Agricultural Economics Research Review

UGC CARE (Group 1)
  • Year: 2009
  • Volume: 22
  • Issue: 1

Extent of Groundwater Extraction and Irrigation Efficiency on Farms under Different Water-market Regimes in Central Uttar Pradesh

  • Author:
  • S.K. Srivastava1,, Ranjit Kumar2, R.P. Singh1
  • Total Page Count: 11
  • DOI:
  • Page Number: 87 to 97

1Division of Agricultural Economics, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi - 110 012.

2Indian Institute of Soil Science, Bhopal - 462 038, Madhya Pradesh.

*Author for correspondence: E-mail: shivendraiari@gmail.com

Note: This paper is a part of the output from the M.Sc. thesis entitled, “Groundwater Use Efficiency and Pricing Mechanism in Central Plain Zone of Uttar Pradesh” submitted by the first author under the Chairmanship of second author at P.G. School, IARI, New Delhi in 2007. An earlier version of this paper was presented at ‘International Groundwater Conference on Groundwater Dynamics and Global Change’ in Jaipur during 19–22 March, 2008.

Abstract

Tube-well irrigation, through modern water extraction mechanisms (WEMs), has been vital to food security and sustainable livelihoods in India. However, due to skewed distribution of WEMs towards large farmers on account of huge investment needs, small and marginal farmers have to rely on owners of WEMs for irrigation water. This has resulted in the emergence of informal water markets. The present study has examined the groundwater extraction and water-use efficiency under different water-market regimes in the Central Plain Zone (CPZ) of Uttar Pradesh, where water-intensive cropping pattern is followed. The study is based on the primary data collected from 100 farmer-households of Central Plain Zone in the year 2007. Most of the farmers in the study domain are small and marginal, having less than 2 ha land. These resource-poor farmers buy water from the WEM-owners. Thus, groundwater market has been found to provide them easy accessibility to irrigation water and helps them in realizing better yields. The popularity of water-intensive crops, such as paddy, wheat and sugarcane, is responsible for the depleting groundwater tables in the region. Estimates of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) have shown that both buyers and owners of WEMs are technically inefficient in water-use, as the actual use of irrigation water has been found much higher than the optimum level. However, ‘Buyers have been found comparatively more efficient than ‘Owners’ in water utilization. Over exploitation of groundwater resources raises concerns about the future sustainability of agriculture. It is, therefore, becoming increasingly important that groundwater is used efficiently and groundwater market can emerge as a better tool for improving the efficiency of irrigation water across farm-sizes and crops. Based on the results, the study has made some policy suggestions also for an equitable and sustainable development of agriculture in the region.