(a) whether despite availability of adequate cultivable land in the country, agricultural
production is not up to the expectations due to lack of irrigation facilities;
(b) if so, the facts in this regard; and
(c) the corrective measures taken/proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE (SHRI SHARAD PAWAR)
(a) & (b): The details of irrigated area in the country are given in the Annexure. About 40
percent of the net sown area in the country is irrigated, remaining 60 percent being dependent on
weather conditions.
(c ): The Government have taken several policy initiatives to bring more and more area under
irrigation. These are as follows:
# Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme:
It was launched in 1996-97 to encourage the States for completion of on-going irrigation
projects through Central Loan Assistance (CLA). The focus has been given on completion of
last mile projects. In keeping with this need, the outlay on this programme has been enhanced
from Rs. 2800 crores in 2004-05 to Rs. 4800 crores in 2005-06.
# Similarly, the Scheme of micro-irrigation for promoting water use efficiency in Indian
agriculture has been provided an outlay of Rs. 400 crores in the year 2005-06 to increase
the coverage by 3 million hectares by the end of Tenth Five Year Plan.
Annexure
State-wise position of Net Irrigated Area and Net Area Sown for the year 2002-03 (Provisional)
(Thousand Hectares) State/ Net area Net Percentage Union- sown irrigated Territory area ANDHRA PRADESH 9614.5 3613.7 37.6 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 164.2 42.1 25.7 ASSAM 2793.3 173.6 6.2 BIHAR 5725.5 3462.1 60.5 CHHITTISGARH 4754.1 1068.1 22.5 GOA 141.5 23.7 16.7 GUJARAT 9621.7 2994.0 31.1 HARYANA 3457.9 2965.6 85.8 HIMACHAL PRADESH 544.6 102.1 18.7 JAMMU & KASHMIR 732.6 299.7 40.9 JHARKHAND 1769.2 163.5 9.2 KARNATAKA 9837.6 2515.3 25.6 KERALA 2188.5 378.9 17.3 MADHYA PRADESH 14517.7 4494.3 31.0 MAHARASHTRA 17579.4 2971.1 16.9 MANIPUR 155.3 40.1 25.8 MEGHALAYA 230.1 59.5 25.8 MIZORAM 89.5 15.7 17.6 NAGALAND 324.4 64.7 19.9 ORISSA 5680.0 1299.9 22.9 PUNJAB 4250.0 4037.9 95.0 RAJASTHAN 10807.1 4371.6 40.5 SIKKIM 107.8 9.0 8.4 TAMIL NADU 4590.3 2309.9 50.3 TRIPURA 280.0 40.0 14.3 UTTARANCHAL 793.2 346.8 43.7 UTTAR PRADESH 16596.8 12232.1 73.7 WEST BENGAL 5354.2 2980.0 55.7 A&N ISLAND 17.0 0.0 0.0 CHANDIGARH 1.9 1.0 50.2 D & N HAVELI 22.7 6.8 29.8 DAMAN & DIU 2.0 0.0 0.0 DELHI 29.1 28.9 99.3 LAKSHADWEEP 2.7 0.8 28.9 PONDICHERRY 21.6 18.7 86.7 ALL INDIA 132797.9 53131.1 40.0