• Two major problems India’s farmers face during summer are a reduced supply of electricity for pump sets and scarcity of water for irrigation.
• Farmers cultivating high-value crops such as bananas, sugarcane, cotton, paddy, etc., using groundwater are unable to supply water adequately to crops due to frequent load-shedding.
• This leads to crop losses on many occasions.
• Studies show that crop cultivation can be done profitably by adopting drip irrigation even in periods of water scarcity and load-shedding.

Benefits of Drip Irrigation over Conventional Flood Method

• Drip Irrigation is a different method for growing crops profitably while saving resources.
• Less water and energy are required compared to the flood method.
• Reduced time for irrigation per hectare due to the flood method’s high evaporation, conveyance & distribution losses.
• Water delivery via a pipe/emitter system direct to the plant''s root zone prevents water waste.
• Yield increase potential of 30-70% in comparison to the flood method.

Example:

• An acre of sugarcane or banana crop needs only one hour for each turn of irrigation by the drip method.
• Same crops require 10-15 hours to irrigate using the flood method, because of which the consumption of both power and water increases.

Key findings of the Studies on drip irrigation

• Agriculture Ministry’s study shows about 1,065 kWh of electricity per hectare can be saved by adopting the drip method in sugarcane cultivation.
• 2014 study by the Agriculture Ministry, covering 13 States, reveals drip irrigation can increase crop yield by 42-53 %, reduce irrigation costs by 20-50 % and fertilizer use by 7-43 %.
• Using the drip method, farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu are growing various crops profitably even under highly deficient water and power situations.
• Research shows that most farmers in Jalgaon, Maharashtra, who are cultivating cotton, banana, onion and other crops have switched to drip irrigation due to severe power cuts.

Report of the Task Force on Micro-Irrigation:

• It was set up by the Central Government in 2004.
• It states that water and electricity can be saved to a large extent by increasing the area under drip irrigation.

Government efforts in promoting drip irrigation

• Centre has been promoting drip irrigation since 1990-91 by providing a 50-100 % subsidy on the capital cost to farmers adopting it.
• To achieve the goal of ‘more crop per drop’, the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana was launched in 2015, with a higher allocation of funds to increase the area under drip irrigation.
• As a result, the area under drip has increased from just 70,589 hectares in 1991-92 to 63.21 lakh hectares in 2020-21.
• Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, among other States, have announced various schemes with hefty subsidies to popularise this irrigation system among the farmers.
• But India’s drip irrigated area was only 6 % of the total irrigated area in 2020-21.

Reasons for the shift to Drip Irrigation:

• Besides horticultural crops, more than 80 crops including cotton, groundnut, sugarcane, banana, and tur can be cultivated through drip irrigation.
• Task Force estimated that 270 lakh hectares of cultivated land are suitable for drip irrigation.
• Number of blocks facing groundwater risk has increased from 1,645 in 2004 to 2,538 in 2020 due to over-exploitation.
• The main reason for this is the cultivation of water-intensive crops such as sugarcane, banana, wheat and vegetables through the flooding method.

Suggestions:

• Measures should be taken to gradually bring sugarcane cultivation entirely under drip with the support of sugarcane mills.
• Government should guarantee interest-free bank loans and immediate electricity connection for pump sets to farmers cultivating only through drip irrigation.

There are reports that a rapidly changing climate may cause changes in rainfall and increase water scarcity. The sooner a larger area is brought under drip irrigation the faster can the goal of ‘more output per drop of water’ be achieved.