Agriculture land under irrigation needs to be enhanced: PHD

Area under irrigation in the country is need to be enhanced to mitigate the impact of deficit rainfall and for increasing the productivity, an industry body said in its paper on agriculture.
Monsoon in India continues to influence crop production as merely 45 per cent of India's net cropped area is irrigated. The IMD has predicted below normal rainfall during the 2014 southwest monsoon, according to the study titled 'Agronomics 2014' by PHD chamber.
"At this juncture, government must adopt effective measures to enhance the efficiency of irrigation as it is one of the very important factors to increase the crop yield," the study said.

The south-west (June to September )monsoon accounts for nearly 75 per cent of total annual rainfall and therefore nearly 60 per cent of total foodgrains being sown in kharif season, it added.
Irrigation has been integral part of our monsoon dependent agriculture and the aggravating groundwater crisis in most of the regions of the country, needs proper consideration from the government, the study pointed.
"It is necessary to identify ways to radically enhance the productivity of irrigation through appropriate institutional reforms, incentive environment and better management in coming times," the study said.
The study was released in presence of IMD's Head of Agromet Services K K Singh, Vice President NABARD Consultancy Services Arun M Tallur and Vice President PHD Chamber Mahesh Gupta.