Agriculture and Irrigation in India—Trends and Turning Points

India’s ultimate irrigation potential is about 139.9 million hectares (m·ha) and the irrigation potential created (up to the Eleventh Plan period) is about 113.53 m·ha (81.16%). The total annual replenishable water supply is about 1122 billion cubic metres (bcm) and the annual reliable supply will be only 744 bcm. The future water demand is projected as 910 bcm in 2025 and 1072 bcm in 2050. Major problems in Indian water sector include low irrigation project efficiency (36%), overexploitation of groundwater (up to 30% including critical and semi-critical areas), declining tank irrigation (about 50%), less coverage under micro irrigation (17.4%), poor technology adoption (8–10%), low wastewater treatments and reuse (26%), reduction in water supplies and increasing crop demand due to climate change, less focus on water management in hill ecosystems, use of old crop water requirement data for water planning, poor cost recovery, inappropriate subsidy calculations, weak institutional and governance structure. Appropriate interventions to sustain the irrigation sector are discussed in this chapter.