Umesh_Majhi_IIM-Lucknow00002

							                          DETAILS OF THE PROJECT
Organization Name: Water Resource Department, Madhya Pradesh

Project Commencement Date: 6th April, 2011

Project Duration: 2 months




Industry Guide Details:

Mr. Manish Singh (I.A.S)                                  Mr. Amitabh Mishra

Project Director                                          Executive Engineer

World Bank Projects                                       World Bank Projects

MPWRD                                                     MPWRD

Email: project_director_picu@yahoo.co.in




Name of the Student:

Umesh Kumar Majhi

Summer Intern

IIM Lucknow

Email: mag.semu@gmail.com, umesh.majhi@iiml.org
               LIST OF ABBRIVIATIONS
ABBREVIATION        DESCRIPTION


EE                  Executive Engineer


ERR                 Economic Rate of Return


ET                  Evapo-Transpiration


MPWSRP              MP Water Sector Restructuring Project


SDO                 Sub Divisional Officer


WRD                 Water Resource Department


WUA                 Water User Association


WUE                 Water Use Efficiency
                              EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This study focuses on the water use efficiency in the two irrigation projects, Chambal and Harsi in
the north western part of Madhya Pradesh. This study is an attempt to study the various factors
associated with the use of water for the irrigation purposes. Field visits were made to the two sites
to collect the primary research information and the relevant data for water used.

The study focuses specifically on the major losses/wastages of the scheme and the efficiency of
water application, which both are very critical in determining the overall irrigation efficiency of the
scheme.

The conveyance efficiency refers to the amount of water discharged in the cultivated plots to that of
the amount of water discharged at the dam, thereby accounting for the water losses on the way.
This efficiency was calculated as around 65% in Harsi and 91% in Chambal. The difference is
accounted in the lift irrigation and the unlined canal in Harsi. The crop efficiency is the crop yield to
the total water used for the crop. It is difficult to measure for the individual crops due to lack of
measuring devices in the fields for individual crops. It was calculated from the available data to be
around 2 mt per cusec.

The major forms of losses are found to be lift seepage and overflow in the canals. They are mainly
due to the incomplete lining of the canals. These can be greatly reduced by complete lining of the
canals as soon as possible. Lift irrigation by the farmers in the out of command area is one of the
major forms of loss, especially in the Harsi region where it accounts to as high as 25%. Other sources
of loss are evaporation and leakages which cannot be stopped but can be reduced using some
techniques. Other major loss is the excessive use of water by the farmers due to lack of water
assurance. They end-up providing more water to their crops than required which leads to reduction
in yield and overflowing water leading to wastage. Also, farmers don’t practice efficient farming in
their fields which leads to less than optimum productivity. Agricultural department should work
more towards educating farmers and providing them the training and help in loan processing for use
of these farming practices.

Due to these losses/wastages, the water supplied is not sufficient for the farmers of the entire
command area. Water rarely reaches the tail portion of the canal as it is used by those in the head
portion. This leads to head-tail conflict in almost all the irrigation projects. The worst sufferers are
the tail portion farmers who don’t get water for irrigation and has to resort to crops which require
less water and are much more dependent on the rain water. This leads to lesser yield and profits for
them and hence their economical condition doesn’t improve.