More Crop and Profit per Drop of Water: Drip Irrigation for Empowering Distressed Small Farmers

In the light of the rapid decline in the irrigation water potential and increasing demand for water from different sectors in India, there is a need of the emergence of small-scale irrigation technology to conserve scarce water resources. Drip irrigation is one such technology that has been introduced to reduce water consumption in the agriculture sector, leading to sustainability of this sector. It allows farmers to cultivate crops without moisture stress even under water-scarce conditions, thereby increasing farm productivity. Earlier studies have analyzed the economics of drip irrigation in the case of high-value crops, which are mostly cultivated by rich farmers. Drip irrigation is also suitable for cultivating vegetable crops that are mostly cultivated by small farmers. However, in the Indian context, research on the effectiveness of drip irrigation is rare for these crops. We show that farmers cultivating green chilli could reduce the use of water by about two-thirds and increase productivity by more than half by adopting the drip irrigation method, compared to the same crop cultivated under conventional flood irrigation. The farm profitability too is impressive. The discounted cash flow analysis shows that the investment in drip irrigation for green chilli cultivation is economically viable even without the state subsidy. Despite such favourable outcomes, poor awareness prevailing among small farmers prevents adoption of drip irrigation. We suggest that there is a need to spread the benefits of cultivating vegetable crops under drip irrigation through a quality extension network on a continuous basis through various means. It would curtail the distress of the small farmers as well.