Inadequate Access to Irrigation

Currently, about 51% of the agricultural area cultivating food grains is covered by irrigation. The rest of the area is dependent on rainfall (rain-fed agriculture). Sources of irrigation include ground water (wells, tube-wells) and surface water (canals, tanks).

• There is a need to improve the efficiency of water use, especially in agriculture. Irrigation currently consumes about 84% of the total available water in the country.
• Nearly 65% of the irrigated land holdings use ground water sources such as tube wells and wells for irrigation.
• The past few decades has led to an overuse of ground water sources in states, especially those growing water intensive crops such as rice.
• For instance, in Haryana and Rajasthan, 40%-75% of the ground water units are over-exploited, and the situation is worse in Punjab, where 75%-90% of ground water units have been over-exploited.
• Lack of irrigation facility results in low productivity and high risk to production due to erratic rainfall.

Cross-country comparison of water use efficiency shows that India uses 2-3 times the water used to produce one tonne of grain in countries like China, Brazil and USA. This implies that with water use efficiency of those countries India can at least double irrigation coverage or save 50% water currently used in irrigation.