State of Development and Adoption of Micro Irrigation Systems in Gujarat

The pronounced decline in groundwater-level in Gujarat has been a major cause of social divide, as only wealthy farmers were able to meet the increased groundwater drilling and pumping costs in earlier decades of agricultural development. Though water saving technologies in the form of micro irrigation systems (MIS) was reckoned as a long-term strategy to address problems of groundwater scarcity, the wide-scale promotion of the same met with setbacks initially, as MISs were capital intensive in nature and hence, unaffordable for smallholders. However, the scenario had undergone significant change over the past two decades in particular, with MISs becoming less sophisticated and less capital intensive and thus leading to a significant increase in its adoption in Gujarat and other states. In this background, the Chapter presents an overview of the status of adoption of MIS and its socio-economic impacts on agriculture as well as water sector in the state of Gujarat. A major concern that the Chapter puts forth is ‘whether and (if so) how far the MIS interventions in the form of sprinklers and drips would create positive outcomes by reducing the overdraft of groundwater for agriculture purposes in the state?'. The chapter also presents the results of a rapid assessment of the impacts of the MIS in the Banaskantha district covering a sample of 375 farmers who have adopted the MIS implemented by the GWRDC, an agency set up by the state government for promotion of MIS and other water management interventions.