Irrigation in Tamil Nadu: Trends and Turning Points
Abstract
Agriculture continues to be the most predominant sector of the State economy, as 70% of the population is engaged in Agriculture and allied activities for their livelihood. The State has as an area of 1.3 Lakhsq.kmwith a gross cropped area of around 63 Lakh. The Government's policy and objectives have been to ensure stability in agricultural production and to increase the agricultural production in a sustainable manner to meet the food requirement of growing population and also to meet the raw material needs of agro based industries, thereby providing employment opportunities to the rural population. Tamil Nadu has all along been one of the states with a creditable performance in agricultural production with the farmers relatively more responsive and receptive to changing technologies and market forces. This paper assess the trends of major exogenous drivers that influence the water sector development and presents the spatial and temporal trends of land use and cropping patterns, and crop production. Finally, we discuss major drivers that will influence the patterns of irrigation water use in the future.
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