Temporal analysis of the factors influencing performance of tank irrigation in the Union Territory of Puducherry in India
1*P. Nirmal Kumar, 2R. Venkataraman, 3 S. Ravichandran and 4 K. Dhanasekaran
*Research Scholar (Corresponding author) 1*,2,3Department of Agricultural Economics, 4Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu - 608002 (India) E-mail of the corresponding author: nirmalpdy48@gmail.com Mobile of the corresponding author: +91-9487585596 (India)
ABSTRACT
Tanks are traditional irrigation structures which provide water for irrigation, drinking and flourish surrounding ecosystems with rich biodiversity of flora and fauna. The irrigation requirement of Puducherry district over the past years was catered by tanks, other surface water sources and groundwater. But as years passed, the net irrigated area by tanks and other sources barring groundwater had reduced to zero. However, tanks perform the passive role of groundwater recharge whenever reaching full capacity. But this alone was not sufficient to meet the recurring demand as the groundwater levels are declining due to overexploitation. It led to problems such as reversal of water gradient flow, seawater intrusion into the groundwater aquifers affecting the quality of groundwater along coastal Puducherry district. A decline in net sown area was observed in contrast to the area converted to nonagricultural uses which had been increasing gradually over the years marking a significant paradigm shift in the contribution of the primary agricultural sector versus the other sectors. This could be attributed to the significant reason of reduction the performance of tanks. Hence this study is taken to evaluate their performance in Puducherry evaluating its temporal change over the period of 60 years from 1962 to 2021.