S12 - Session P2 - Strategic approaches for enhancing water productivity in horticulture

Authors: Harishchandra Prasad Singh *, Jai Singh Parihar

Among various resources, water is most critical and many countries are already in scarcity zone. In India water availability of is only 1453 m3, against 1700 m3/ person recommended. Continued increase in food demand with rising population calls for improving the ability to produce more nutritious food with less water. Water productivity is usually estimated as the amount of horticultural output per unit water consumed, be it in physical or economic term. Nevertheless, better water productivity has to be achieved by plant factor and land factor management strategies. Plant factor includes varieties, seeds and planting material, production system management, pest and disease control alongwith management of produce, or value chain management. Field factors are soil heath and water management. Micro-irrigation maximises synergistic interactions of improved cultivars, water and fertiliser, leading to congruence of sustainability, productivity, profitability and equity. Horticulture has much to gain for meeting the challenge of enhancing production with declining land and water by adopting efficient techniques for high water productivity. Micro irrigation and fertigation experiments on more than 50 horticultural crops have demonstrated savings of 40-50 percent in water, 30-50 percent in fertiliser, 50-100 percent enhancement in yield, besides improving quality of produce and containing incidence of diseases. At present, India has about 12.5 million hectares under micro-irrigation with a plan to raise it to 69 million hectares by 2050. Institutional support system linked with public and private enterprise and concerted efforts with identified destination involving all the stakeholders keeping the technology at driving seat and farmers as center of attention is bound to result in faster and inclusive growth with the policy of per drop more crop, to achieve highest productivity of water. There is success story across the country for enhancing water productivity and farmers' income across the country. The concept of source to root in PPP mode has gained popularity The paper deals with strategic approaches for enhancing water productivity in horticulture with emphasis on micro-irrigation.