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| J&K's micro-irrigation report card dismal, schemes too general: PCI | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Feb 9: Economic analysis of micro irrigation in Jammu and Kashmir has revealed that generalization needs to be avoided while formulation strategies and policies pertaining to Micro-irrigation.
This has been stated by Planning Commission of India in its report on micro-irrigation which has been released recently. The report says that although the technique is suitable for all kind of lands, but its adoption varied from region to region, depending upon its natural endowments.
The wide variation across Jammu and Kashmir was predominant in three areas/zones, namely, water scarce areas, water scarce areas with undulating topography and sandy soils and water sufficient areas. Classification was done by identifying the maximum number of the districts within the state, which aptly represents one of the 3 zones.
Overall, four parts of the state belonging to the 'water scarce areas' recorded relatively higher area coverage under both the drip and sprinkler irrigation systems than the other states. The findings suggest that the technique was highly acceptable in areas experiencing chronic water deficit and over exploitation of groundwater.
The popularity of the micro-irrigation was very high in Zone II (water scarce areas with undulating topography & sandy soils), where the topography and soil-characteristics restrict the use of conventional irrigation systems. Rajasthan recorded highest area coverage under the sprinkler irrigation system, because of which the overall ranking of the State, in terms of the total area coverage under both drip and sprinkler systems, improved remarkably and stood at the fourth position among the sample states.
J&K, too, has covered a significant proportion (21681 ha) under sprinkler systems, but in the other Micro Irrigation Schemes. Therefore, looking at the combined performance of Evaluation of Micro Irrigation Scheme 88 Haryana across all MI Schemes, the overall ranking shows marked increase in areas coverage. As regards the water sufficient areas, comprising of Punjab, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the area coverage under the Scheme was found to be very low.
This justifies that adequate availability of irrigation supplies with free or flat rate of electricity tariff impedes the use of modern techniques in these areas. Regarding proportion of drip irrigation under MI Scheme, Andhra Pradesh stands highest by covering 38% area (cumulative of area covered under drip in all 10 States), followed by Maharashtra (28%), Gujarat (13%) and J&K (12%).
These 4 States covered more than nine-tenth of the total area across 10 States, under drip irrigation system. Chhattisgarh (0.4%), Odisha (0.7%), Haryana (1%), Punjab (1.3%), Rajasthan (2%) and Madhya Pradesh (4%) emerged as the states covering insignificant proportions under the MI scheme. Only the states of Punjab and Andhra Pradesh were found to have prepared the five-year Perspective Plans for next 5 years.
Amongst the different models of Implementing Agencies across the ten sample states, it is noteworthy that Jammu and Kashmir presents a replicable model in terms of achieving physical and financial targets. The State occupies one-fourth of the total area (cumulative of the ten states) covered under the Micro Irrigation Scheme.
Amongst the sample states, Gujarat has evolved a replicable model of a multistage,
multi-level monitoring process. This included a third-party audit of the installed MI systems, an overall appraisal of the performance of the third-party agencies involved in the said audits by the State Agricultural Universities, and an assessment of the quality of the manufactured MI components at the factory sites themselves. Besides, the State has appointed the Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) to carry out the concurrent monitoring & evaluation of the scheme.
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