DEVELOPMENT AND PERFORMANCE OF GROUNDWATER MARKETS IN INDIA

R.D. RAMYA

Irrigation plays a key role in India's strategy for increasing agricultural productivity. Groundwater irrigation is increasingly important in improving production, both on its own & in conjunction with surface irrigation. Groundwater is a major source of irrigation in hard rock areas of India. It has contributed phenomenally to the development of agriculture in Indian economy. Groundwater accounts for more than 50 per cent of Indian's net irrigation area and total agriculture production from irrigated area.

Poor well yield & increased probability of well failure led to different coping mechanisms, purchasing of water is one such measure. The water markets are informal institutions, which provide access to groundwater irrigation particularly to the small & marginal farmers who cannot afford to invest on irrigation development. Groundwater markets are localized, fragmented and informal village based markets, where well owners sell out surplus water to their neighboring farmers on contacts like crop sharing, per acre charges and an hourly basis (Neelakantaiah, 1991) and water markets also linked with other agrarian markets. Emergence of water markets is influenced by surplus water available in well, land holding size, fragmentation of land, flat rate electricity ,investment on well etc, water markets are quite expensive even in water scarce low rain fall area (Janakarajajan, 1991) and water charges are mainly based on the type of crop grown, number of irrigation and duration of supply. Water charges also depend on the type of water extraction mechanism of well owner (Kolavalli Shashi 1990).

The development of groundwater markets in India is still in informal manner, but it is in the way of achieving productivity, equity, and sustainability among the farmers.

Groundwater markets have emerged where well owners have surplus water and where there is high demand for irrigation water. From these studies, it can be concluded that flat rate electricity is responsible for the development of groundwater markets. However, crop -sharing mode was preferred by seller for obvious reason that it maximizes their returns and effort. Education seems to have motivated the sellers to opt for hourly mode.

References