aICAR-National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP), New Delhi-110012
bDr Rajendra Prasad Central Agricultural University, Samastipur, Pusa, Bihar
Online published on 5 December, 2018.
Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Haryana (HR) states have well-structured and established canal networks and have more than 80% of area under irrigation. The tube well installation is taking place at an alarming rate due to number of factors such as more reliable source of irrigation water, subsidized electricity, fragmentation of land holdings, and irregular supply of canal water. Increased tube well dependency leads to increase in the cost of production which leaves very little margin for the farmers. This study aimed at identifying the major factors which motivate farmers to invest in Groundwater Extraction Mechanism (GEM). For studying this, two districts viz. Rohtak and Saharanpur, one each from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were selected. Then two blocks and two villages from each district falling under the canal command areas were randomly selected. Total 604 respondents were surveyed within the canal Warabandi system. The concentration of GEM was calculated and found that cultivated land/tube well ratio was 1.31 in UP where as this ratio was nearly 6 times higher for HR (8.4). Descriptive study of socio-economic characteristics indicated that there was significant difference in both the states. The logistic regression model was employed to analyse the data. It was observed that UP farmers are faster to install tube well compared to HR farmers. The experience in agriculture of head of household did not turn to be significant. However, education status was found to be significant at 10% level of significance. This has indicated that educated farmers are most likely to invest towards groundwater extraction mechanism. Similarly, distance of field from the canal and agriculture as main occupation turned out to be positive and significant indicating that farmers who are far off from canal channels (tail enders) likely to have their own source of irrigation as compared to those who are located at head end. The farm size was found to be highly significant at 1% level of significance and indicating that large farmers are more likely to invest in tube well. The accessibility to credit encourages such investment as this explanatory variable was also significant. Other variables viz., free electricity, subsidies on tube wells, price of fuel were not found to be significant.
