Water Management in Agriculture: Issues and Strategies in India

Water the critical resource of agriculture, has not been well managed in India, despite the country being an agricultural powerhouse. It has some 195 MH of land under cultivation of which some 62 per cent is rain-fed and 37 per cent, irrigated. Agriculture uses 85 per cent of the water resources with low efficiency. The rain-fed area is the critical area of cultivation with the largest concentration of rural poverty spanning several agro ecological regions. Water management is related to three important challenges in the agricultural front today namely raising productivity per unit of land, reducing poverty, and responding to food security needs. In the light of the new call to achieve “more crop per drop”, this paper discusses pertinent issues related to irrigation in India and the strategies and arrangements to address water scarcity for irrigation. The study finds that problems are largely institutional, structural, and administrative. Overcoming them is crucial for agricultural development in general and water management in particular.