Performance of Irrigated Agriculture in the Panam Irrigation Project of Gujarat

Abstract

There is large mismatch between the irrigation water supply and demand in the Panam irrigation project in Gujarat, India, arising from high spatiotemporal variation in occurrence and distribution of rainfall. Gross irrigation requirement of crops in the command area was estimated to quantify the gaps. Daily water deliveries during the crop period from 2009–2010 to 2012–2013 were analyzed and compared with the crop water demand. Monthly supply–demand ratio was found to be less than one except some peak monsoon months showing deficit water supply than the demand. Soil infiltration capacity, waterfront advance, and recession under furrow irrigation were studied to assess the irrigation system. Empirical infiltration equations were developed and waterfront advance and recession functions were formulated as empirical power equations. Depth of furrow infiltration was found to increase rapidly for a period up to about 10–15 min and then slowed down. Water distribution along the length of furrow run was found to be non-uniform as the advance and recession curves were divergent. Hence, adoption of furrow irrigation with surge flow can be beneficial for better irrigation water management.