Title: An analysis of groundwater irrigation expansion in India

Authors: Anik Bhaduri; Upali Amarasinghe; Tushaar Shah

Addresses: Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Walter Flex Strasse 3 Bonn 53113, Germany. ' International Water Management Institute (IWMI), National Agriculture Science Center Complex, Pusa, New Delhi 10012, India. ' International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Elecon, Anand Sajitra Road, Vallabh-Vidyanagar, Gujarat 388120, India

Abstract: This paper suggest that groundwater irrigation expansion in India is driven mainly by the population pressure and not necessarily dependent on the change in surface water irrigation. However, in the districts irrigated by Groundwater only, our findings indicate that the marginal effect of groundwater on Gross Irrigated Area (GIA) is lower than that in the district endowed with both surface and groundwater irrigation facilities. In a situation where groundwater irrigation is the dominant form of irrigation, any surface water irrigation project in future would thus facilitate better groundwater utilisation and help in increasing the land-use intensification.

Keywords: groundwater irrigation; GIA; gross irrigated areas; irrigated land use intensification; India; surface water irrigation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEWM.2012.046399

International Journal of Environment and Waste Management, 2012 Vol.9 No.3/4, pp.372 - 387

Published online: 13 Dec 2014 *

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