Since independence, there has been a rapid expansion of irrigation infrastructure. Despite the large-scale expansion, only about one third of total cropped area is irrigated today (two third of cropped areas is still dependent upon monsoon). Agriculture in India even today continues to be vulnerable to the vagaries of weather because close to 52% (73.2 million hectares area of 141.4 million hectares net sown area) of it is still un-irrigated and rain-fed.
Recent Developments Accelerated Irrigated Benefits Programme Starts Showing Results The Government had, in 2016, embarked on a mission to complete all unfinished major and medium irrigation projects – some of these languishing for decades – under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP). Two years on – the mission was announced in the Union Budget presented on February 29, 2016 – the progress has been quite impressive, going by the information made available by the Ministry of Water Resources. Irrigation Status
Long-Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF)
More Crop Per Drop
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Impact of Weather on Agriculture Productivity
How Rise in Temperature Impacts Agriculture: In a year where temperatures are 1-degree Celsius higher farmer incomes would fall by 6.2% during the kharif season and 6% during rabi in unirrigated districts. Similarly, in a year when rainfall levels were 100 millimetres less than average, farmer incomes would fall by 15% during kharif and by 7% during the rabi season.
The monsoonal rainfall in India is concentrated only in four months and more than 50% of the net sown area is rain-fed only. Only 48.3% of land is irrigated throughout the country. Irrigation is thus essential to overcome spatial and temporal variation of rainfall. Irrigation in India is mainly classified into: