in the past 15 years in India. Area under drip irrigation has increased from 40 ha in 1960 to more than 2.7 million ha by 2000 in the world. Countries like USA,


7

Introduction Table 1.2 Area under drip and sprinkler irrigation in different countries Country

China Cyprus France Germany Israel India Italy Jordan South Africa USA

Drip irrigation (million ha) 0.27 0.025 0.05 0.002 0.16 0.26 0.08 0.038 0.22 1.05

Total area irrigated by modern methods (million ha)

Sprinkler irrigation (million ha)

1.47 0.027 1.45 0.532 0.23 0.92 0.43 0.043 0.48 4.43

1.20 0.002 1.40 0.53 0.07 0.66 0.35 0.005 0.26 3.38

( source: FAO 2003)

Spain, Israel, Australia and Mexico have been promoting by a large extent and Canada, Cyprus, Iran, UK, Greece and New Zealand to a lesser extent. India also has not been lagging behind in the adoption of drip irrigation. Area under drip and sprinkler irrigation in different countries has been given in Table 1.2. n

DRIP IRRIGATION IN INDIA In India, drip irrigation was originally practiced through some indigenous methods like, drip irrigation using bamboo pipes in Meghalaya, perforated clay pipes and pitchers in Maharashtra and Rajasthan. In Meghalaya an ingenious system of tapping of stream and spring water by using bamboo pipes to irrigate plantations is widely prevalent. It is so perfected that about 18-20 litres of water entering the bamboo pipe system per minute gets transported over several hundred metres and finally gets reduced to 20-80 drops per minute at the site of the plant. The tribal farmers of Khasi and Jaintia hills use this 200-year-old system. The bamboo drip irrigation system (Fig. 1.1) is normally used to irrigate the betel leaf or black pepper crops planted in mixed orchards. Bamboo

A 짜

i -i

Fig. 1.1 Bamboo drip irrigation (Source: www.rainwaterharvesting.org/.../ Traditional3.htm)


8

Drip Irrigation

pipes are used to divert perennial springs on the hilltops to the lower reaches by gravity. The channel sections, made of bamboo, divert and convey water to the plot site where it is distributed without leakage into branches, again made and laid out with different forms of bamboo pipes. Manipulating the intake pipe positions also the flow of water into the lateral pipes can be controlled. Reduced channel sections and diversion units are used at the last stage of water application. The last channel section enables the water to be dropped near the roots of the plant. In earlier times, in several parts of India, a system similar to drip was used for irrigating ‘ocimum’ plant. An earthen pitcher used to be hanged above the plant with the help of ropes. The pitcher used to have a small hole through which water used to discharge in drops over the plant. In another practice, an earthen cup of about 500 ml capacity used to be installed near the plant roots in Rajasthan. The water used to seep from the cup into the soil and made available to plants. The cups were filled up every fourth or fifth day. Several tribal farmers of Arunachal Pradesh have been using a system similar to drip system made from locally available bamboos for a long time. Some crude forms of drip irrigation system are also reported to have been in practice in Haryana, Maharashtra and Meghalaya. The use of drip irrigation system in its present form has started in India in 1969. The earliest work in this endeavor was from Dr R K Sivanappan and his associates from the Tamilnadu Agricultural University who in the early 70s tried to develop the microirrigation system with perforated pipes or with micro tubes attached to the laterals. They got very encouraging results both from the point of view of water saving and increase in the productivity of crops. Almost in the same period the scientists at the Central Arid Zone Research Institute at Jodhpur also started working on the technical feasibility of the microirrigation in vegetable crops grown in the arid climate of Rajasthan. The work at Water Technology Centres at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi is important among the early references on drip irrigation in India. Regular research work and beginning of adoption of drip irrigation system started in mid seventies (Sivanappan et al. 1998). Efforts to take the drip irrigation system to Indian farmers for commercial cultivation started in real earnest around 1980. Research efforts for the encouragement of drip irrigation are being promoted by Indian Council of Agricultural Research, State Agricultural Universities, National Committee for the Use of Plastics in Agriculture, and the drip manufacturers. Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water Resources and different State governments have sponsored promotional activities for drip irrigation. But its application at commercial level was encouraged by the formation of a National Committee on the Use of Plastics in Agriculture. The committee has established 22 Precision Farming Development Centers in different agro-climatic conditions of the country for providing research support, problem and location specific solutions and training and technology dissemination agencies for microÂŹ irrigation as well as other precision farming issues in the country. In India, the area under drip irrigation had grown from a negligible level in 1975. Due to various promotional schemes introduced by the Government of India and states like Maharashtra, area under drip method of irrigation has increased. Table 1.3 presents statewise area under drip method of irrigation for three time points: 1991-92, 1997-98 and 2000-01. It is evident from the table that drip irrigated area has


Introduction

9

Table 1.3 State-wise area under drip irrigation

State 1991-92

Maharashtra Karnataka Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh Gujarat

Kerala Orissa Haryana Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh Punjab Other States

32.92 11.41 5.36 11.59 3.56 3.04 0.04 0.012 0.30 10.11 0.02 2.127

70.59 Total (Sources: AFC (1998) and GOI (2004))

Area (‘000 ha) 1997-98

2000-01

122.99 40.800 34.100 26.300 7.000 4.865 2.696 1.900 1.600 1.500 1.100 1.150

160.28 66.30 55.90 36.30 7.60 5.50 1.90 2.02 6.00

246.006

367.70

2.50 1.80 5.40

increased substantially between 1991-92 and 2000-01 in all the states of India. In all three time points, Maharashtra state alone accounted for nearly 50 percent of India’s total drip irrigated area followed by Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Over the last ten years, significant growth has been achieved in area under drip method of irrigation in absolute term in many states. According to the information, the area under drip irrigation estimated to have been increased to about 4.50 lakh hectares, which includes about 3.50 lakh hectares covered under the Government of India Schemes. This estimate is based on the information available from GOI departments, which have been operating subsidy schemes for promoting drip method of irrigation. However, as mentioned in the Report of the Task Force on Microirrigation, a large number of institutions, commercial organisations, universities, large public/private sector companies, NGOs, etc., have taken up drip irrigation in the country for their farms/ crops, which do not get reflected in the data available with GOI departments. Therefore, approximately, another 100,000 hectares are covered under drip systems by these organisations, whereby the total area under drip irrigation system in the country would be about 500,000 hectares as of March 2003 (Report of Task Force on MI, 2004, pp. 130-131). The estimated area under drip irrigation in different states of India, as on 2010 was 18.97 lakh hectares (Table 1.4). In the late eighties, drip irrigation gained popularity with its inherent advantages like saving water and use in problematic soil (Suryawanshi 1995). Various research experiments were conducted on drip irrigation during this period and people were made aware of its benefits. The farming community usually believes only after personally observing the benefits. Studies conducted in India and abroad have revealed that percentage water saving varies from 39 to 70 per cent and increase in yield is 23 to 45 per cent (Saksena 1995). The nationalized banks give loan on a simple interest of 10 per cent per annum only, under a


10

Drip Irrigation

Table 1.4 The estimated statewise total area under micro-irrigation till 31.03.2010 State Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Manipur Mizoram Nagaland Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal Others Grand Total

Drip (ha) 505205 613 116 301 6360 793 226773 11351 116 208 209471 15885 51712 604440 30 72 0 11046 17925 30047 23460 153437 12636 38 247 15000 1897282

Sprinkler (ha) 255911 0 129 435 95740 582 180572 533740 581 742 385579 3540 143233 295382 0 106 3962 33015 11414 866592 11339 27834

13310 6

150196 30000 3043940

Total (ha) 761116 613 245 736 102100 1375 407345 545091 697 950 595050 19425 194945 899822 30 178 3962 44061 29339 896639 34799 181271 25946 44 150443 45000 4941222

( Source: Progress reports from various State Government as on 31.03.2010)

scheme of National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for promotion of drip irrigation in the country. Government of India is providing 40 per cent financial support to farmers to meet the cost of drip components through a centrally sponsored micro irrigation scheme in the country. Besides this financial support of a minimum of 10% of cost of drip system is also available to the farmers under the scheme. Several states have increased their share from 10 per cent up to 25% for promoting drip irrigation in their states. Drip technology adoption is however, confined to only 12 states and the area is negligibly small in most of the eastern and Northeastern states. Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are some of the states which have taken a lion’s share in drip irrigated area constituting 39.7%, 28% and 24.3% respectively of total area under drip irrigation. In Karnataka and Tamil Nadu coconut is the major crop grown under drip, whereas in Maharashtra, banana, sugarcane and grapes are the major ones. Among the horticultural crops, drip technology is adopted the most in coconut, followed by banana, grapes, mangoes, citrus and pomegranate. Orchards occupy the largest area


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