Systems Analysis of Tank Irrigation: I. Crop Staggering

Abstract

The irrigation potential of a tank system, thousands of which are found in South India, depends upon a number of factors other than water availability. These factors are mainly influenced by the agricultural technology adopted, food practices of people and livestock, the interdependence of land‐human‐livestock components of life, and socioeconomic practices prevailing in rural areas. The system needs to pertain not only to grain yield but also to fodder production. In semiarid regions of India, uneven distribution and insufficient rainfall during the initial crop season develops water stress in plants. Relatively higher irrigation efficiency, which is possible to attain in tank systems, leads to an increase in the energy resources required for various agricultural operations. An attempt is made in this paper to investigate the effect of these factors on the optimal use of irrigation potential of a minor irrigation tank system. The method involves developing a linear programming (LP) model to optimize the net profit from the system and to determine the optimal cropping pattern under the influence of various parameters, e.g., animal power, labor, fodder production, the resources of farmers, and the nutritional energy requirement of the system, in addition to water availability. The crucial nature of these factors as well as the irrigation efficiency is analyzed. The solution reveals the effectiveness of prevailing agricultural practices consistent with the availability of water resources in the initial crop season.