Sustainable Agricultural Development through Lift irrigation in Andhra Pradesh

The study has presented the impact of irrigation on the degree of farm intensification and the level of inputs used in farms and in turn, the difference in farm income. The primary data for the study were collected from 300 farm households in three villages of Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh. The estimated production function has revealed that fertilizer was the most important input. The output elasticity of fertilizer was very high in the irrigated farms compared to in dryland farms. After fertilizer, the elasticity coefficient of human labour was higher in the irrigated farms than in dryland farms. This study has also observed that output was highly responsive to expenditure on pesticides in irrigated farms. The elasticity coefficient with respect to seeds was found higher in irrigated farms and negative in dryland farms. The study has concluded that the impact of irrigation on factor productivity is significantly high in the irrigated region. Thus, the shift in the factor and product markets and its impact on employment and income will have a multiplier effect on poverty alleviation due to irrigation.