Dynamics of Surface and Groundwater Irrigation Systems Across Districts of Madhya Pradesh in India: An Economic Analysis

Surface and groundwater irrigation systems are essential agricultural water sources that support year-round crop production, ensure food security, and sustain farmers' livelihoods. The present study analyzed the decade wise shift in the surface and groundwater irrigation systems in the major districts of Madhya Pradesh. The top ten districts covering more than one third of the irrigated area in the state was selected for the purpose of study and the data of four major irrigation sources namely Canal, Tank, Well and Borewell were used for a period of 50 years from 1970 to 2019. The structural change in the irrigation scenario was analyzed using Markov Transition Probability Matrix. The trend, growth rate and instability was estimated to understand the dynamics of irrigation pattern. The study revealed that the area under all the four major irrigation sources had increased till the year 1997, after that a sudden decline was observed till 2000, and the area under irrigation expanded slowly yet attained a good growth from 2016 to 2019. Among the surface irrigation source, Tanks showed the highest growth percentage of 6.60, annually on an average whereas Borewells showed the highest average growth percentage of 11.20, among the groundwater irrigation sources. Although Borewells and Tanks had the highest growth but they were critically lacking in reliability. Tanks and borewells showed the highest instability index of 20.52 per cent and 18.10 per cent respectively. Wells and canals were the most reliable source of irrigation with the least instability of 9.88 per cent and 10.80 per cent respectively. Transition probability matrix indicated that borewells and wells retained more than 50 per cent of its irrigated area during the study period whereas Canals could retain only 45 per cent of irrigated area in the current decade. Tanks fully transitioned to canals in the current two decades. Sources other than canals, wells, tanks and borewells transitioned to well and lost 31 per cent to borewells in the current decade. The administration must keep a check to avoid over exploitation of groundwater. At the same time the conditions of canals and wells should be improved to make it even more reliable and efficient for irrigation use.