Gujarat has long way to go to tap irrigation potential

Gujarat government, which has been highlighting its extra focus on the agriculture sector for the last couple of years, will have to tap the irrigation potential to the full if it wants to keep reaping good crops in the future.

As per the latest figures available with the government the state has created irrigation potential of 46.28 lakh hectares which is 71.33 per cent of the total ultimate irrigation potential of the state.

This mean that the state has still 30 per cent irrigation potential left to be created. The state government is hopeful that the completion of Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP) will help the state government to create this potential.

As per the latest figures made available by the state Department of Agriculture and Co-operative, the state has created total irrigation potential of 46.28 lakh hectares (71.33 per cent) out of the total ultimate irrigation potential.

In surface water category the state has ultimate irrigation potential of 39.40 lakh hectares out of which the state claims to have created 21.43 lakh hectares irrigation potential. This includes ultimate irrigation potential of 18 lakh hectares in major and medium schemes out of which the state has created 14.92 lakh hectares irrigation potential.

One of the major irrigation project of the state is Sardar Sarovar Project and the ultimate irrigation potential of this project is 17.92 lakh hectares out of which the state has created 3.56 lakh hectares irrigation potential.

While, minor projects like check dams and talavadis has an ultimate irrigation potential of 3.48 lakh hectares out of which the government claims to have created 2.95 lakh hectares of irrigation potential.

On the other hand in ground water category, including private resources like wells, the ultimate irrigation potential is 25.46 lakh hectares and the state government claims to have created 20.35 lakh hectare's irrigation potential out of this.

However, the government claims a major portion of the irrigation potential created is being utilised properly. The government figures say the maximum utilisation is estimated at 41.20 lakh hectares which is 89.02 per cent of the irrigation potential created till now.

However, the agriculture department sources say that the state can only create the ultimate irrigation only after the completion of Sardar Sarovar Project.

It is likely that the Sardar Sarovar Project will take a few more years for the completion. The state government has announced that the project will be completed by 2010.