Irrigation Water Management for Agricultural Development in Uttar Pradesh, India

389 Pages·2019·12.28 MB·English

by  Suman Lata

Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research
Suman Lata
Irrigation Water
Management
for Agricultural
Development in Uttar
Pradesh, India
Advances in Asian Human-Environmental
Research
Series Editor
Prof. Marcus Nüsser, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Editorial Board
Prof. Eckart Ehlers, University of Bonn, Germany
Prof. Harjit Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
Prof. Hermann Kreutzmann, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Prof. Kenneth Hewitt, Waterloo University, Canada
Prof. Urs Wiesmann, University of Bern, Switzerland
Prof. Sarah J. Halvorson, University of Montana, USA
Dr. Daanish Mustafa, King’s College London, UK
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More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/8560
Suman Lata
Irrigation Water Management
for Agricultural Development
in Uttar Pradesh, India
Suman Lata
Department of Geography
Ramdayalu Singh College, Babasaheb Bhimrao
Ambedkar Bihar University
Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India
ISSN 1879-7180 ISSN 1879-7199 (electronic)
Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research
ISBN 978-3-030-00951-9 ISBN 978-3-030-00952-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00952-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018959847
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Foreword
Introduction of high-yielding varieties (HYV) of seeds, use of chemical fertilizers,
and irrigation since the mid-1960s of the last century is known collectively as a
phase of Green Revolution in India that led fivefold increase in food crop produc-
tion and helped in achieving self-sufficiency in food deficit areas and also met food
requirements in other areas. Green Revolution brought substantial changes in land
use and cropping pattern and increased the yield of crops per unit area and thus
helped to raise income levels and standard of living of farming communities living
in different parts of the country. Provision of assured irrigation in the adoption of
HYV of seeds and fertilizers use has always remained of prime importance.
Irrigation has always been a crucial demand for agriculture and more prominent
during dry period and to supplement the water needs during low rainfall in monsoon
season. This book written by Dr. Suman Lata discusses the scenario of irrigation
development and subsequent changes that have taken place during the last two
decades in the state of Uttar Pradesh of India. The book draws attention of readers
to the prominent problem of fresh water and its management for agriculture in the
state.
This book also deals with micro-irrigation methods (drip and sprinkler) as most
efficient, as they enable water to reach at the root zone of crops through a network
of pipes fitted with emitters. This device if adopted can increase crop productivity
with less amount of water used, can save the electricity used, and can enhance the
fertilizer use efficiency. It promotes precision farming, restricts the problem of
water logging, minimizes pest’s infection, and helps in maintaining water table lev-
els. The universality of its application can benefit vast tracts of wastelands, arid
lands, and saline lands in hilly area production.
The study has been meticulously done by considering all aspects of agricultural
development, mainly with reference to sources of irrigation, irrigation intensity,
water productivity, and patterns of irrigation and its growth.
v
vi Foreword
Dr. Lata’s efforts can well be appreciated as she worked out the composite index
of agricultural productivity and a composite index of irrigation, and thus, she has
arrived to establish a close relation between agricultural productivity and irrigation
development in the districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh.
The work presented in this book is of great importance in agricultural geography.
It is a model study in applied geography and shall be useful for economists and
planners.
Ex-Chairman, Department of Geography Hifzur Rahman
Aligarh Muslim University,
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Preface
The success of agriculture through irrigation has large implications on the reduction
of poverty and maintenance of food security in a nation. With the increase in popu-
lation, the per capita availability of land is decreasing, making it essential to improve
the productivity to meet the increased demand for basic necessities like food, fod-
der, fuel, and fibre. Usefulness and importance of irrigation can be appreciated by
the fact that without irrigation, it would have been impossible for India to have
become self-sufficient in food with such huge population to feed. Irrigation is
responsible for about 55% of food production in India. This book aims to study dif-
ferent irrigation sources along with water use in crop production and its manage-
ment for agricultural development in the Uttar Pradesh state of India. In this context,
we are looking for a path to achieve sustainable agriculture development. Uttar
Pradesh is the most populous state in the country and lies in the most fertile Indo-
Gangetic Plain. It supports 199 million population of the state. The state contributes
a major share to agriculture production in the country. This book takes a close look
at the patterns of water supply by various methods of irrigation in the state during
20 years period from 1995–1996 to 2014–2015. It points out to a most promising
question of nowadays continuous decrease in the surface water resources which has
put an enormous pressure on groundwater resources of the state; as a result, through-
out the regions, groundwater tables are declining. Groundwater irrigation in the
state is mainly provided from tubewells, which are owned both privately and by the
state. It has also observed that tubewell-irrigated farms performed better compared
to those irrigated by other sources in terms of cropping intensity, input use, and
yields. This study attempts to compare growth trends in area irrigated by major
irrigation sources along with area, production, and yield of crops by taking quin-
quennial (5 years) averages of data for all the districts for four periods of time, viz.
1995–2000, 2000–2005, 2005–2010, and 2010–2015. Cropping intensity which is
one of the factors of intensive agriculture in the state was also discussed by the
author to make a glimpse of the present agriculture scenario in the state. It incorpo-
rates crop rankings for all the districts, and the crop-combination regions were
demarcated, applying Doi’ s (1957) method in order to suggest the most suitable
combination for the districts to obtain the maximum profit. The study measures crop
vii
viii Preface
productivity of major crops, namely, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and cash crops, and
delineated crop productivity regions using Yang’s (1965) ‘Crop Yield Index’
method. The study also emphasizes on the water management issues so as to opti-
mize the crop yields and attempts to calculate water productivity (WP) of four major
crops in order to increase WP of crops in low productivity regions of the state. This
work also presents a correlation between irrigation development and agriculture
development in the state.
This book will benefit those who are working in the discipline of agriculture. It
will attract the researchers focussing on irrigation water management aspect. This
book is meant to give the reader a holistic view on the importance of irrigation in
crop cultivation and to get higher yields with developed irrigation and suggest eco-
logically sound practices that help to develop and manage water resources.
The entire work presented in this book has been divided into Seven chapters.
Chapter 1 describes the research problem, data sources and methodology used in this
study. Chapter 2 deals with the general description of the physical and socio-eco-
nomic profile of Uttar Pradesh. The third chapter deals with the conceptual frame-
work of irrigation water supply more specifically surface and groundwater sources in
the state. It elaborates an understanding of the history of the development of irriga-
tion in the state during different periods of time. It also discusses the various methods
of management of irrigation water using the micro-i rrigation devices for crop culti-
vation. This chapter also includes the review of literature collected from many stud-
ies, emphasizing the role of irrigation in agriculture development and its management
to increase the productivity of water used in agriculture sector. The fourth chapter is
devoted to deal with the patterns of water supply and trends of growth in the irrigated
area by various sources and for the irrigated cropped area in the state. This chapter
also includes the intensity of irrigation and levels of irrigation development in the
state on the basis of some selected variables. Chapter 5 focusses on spatio-temporal
variations in agricultural land use patterns, including crop-c ombination regions and
cropping intensity. In Chap. 6, agricultural productivity regions based on major cat-
egories of crops, viz. cereals, pulses, oilseeds, and cash crops, and composite pro-
ductivity by aggregating all crops were computed by applying Yang’s Crop Yield
Index method. Water requirements of crops during crop growth period as well as
water productivity of four major crops of wheat, rice, maize, and sugarcane were
computed for all the districts of the state during triennial ending years 2001 and
2011. Further, this chapter discusses the scope for increasing water productivity of
these crops using minimum water to get higher yields in the state. An attempt to
compute the levels of agricultural development in the state using 21 variables was
also made, and the author has tried to establish the relationship among the variables
of irrigation development with the variables of agricultural development, and results
are presented in Chap. 7. Conclusion and suggestions to the research problem find its
place at the end of the book, followed by a bibliography.
Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India Suman Lata
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 Significance and Scope of the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 Data Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.4 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 Study Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2 Profile of the Study Area: Uttar Pradesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1 Physical Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.1 Administrative Set Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.1.2 Structure and Relief . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.1.3 Drainage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.1.4 Climate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.1.5 Soils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
2.1.6 Groundwater Resource Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.1.7 Natural Vegetation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
2.1.8 Fauna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
2.2 Socio–economic Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.2.1 Population . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.2.2 Literacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
2.2.3 Size and Structure of Operational Land Holdings . . . . . . . . 44
2.2.4 Occupational Structure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3 Sources of Irrigation: A Theoretical Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1 Irrigation Development: A Historical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.1 Irrigation Development in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
3.1.2 Irrigation Development in Uttar Pradesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
3.1.3 Irrigation Development in India During
Five Year Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
3.2 Sources of Irrigation Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
ix