Micro irrigation pays: experiences of a comprehensive MI project

Almost 70% of all available freshwater is used for agriculture across the world. In India more than 80% of the renewable water resources are consumed in agriculture alone. Many of the world's most important grain lands are consuming groundwater at unsustainable rates. As we have stepped into the twenty first century, the new frontier is boosting water productivity, getting more from lesser amount of water devoted to crop production.

Government of Andhra Pradesh has launched the Andhra Pradesh Micro Irrigation Project (APMIP) in 2003 to promote this water saving irrigation technology in large scale for sustainable development of agriculture. The major thrust was on to put the 3 million electrified pump sets in the state of Andhra Pradesh into micro irrigation. The project has so far covered more than 1.042 m ha area under micro irrigation systems in 9 years period with capital investment of Rs 31,970 million (US $ 533 million @ Rs 60 per 1 US$), benefiting 0.66 million farmers.

The project has helped in improving the crop productivity, saving in water and energy and creating employment opportunities. The project is contributing to an additional productivity of worth Rs 15,260 million (US $ 254 million) per annum. On annual basis the project is helping in saving of 155.7 TMC of water (1 TMC = 2800 ha m), 593 million kwh of energy. On annual basis every rupee invested in micro irrigation pays Rs 2.4 through additional productivity. The attractive payback period of less than 2 years has influenced the bankers to provide loans to farmers to procure micro irrigation systems. The success of APMIP has led to the introduction of micro irrigation into canal commands under various lift irrigation projects in Andhra Pradesh.