Irrigation

The process of supplying water to crops by artificial means such as canals, tube wells, tanks, etc. is known as irrigation. In greater part of India, agriculture is rain-fed. In the incidence of failure of monsoon, the crop fails. The behaviour of Indian monsoon is highly erratic. Excess rainfall may cause floods, but scanty rainfall may reduce the crop yield substantially, and in acute cases the crop may be a complete failure. This problem may be solved by increasing the irrigated area in the country. Irrigation helps in bringing the new area under cultivation on the one hand, and increases the double and multiple cropping on the other.

Moreover, the per hectare yield of the irrigated area is much higher to that of the unirrigated areas. About 84 per cent of the water resources of India is used for irrigation. The irrigation potential of India is about 102 million hectares of the total potential created, however, only about 87 million hectares is actually utilized (India 2010, pp.998-1002).