The dying oasis: a macro analysis of tank irrigation in Andhra Pradesh, India

ABSTRACT

Tanks are the important traditional source of irrigation in India. They are a low-cost source with fewer management problems, but their performance has been deteriorating over the years. Using time-series data from the periods 1960–61 to 2013–14, this paper analyses the performance of tank irrigation across the districts, regions and categories of farmers in Andhra Pradesh, India. The study shows that districts that traditionally had a large tank irrigated area have registered a sharp reduction in that area. A substantial reduction in tank irrigated area is found in the Rayalaseema region where tanks are critical for farming. Correlation analysis suggests a significantly negative impact of groundwater area on tank irrigated area in most districts.

KEYWORDS:

• Groundwater in India
• Indian irrigation
• irrigation sector
• rainfall and tanks
• tank irrigation

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to two anonymous reviewers and the editor of the journal for making constructive comments on the paper. The views expressed in this paper are authors’ own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This paper has been written with the financial support of UGC-STRIDE Component-I grant sanctioned vide Letter No. F. 2-5/2019 (STRIDE-I), dated 3 December 2019.