Long before the British Raj, India was a pioneer in canal irrigation by building dams across rivers. After Independence, considering the importance of canal irrigation, the Central and State governments have been giving increased thrust to its development. Today, India is one of the countries with the largest number of dams and canal irrigated area.
However, due to the sluggish development of canal irrigation in recent times, some researchers and policymakers are not only criticising its poor performance but also saying that the investment in canal irrigation is ‘throwing good money after bad’. Is canal irrigated area really declining in India? Why are there serious criticisms about this form of irrigation?
To alleviate the scarcity of foodgrains experienced during the 1950s and 1960s, huge investments were made by the Central Government to build dams to increase the production of foodgrains through canal irrigation. Of the total investment (₹1,960 crore) made in the First Five-Year Plan (1951-56), more than 85 per cent was spent on major and medium irrigation (MMI) projects alone. Similar emphasis on the construction of dams was placed from the Second to the Eleventh Plan (2007-12).
Till the end of the Eleventh Plan, for which data on investment is available, ₹3,50,892 crore was spent on the construction of MMI projects. This accounts for about 73 per cent of India’s total irrigation investment.
Because of increased investment in MMI projects, the number of large dams increased exponentially from 304 in 1950 to 5,334 in 2019. That is, on an average, about 73 large dams were built each year between 1950 and 2019. The water storage capacity created through MMI projects thus increased from 55 billion cubic meters (BCM) to 304.58 BCM during this period.
The Central Water Commission data shows that the potential created through MMI projects has increased from 97 lakh hectares (lha) in 1951 to 479.70 lha in 2012, an almost five-fold increase.
Canal area
Although there was a slowdown in the growth of canal area after 1990-91, its net irrigated area has increased significantly after Independence, from 82.90 lha in 1950-51 to 159.40 lha in 2018-19. Between 1960-63 and 2016-19, several States have registered impressive growth in canal irrigation. For example, it increased from 89,000 ha to 7.71 lha in Gujarat, from 4.53 lha to 18.55 lha in Madhya Pradesh, from 2.47 lha to 10.52 lha in Maharashtra, from 5.86 lha to 19.87 lha in Rajasthan and in Karnataka, from 2.56 lha to 10.47 lha.
During the same period, however, in States like Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Kerala, the canal irrigated area declined drastically (Figure 1). While Tamil Nadu’s irrigated area decreased from 9.03 lha to 5.84 lha, Punjab’s declined from 21.53 lha to 11.57 lha and Kerala’s from 1.46 lha to 75,000 ha. There is a need to study why the canal area has decreased sharply in these States.
From 82.9 lha in 1950-51, the net canal irrigated area reached a peak of 174.53 lha in 1990-91 (Figure 2). Since then, its irrigated area has not grown much as per the data published by the Ministry of Agriculture. ut, contrary to this, the data released by the Central Water Commission shows that the potential utilised under MMI projects increased from 97.1 lha in 1951 to 382.8 lha in 2018. That is, in 2018, a difference of almost 140 per cent was noticed between the data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Water Commission.
Why is there such a big difference? Generally, when a dam is constructed for irrigation purposes, a notional cropping pattern is prepared to estimate its irrigation potential. Accordingly, in a canal irrigation scheme, only certain crops should be cultivated with a certain percentage of area.
But the notional cropping pattern is seldom followed in most canal command areas in India. Why are the critics of canal irrigation not speaking about this? Importantly, government departments that publish data on net canal irrigated area do not publish gross canal irrigated area regularly. Therefore, a huge difference exists in the published data.
Data problems aside, there are some important reasons for declining canal irrigated area. First, because of fast economic growth and urban agglomeration, especially after 1990-91, the water originally allocated for irrigation purposes has increasingly been diverted to domestic and other requirements.
For example, it is alleged that more water is being taken from Kadakvasala dam to Pune city and from KRS dam to Bengaluru and Mysuru in recent years. In 2013, near Pune, three farmers were killed in police firing for protesting against the excessive withdrawal of water from Bhavna dam to Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation. Although the water withdrawal for domestic and other needs has been increasing every year, no Central ministry publishes data on this. This is one of the main reasons for the declining canal area.
Water-intensive crops
After 1990-91, citing the price and market-related reasons, farmers located in the head-reach of the canals have been increasingly cultivating water-intensive crops like paddy, sugarcane, banana, etc. As a result, farmers located in the tail-end of the canal command area do not get adequate amount of water. Sugar mills are also one of the culprits for declining canal irrigated area.
A report by the World Bank (2002) underlines that sugarcane, which accounts for only 3 per cent of the total cultivated area in Maharashtra, consumes two-thirds of its water. Diverting water by constructing wells illegally near the canal and transporting water through long pipelines to distant fields are taking place increasingly in recent years. These are not accounted for under the canal irrigated area. Don’t the researchers who disparage canal irrigation know this?
There is no denying the fact that the canal irrigation sector faces many problems including low investment efficiency, poor financial recovery and low water use efficiency. But, the sluggish trend in the development of canal irrigation happens mainly due to data problems and violation of notional cropping pattern. Without proper analysis of the data, it is not correct to say that investment in canal irrigation is ‘throwing good money after bad’. Canal and groundwater irrigation are closely related. In the absence of canal irrigation, groundwater recharge may decrease and wells could dry up.
One of the main reasons why canal irrigation is criticised is because there is no proper water accounting method. The introduction of canal water accounting method in Maharashtra in 2000 resulted in a huge increase in water use efficiency. Therefore, the water accounting method should be introduced in all canal command areas, as it will reveal how much water stored in the dams has been used for what purpose, its efficiency and the real status of the canal area.
The writer is a former Full-Time Member (Official), Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, New Delhi