ENHANCING WATER PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH MULTIPLE USES OF WATER IN INDO-GANGETIC BASIN MULTIPLE USES OF WATER

M. A. Khan (1)

1 ICAR - Indian Council of Agricultural Research - Research Complex for Eastern Region

Growing water scarcity and competing water demands are expected to reduce diversion of water for agriculture in the future. Efforts are needed to utilize the available limited water resources efficiently and effectively. Multiple uses of water is inevitable to produce more with less water. Water resources projects not only provides water for irrigation but also provide water for a range of other productive uses such as home gardens, livestock, fishing and aquatic products, and micro-enterprises such as brick-making. In the Gangetic flood plain of Indian state of West Bengal, wetlands are used as multiple system and have significant impacts on livelihoods of the local people through the most important benefit arising from fisheries, followed by wetland cultivation and jute retting. Integration of secondary reservoir or small tank in the tubewell based irrigation system has been demonstrated at Patna, India as an effective mechanism to better regulate water and also enhance water productivity by raising fish in the reservoir to generate additional income and improve livelihood. The technology of multiple use of canal water was also demonstrated at Bhubaneswar, India using service reservoir and gravity drip irrigation and sprinkler irrigation, and integrating fish culture in the ponds and raising horticulture on the pond embankments. Similarly, MUS projects in Nepal have showed that the use of micro-irrigation in conjunction with MUS is a potent combination. Rice-fish farming trials conducted at Patna has been found to be useful in productive utilization of seasonally waterlogged lands in canal commands. Makhana (Euryale ferox) cum fish culture in water bodies of North Bihar, secondary reservoir for rainwater harvesting and productive utilization etc. are some other examples of multiple use of water in the IGB. This paper presents the results of different studies conducted on multiple use of water in the eastern Indo-Gangetic plains.

Mots clés: ndo-Gangetic Basin; water productivity; multiple use systems; rice-fish culture; Makhana (Euryale ferox)

Domaines: Agriculture, économie et politique

M. A. Khan. ENHANCING WATER PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH MULTIPLE USES OF WATER IN INDO-GANGETIC BASIN MULTIPLE USES OF WATER. ISDA 2010, Jun 2010, Montpellier, France. 10 p. ⟨hal-00533384⟩