Enhancing water productivity in agriculture with special reference to Andhra Pradesh

Water is inextricably linked with social, economic and environmental health of the world. Further, with demand far exceeding the supply due to competing multiple demands from different sectors of the economy there is an immediate need to prioritise innovative practices, technologies, appropriate policy and institutions to enhance the water use efficiency. In Andhra Pradesh, about 62% of the population is dependent on Agriculture and allied sectors and this sector contributes significantly to the state economy. Although, the state has two major river basins, Krishna and Godavari, despite that about 50% of the area is under rain fed cultivation and dependent on ground water. Keeping this in view, the state government of Andhra Pradesh has taken up a plethora of water conservation measures and several other initiatives for enhancing the water productivity. These includes integrated watershed development programmes, large scale construction of water harvesting structures and plantations under MGNREGS, modernization of existing irrigation canals and distribution systems, participatory irrigation management (PIM) for major and medium irrigation projects and establishment of Andhra Pradesh Micro Irrigation Project (APMIP) as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with institutional framework from state to the district/mandal levels for planning, implementation and monitoring of micro irrigation. The APMIP has been a successful initiative and has helped in increasing the outreach and scaling up adoption of micro irrigation by the farmers in the state. Andhra Pradesh emerged as a leading state in the country in coverage of area under micro irrigation. Further, to ensure optimum utilization of micro irrigation several other initiates were integrated such as a suitable cropping pattern, use of water soluble fertilizer, institutional mechanism for after sales service and maintenance of systems in the field, integration with farm ponds and solar pump and so on and so forth. During last five years the area under micro irrigation increased from 36,000 hac in 2014–15 to more than 2,00,000 hac during 2018–19 under PMKSY (PDMC). In addition, on an average about 10,000 hac per annum is being directly covered by the MI companies as part of their cash & carry business. The findings of monitoring and impact evaluation studies of micro irrigation by independent professional agencies have shown increase in yield/productivity of crops, reduction in the cost of cultivation, increase in crop diversity besides a huge savings in water and energy consumption depending on the crops under cultivation. The micro irrigation has the potentiality to address water scarcity through enhanced water productivity and help in reduction of GHGs responsible for global warming and climate change.