Article Preview
Top1. Introduction
Despite the rapid growth rate of the Indian economy in the recent decades, about 50% of the rural population in India still depends on agriculture for their livelihood (Kumar et al., 2016). As such, improving the productivity of agriculture is an effective tool for improving the livelihoods of many in the country, thus reducing widespread poverty. Literature is largely agreed on the importance of irrigation in improving smallholder agricultural production and/or productivity, household food security and rural poverty reduction in the developing countries (Bacha et al., 2011; Gebregziabher et al., 2009; Hussain,2004; Hussain & Hanjara, 2004;Kumar 2003; Lipton et al 2003; Mangison 2008; Palanisami et al., 2010; Sinyolo et al., 2014; Yihdego & Ghosal, 2016). Access to irrigation enhances welfare of rural household by improving overall agricultural performance through crop productivity, multi cropping and crop diversification, thereby promoting livelihoods and expanding opportunities for higher and more stable incomes. It improves resilience of farm households and mitigates the impacts of water scarcity, droughts and erratic rainfall.
The United Nations have developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to redress the imbalance between developmental and environmental sustainability (United Nations, 2020). Irrigation is globally the largest user of freshwater. Sustainable agriculture is at the heart of the global 2030 Agenda and SDG framework that bridge ecosystem maintenance, sustainable water use and food production (Ja¨germeyr et al 2017). Governments of many countries view irrigation as a critical input in meeting the food demands of growing populations and an important agent in achieving the SDG Goals like SDG-1 (No Poverty) and SDG-2 (Zero Hunger) because a large section of population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods (Baumgartner et al 2019). Many other SDGs (in particular SDGs 3, 5, 6, 8, 12, 13, 14 and 15) to some extent, are also influenced by agricultural development. (McCartney et al 2019). Since irrigation has to play a key role in enhancing agricultural production, sustainability of irrigated agriculture through efficient and environment-friendly irrigation management assumes much greater significance presently than ever before. Small scale surface irrigation like rainwater harvesting structures which are less expensive, fast rewarding and easy to manage should be promoted in future for sustainable development (Navalawala 2001). A proper management of these types of irrigation systems is useful in sustainable agricultural development (Velasco-Muñoz 2019).