Abstract:
Sustainable and effective utilization of the water resources facilitate consistently to
achieve high productivity without damaging the physical and socioeconomic
environments through enhanced crop diversification opportunities, reduced
vulnerability caused by drought and seasonal variability of rainfall. In this regard,
this IWMI financed study has addressed different aspects such as the irrigation
potential of the river through hydro-meteorological analysis, the irrigation systems
performances, the extent of problems related to water management, the land
quality aspect both from engineering and agricultural point of view, and impact of
interventions including the agricultural, environmental and the economic reactions
by using important external performance and internal process indicators within and
across the irrigation systems with respect to proximity to the river course diversion
and main canal reach. One of the foremost problems identified is the incompatibility
of the available water against the demand during the critical irrigation season due
to the absence of storage systems but large command area anticipating from the
diversion schemes, while abundant water yet wasted during the wet season. The irrigation potential assessment based on the existing cropping pattern and the
irrigation efficiency has revealed that the probability of the river to meet the existing
demand (i.e. 2224 ha) is only 15. 75% with 100% diversion. During critical irrigation
period of the year even, with 75 % dependable flow (i .e. 930 lps), they can irrigate
842.85 ha, that is only 37.9 % of the required area. In contrast, the irrigation
potential during the rainy season is as much as 5866 ha with 75 % diversion that is ·
