Impact of Irrigation on Productivity of Land

That irrigation makes a significant difference to productivity of land is obvious enough. There is ample evidence that yield of particular crops per unit area is invariably higher under irrigated than under rainfed cultivation; crop patterns on irrigated land are very different from those on unirrigated land; and irrigated land is generally used more intensively through the year than unirrigated land. Expansion and improvement of irrigation is therefore considered to be the crucial, ‘leading’ input for raising agricultural productivity especially in countries like India where the scope for expansion of cultivation is practically exhausted. It is also generally known that the extent of the difference on these accounts taken individually and collectively is not uniform across space or over time; that it depends on the source of irrigation, the way water is managed, on the quality of seed varieties and level of fertiliser use; and that both the benefits of irrigation and its costs also vary.