Hydrological and Farming System Impacts of Agricultural Water Management Interventions in North Gujarat

Groundwater over-exploitation is a common phenomenon in many arid and semi arid regions of the world. Within India, north Gujarat is one of such intensively exploited regions. Groundwater supports irrigated crop production and intensive dairy farming in the region. Well irrigation is critical to the region’s rural economy and livelihoods. The overall objective of the study was to examine the water demand management interventions on farming system, livelihood patterns, food and nutritional security and poverty. The study was based on the primary data collected from north Gujarat. The study suggests that the micro irrigation (MI) technology adoption had resulted in reduction in water application and improvement in crop yield varied from crop to crop.