Most agriculture in India is rain-fed, that is, the success of crops in most areas is dependent on timely monsoons and sufficient rainfall spread through most of the growing season. Hence, poor monsoons cause crop failure. Ensuring that the crops get water at the right stages during their growing season can increase the expected yields of any crop.
Therefore, many measures are used to bring more and more agricultural land under irrigation.
India has a wide variety of water resources and a highly varied climate. Under such conditions, several different kinds of irrigation systems are adopted to supply water to agricultural lands depending on the kinds of water resources available. These include wells, canals, rivers and tanks.
• Wells: There are two types of wells, namely dug wells and tube wells. In a dug well, water is collected from water bearing strata. Tube wells can tap water from the deeper strata. From these wells, water is lifted by pumps for irrigation.
• Canals: This is usually an elaborate and extensive irrigation system. In this system canals receive water from one or more reservoirs or from rivers. The main canal is divided into branch canals having further distributaries to irrigate fields.
• River Lift Systems: In areas where canal flow is insufficient or irregular due to inadequate reservoir release, the lift system is more rational. Water
is directly drawn from the rivers for supplementing irrigation in areas close to rivers.
• Tanks: These are small storage reservoirs, which intercept and store the run-off of smaller catchment areas.
CONCLUSION : Fresh initiatives for increasing the water available for agriculture include rainwater harvesting and watershed management. This involves building small check-dams which lead to an increase in ground water levels. The check-dams stop the rainwater from flowing away and also reduce soil erosion.