Water productivity of rice in farmers field of North Bihar

Agriculture plays a vital role in Indian economy. One of the principal concerns of India since independence has been to increase agricultural production and productivity to meet the quantitative requirements of food and clothing of its ever growing population. The agricultural output grew at the rate of the 3.4% per annum while the population grew at 2% per year. Although rice and wheat have dominated the agricultural production in India both in terms of their share in area as well as in the value of production. Growing water scarcity has future constrained attainment of goals of food security and sustainable natural resources management. The irrigation sector will have less water in future as the competition and demand from the domestic, industrial and environmental sectors keep increasing. The challenge for irrigated agriculture will be to grow more food with less water. The cost of abstraction of ground water is increasing with influencing fuel prices. The focus from improving land productivity needs to shift to improve water productivity.