Initiatives in Agriculture being taken to promote More

Crop Per Drop

Between 1991 and 2007 the country invested over INR 2.55 lakh crore in public
canal systemsfive times the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY)
budget. Yet, the canal-irrigated area decreased by 38 lakh hectares. Similarly,
even after decades of 50-90% subsidy, micro-irrigation (MIS) covers less than 5%
of Indias cultivated area.
In the recent budget; PMKSY has been strengthened and will be now be
implemented in mission mode. It is estimated that 28.5 lakh hectares additional
area will now be brought under irrigation under this Scheme.
PMKSY has been formulated amalgamating ongoing schemes viz. Accelerated
Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) of the Ministry of Water Resources, River
Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR), Integrated Watershed
Management Programme (IWMP) of Department of Land Resources (DoLR) and
the On Farm Water Management (OFWM) of Department of Agriculture and
Cooperation (DAC). PMKSY has been approved for implementation across the
country with an outlay of Rs. 50,000 crore in five years. For 2015-16, an outlay of
Rs.5300 crore has been made which includes Rs. 1800 crore for DAC; Rs. 1500
crore for DoLR; Rs. 2000 crore for MoWR(Rs. 1000 crore for AIBP; Rs. 1000 crores
for PMKSY).
Water conservation and water management is the new mantra of the
government. To this effect PMKSY has been formulated with the vision of
extending the coverage of irrigation Har Khet ko pani and improving water
use efficiency More crop per drop' in a focused manner with end to end
solution on source creation, distribution, management, field application and
extension activities.
A dedicated Long Term Irrigation Fund is being created in NABARD with an initial
corpus of about INR 20,000 crore. A major program for sustainable management
of ground water resources is being prepared with an estimated cost of INR 6,000
crore and proposed for multilateral funding agencies.

Way forward
Solar pumps: Rapidly declining cost of solar panels offers yet another
opportunity to make irrigation more affordable to farmers. IFPRI research in Bihar
shows that solar pumps led to increase in crop yields and cropping intensity, and
allowed farmers to successfully grow paddy even in a drought year. In Rajasthan,
solar pumps helped fruit-growers reduce cost of irrigation, improve product
quality and earn higher returns from agriculture. Like micro-irrigation, state
governments are smothering the spread of solar pumps also by ill-designed
subsidy schemes. Rather than high subsidies, public policy should focus more on

innovative financing mechanisms to promote adoption of this technology in

agriculture.
MGNREGA: At least 5 lakh farm ponds and dug wells in rain fed areas and 10
lakh compost pits for production of organic manure will be taken up by making
use of allocations under MGNREGA.