Article

Dr Yogesh Patel, Sankalchand Patel College of Engineering; P M Joshi ,Sankalchand Patel College of Engineering; V P Joshi ,Sankalchand Patel College of Engineering

The pressure on farm sector has been increasing due to multiple reasons: lower yield, fragmentation of land holdings, poor irrigation, depletion of ground water, inadequate extension services/ supply of inputs, poor post-harvest management, lack of value addition at the producer’s level and a long supply chain involving a number of intermediaries. There is a strong need to assist the farmers to increase productivity to move up the value chain in simulating the farm economy and employment demand. Interventions such as, establishing market linkages, providing access to micro planning, creation of irrigation facilities/rain water harvesting structures, efficient water use through micro-irrigation, managing natural resources efficiently etc. can generate better farm as well as non-farm sector yields and change the rural landscape in better way. The agriculture sector is the predominant consumer of water. Almost 70% of all available freshwater is used for agriculture across the world. There is long and growing list of measures that can increase agricultural water productivity. Drip irrigation ranks near the top of measures and can achieve efficiencies as high as 95 percent, compared with 50-70 percent for more conventional flood or furrow irrigation. Micro irrigation reduces the virtual water requirement of the agricultural products thus improving water use efficiency. Government of Gujarat has formed the Gujarat Green Revolution Company Limited (jointly promoted by GSFC, GNFC and GAIC) act as nodal agency and implement uniform scheme for Micro Irrigation System in the State.