According to government, the total area under irrigation at present is about 1.33 million hectares. If this was true, Nepali agriculture would not have had to depend so heavily on monsoon rain. The reality is quite different. Take rice plantation status for this year (2015). If irrigation or rain water were available, more than 50 percent rice plantation would have been completed by this time (June 30th). But the Ministry of Agriculture Development has reported the completion of only eight percent rice plantation. It is because all the reported irrigated lands are not irrigable when there is no monsoon rain. Crop production in the country has always increased after a good monsoon.As stated above, all the cultivated areas of the Tarai region can be irrigated through large surface-water schemes. But given the capital-intensive nature of surface irrigation projects, socioeconomic constraints, lack of government commitment and political instability, this potential is yet to be realized. On the groundwater front, the resource potential is also high. The groundwater aquifers in the Tarai belt are some of the most productive aquifers in the Indian sub-continent. Considering the relative ease and low cost of tapping this resource, the APP emphasized developing groundwater irrigation, with a special focus on shallow tube wells (STWs), and in some areas, on the extension of deep tube wells (DTWs).
However, from the viewpoint of securing long-term irrigation and utilization of hydropower resources, as well as stabilizing water flows as a means of flood control, the surface-water resources should be seen as important. But a number of challenges limit the extent to which this resource can be tapped for sustainable irrigation.
Nepal has a monsoonal climate characterized by heavy rains from June to September; more than 80 percent of annual rainfall takes place during this period. Most rainfall leaves the country as surface runoff during the rainy season. The small and medium rivers which get water from monsoon rain dry up during winter and spring seasons. The perennial rivers are larger, as they get water from springs during winter and from melting snows of the Himalayas during the dry season. In the context of irrigation, in most cases, the sources of irrigation water are small and medium rivers, and so, such irrigation systems are unable to provide water during the drier winter and spring seasons.
Until the recent past, only main season rice used to be produced in Nepal. Investment in irrigation was, therefore, guided at monsoon. However, the cropping pattern is now changing and even rice can be harvested three times a year if irrigation water is available. For this we need to develop irrigation projects that draw water from the perennial rivers, all the year round. Unfortunately, drawing water from large and perennial rivers requires large diversion structures, often involving such complex structures like storage dams, tunnels and multipurpose use of water. These call for large investments and careful project planning. Realizing this fact, Department of Irrigation (DoI) has identified a number of diversion projects to divert water for irrigation while at the same time it is used to generate electricity.
The Agriculture Development Strategy (ADS, 2013) has envisaged increasing round-the-year irrigation coverage areas to 80 percent from the current 18 percent in the next 20 years. To meet this ambitious target, the government has adopted an Irrigation Policy to allow the DoI to develop projects involving storage, inter-basin transfer and multipurpose uses of water. Focus has also been given to small irrigation projects like drip and sprinkler systems in the mid and high hill regions. Furthermore, the vital importance of judicious operation and maintenance of existing irrigation systems has been realized. Even then, many irrigation systems in Nepal that are now under operation are not functioning optimally.
Nepal cannot develop mega-irrigation projects on its own. In this context, we probably need to consider the regional cross-country collaboration and water sharing. Regional and sub-regional cooperation in developing this rich potential resource is crucial for meeting the water and power needs of Nepal as well as its neighboring countries. So we need to collaborate with our neighbors both on technical and financial aspects of irrigation. Recently, some initiatives in this direction have been taken with the signing of Power Trade and Project Development agreements with neighboring countries.
Irrigation development should be pursued through a holistic approach. The basic objective of irrigation development is to achieve a high level of crop productivity through different kinds of benefits for the farming community. Integration of agriculture and irrigation is, therefore, key to sustainable economic growth through agricultural development. Irrigation subsector should focus on providing reliable water supply for crops, while agriculture subsector should adopt an intensive production program using appropriate technology and other production inputs.
Farmers as a social subsector responsible for implementation of programs should be empowered to manage and use irrigation water efficiently. A strong linking mechanism between these three subsectors in terms of organization setup, joint program planning and implementation is the need of the day. Right allocation of financial resource as well as their proper use should, thus, be our focus as we look to develop new irrigation facilities.
The author is Former Director General of the Department of Agriculture
bhairabr@gmail.com
Related story
Beat the summer heat
