Enhancing water productivity in rainfed areas

Abstract

Odisha is an agrarian state. About 66% people depend on agriculture. Agriculture in the state is primarily rainfed dependent. Only about 35% of the cultivated areas in the state is irrigated. Rainfed agriculture in the region is mostly dependent on south-west monsoon. But the rainfall distribution is very uneven and erratic. Onset of monsoon and withdrawal of monsoon are very erratic. In addition, there is frequent occurrence of in-season critical dry spells which hampers the yield of rice seriously. Almost every alternate year or so, there is either flood or drought that affects the yield seriously. The average y2ield of rice in rainfed condition is around 1.5 t/ha whereas the average rice yield under irrigated condition is about 4 t/ha. In rabi season, there is hardly any rainfall. So farmers generally grow only one crop in kharif season and that is mostly rice. In rabi season, hardly any crop is grown in rainfed areas since there is no facility of irrigation and there is scanty rainfall. It is very crucial to enhance the water productivity of crops in this rainfed dependent agriculture. In this paper various opportunities to enhance water productivity of rainfed agriculture are discussed. Scientific water management, farm pond based irrigation management system and irrigation methods including high tech irrigation are discussed in this paper for enhancing water productivity of various crops under rainfed scenario.