![Assam Irrigation management in potato, Bhetagaon, District Chirang, Assam](http://www.theindiapost.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Assam.jpg)
By : Sanjay Kumar : The Farmers Participatory Action Research Programme (FPARP) has been initiated by the Ministry of Water Resources during 2007-08 kharif seasons onwards in the irrigated land of arid, semi-arid, hilly and coastal areas of the country with a view to facilitate demonstration of technologies for achieving the goal of “More crop and income per drop of water”.
Five thousand demonstrations have been initiated throughout the country with the help of Agricultural Universities, ICAR Research Institutes, ICRISAT, WALMIs and NGOs. The selected institutions have been entrusted with the responsibility of organizing these demonstrations jointly with farm families to demonstrate the approved technologies that are available on shelf to increase the agriculture production. FPARP is being implemented by 60 institutes in 25 states covering about 2300 villages in the country.
Each programme covers a minimum of one hectare and is being implemented in a participatory mode, with the farm family having a sense of ownership of the programme. The total cost of Programme sanctioned by the Ministry is Rs. 24.46 crore.
Brief on Water
Water is one of the most important input for sustaining agriculture. In view of increasing demand of water for agriculture and other purposes, there is urgent need for efficient use of water. Due emphasis is required to be laid on both efficiency in use of water through appropriate demand side management and on the efficiency of created facilities for utilisation of water. Traditional irrigation technologies (furrow, border and flood irrigation), which involve water delivery to plants through gravitation usually lead to substantial water losses and limited uniformity in water distribution. Moreover, technological improvements in irrigation systems have also increased production opportunities. It has been observed that modern irrigation technologies particularly sprinkler and drip systems, substantially increase water use efficiency. These technologies have also opened up new opportunities for cultivation of soils with low water-holding capacity (sandy and rock soils) and farming practices on low quality lands and steep slopes.
It is estimated that with 10% increase in the present level of water use efficiency in irrigation projects, an additional 14 M.ha area can be brought under irrigation from the existing irrigation capacities and that in turn would involve only a very moderate investment as compared to the investment that would be required for creating equivalent potential through new schemes.
Technologies
Following are the main technologies relating to improved crop practices, water savings, design of storage structures & farm implements etc, being demonstrated under FPARP:- SRI (System of Rice Intensification) cultivation for paddy crops; Multiple cropping; Improvement of water use efficiency through suitably improved crop rotations; Bio-farming Technology; Propagation of Aqua Culture Activities e.g. Pisciculture. These also include- Crop diversification & multiple use of water; Improved irrigation methods – Micro irrigation methods (Sprinkler/Drip); Water harvesting technologies (Low Cost Micro Rain Water Harvesting Structure; i.e Jalkund, Storage tanks, Percolation tanks, Check dams, Recharging Wells etc); Reclamation of soils through–Drainage/Bio-reclamation; and Soil & Water conservation measures
Impact
Water saving technological interventions were demonstrated on various crops such as paddy, wheat, vegetable cowpea, apple and maize in various States. The performance of these technologies implemented under FPARP were compared with the conventional method of irrigation in terms of percentage increase in water saving and income. Water saving has been indicated in wheat from 20% to 91%, paddy from 22% to 50%, Gram from 22% to 33%, vegetable from 31% to 40%, Groundnut from 15% to 26%, Soyabean 33%, Maize from 8% to 40%, Banana from 40% to 50% and in case of Coconut 65%. Increase in yield for wheat ranged from 7-289 %, paddy from 8-100%, Gram from 10-66 %, vegetable from 10-230%, Groundnut from 16-18 %, Soyabean from 20-34%, Maize from 26-78% and in case of Banana & Coconut 9% and 24% respectively.
FPARP demonstrations have indicated that there is sufficient scope for improving the efficiency of use of irrigation water in a manner that both the productivity and profitability of farmers are enhanced. Modern irrigation technologies, particularly the sprinkler and drip irrigation, increase water use efficiencies for crop production. They have opened up new opportunities for the farmers to shift from low value crops with high water requirements (e.g. cereal) to high value crops with low water requirements such as fruits, vegetables and oil seeds etc.