Answer: 

Introduction:

Water is a scarce natural resource. India has 18% of the world’s population but just 4% of the water resources, making it among the most water-stressed in the world. Most of this water is used in agriculture for irrigation purposes. The efficient use of available water for irrigation is a major challenge.

Micro-irrigation is a modern method of irrigation by which water is irrigated through drippers, sprinklers, foggers and by other emitters on the surface or subsurface of the land. Sprinkler irrigation and drip irrigation are the commonly used micro-irrigation methods.

Body:

Micro-irrigation can help in solving India’s water crisis in following ways:

• Reduce water consumption: Efficient use of water through micro-irrigation can help reduce the agricultural demand of water by 30-50%. It applies water directly to the root zone, thereby loss of water through conveyance, run-off, deep percolation and evaporation.
• Reduce dependence on groundwater: It can address needs of dryland farming in regions with depleting groundwater aquifers. Electricity consumption also falls significantly, as it requires less water to be pumped.
• Sustainability: It will help move away from unsustainable irrigation practices like flood irrigation which also lead to ecological issues like groundwater pollution, salinity, eutrophication etc. The localised water application in micro-irrigation prevents fertilizers from washing away, thereby reducing nutrient loss or leaching.
• Scalability: Less than 50% agriculture is irrigated at present and more than 80% of the farmers are small and marginal farmers, so there is huge scope for reducing over-dependence on monsoon and vulnerability to drought while reducing water consumption.

However, micro-irrigation’ impact in solving India’s water crisis will be limited due to following reasons:

• Affordability of micro-irrigation systems would be a challenge for small and marginal farmers.
• Maintenance cost for the tubes, sprinklers would be too much for small farmers due to the small size of their lands.
• Micro-irrigation cannot ameliorate water-stress due to poor ago-climatic choices in crops. Such as sugarcane and paddy cultivation in North-West India.

Conclusion:

Overall, micro-irrigation has the potential to make a significant contribution to addressing India’s water crisis, particularly in areas where water is scarce. However, it is important to note that micro-irrigation alone cannot solve India’s water crisis and will need to be implemented alongside other measures such as water conservation, water storage and changes in cropping patterns.

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