1st International Conference on Rain Water Cistern Systems
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA - June 1982

Section 6: Related Topics

Page 350

Water Demand Analysis for Agricultural Watersheds

Prabhat K. Chowdhury
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India

Introduction

Agriculture cannot exist without water. And without the required quantity of water, especially during critical periods, agriculture fails. If farmers cultivate crops without a clear picture of the amount of water needed during the growth period, two problems can occur: either crop damage because of a water shortage or a decrease to some extent in net returns because of improper and underutilization of the available water.

Farmers sometimes grow a single crop, paddy, for example, an their entire land holding. If there is a shortage of water in such cases, it is possible to overcome the problem by planting some other crops, such as wheat and pulses, in addition to paddy during the same season without causing damage to the crops because of a water shortage or diminishing the net returns. One means of increasing the per capita income of farmers is the selection of the right combination of crops, whose water demands remain well within the available water resources during a given season and which result in maximum net return and which fulfil food-grain requirements and yet remain within their investment potentialities. How and why water demand analysis is used for agricultural watersheds are dealt in detail in this paper and a water demand analysis case study is presented for small farmers.

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