Despite substantial government expenditure on major and medium irrigation systems, Indian agriculture continues being predominantly rain-fed. But increasing private interventions for water control, such as farm ponds, mark the emerging importance of in-situ irrigation systems for India’s agrarian dynamism. A case study of farm ponds in Jharkhand finds the contribution of these in increasing the agrarian surplus through yield enhancement, crop diversification and crop intensification. However, the financial viability of such a system is scale dependent with farm ponds of only a certain size generating high benefit-cost ratio and internal rate of return.
A Case Study of Farm Ponds in Jharkhand Agrarian Potential of In-Situ Water Harvesting
Published On - June 30, 2019
