What do you understand by Micro-irrigation? Discuss its importance to a country like India.

Irrigated land in India accounts for nearly 49% of the total agricultural land. And the remaining 51% is rainfed and don’t have any irrigation Infrastructure.

Micro-irrigation

Micro-irrigation is a type of irrigation process with lower pressure and flow than a traditional sprinkle system. It is used in agriculture for row crops,  horticulture in wholesale nurseries, orchards. It minimizes the surface runoff of the soil and more absorption of water.

Benefits

• Technological, operational cost is less compared to the conventional method of irrigation.
• Speedy project implementation is possible for this kind of irrigation.
• In the case of the unavailability of labor, a special technological mechanism could be implemented.
• The water absorption rate is higher for slow action.
• The salinity of the soil gets reduced and thus protects the plant by reducing the salt content of the soil.
• It ensures an evenly distributed distribution of chemical fertilizers.
• It helps to save fertilizer consumption per unit area of land.

Government’s approach

The Government of India has been implementing the Micro Irrigation scheme that is sponsored by the central government. Their aim is to enhance the efficiency of water use in the agriculture sector by the promotion of appropriate technological needs like drip & sprinkler irrigation technologies. It will encourage the farmers to be associated with the agriculture sector for the long term and also promote water saving and conservation technologies.

Comments

It is proved that through the promotion of drip irrigation and a collaborative approach toward reducing India’s water problems will be an effective solution.  Multiple collaborative efforts directly help the people as it is more efficient than flood irrigation, conservation of water is possible, and controlled water irrigation ultimately saves resources and increases profits. More adoption of this kind of irrigation technique by farmers will enhance India’s whole irrigation system.