Micro irrigation for sustainable agriculture: a brief review

The decreasing availability of water to agriculture sector has become a serious limitation in many areas, particularly in South East Asia. The share of water for agriculture is expected to reduce further with the increasing demand from other sectors. This necessitates efficient use of water and nutrients to enhance crop productivity. To counter the deficit without missing the production targets, adoption of micro-irrigation system in India is being considered as a potential alternative. There is also a strong need to try out these technologies in more crops. At present, more than 60 percent of the area under drip irrigation can be attributed to orchids and plantation crops. The challenge lies in popularising these technologies in major crops such as wheat, mustard, potato, cotton, alfalfa etc. One of the ways of doing this is through finding out the environmental and economic benefits of these technologies in saving water, fuel, power and fertiliser. This paper deals with the potential of micro-irrigation as an emerging tool for sustainable agriculture in India.