Energy Requirement and Utilization in Irrigation

North Eastern Hilly (NEH) region of India has minimal farm power & mechanization in agricultural interventions, therefore a proper understanding of the existing status for the same is essential. A basic energy requirement and its utilization in agricultural operation need to be assessed at field level. In an attempt to explore and analyze the energy requirement and utilization in irrigation of various Rabi (October-March) crops, a study was conducted in three districts namely Thoubal, Imphal East and Senapati in Manipur, India. Field level agricultural operational and Climatological data were extensively collected from the farmers field, Dept. of Agriculture, Govt. of Manipur and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Research Complex for NEH region, Imphal, Manipur in India which are then inputted in Visual Basic based computer programme as to estimate the energy utilization (MJ/ha) in irrigation for various crops. Study results identify excess energy can be easily reduced/ avoided adopting scientific approaches for irrigation methods and scheduling.