Lok Sabha Question No. 163 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-11
Subject: Irrigated Land
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: NEELAM SONKER

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, COOPERATION AND FARMERS WELFARE

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.163

TO BE ANSWERED ON THE  11 TH  DECEMBER, 2018

## IRRIGATED LAND

## 163.   SHRIMATI NEELAM SONKER:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंी be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  assessment  regarding  irrigated  and unirrigated land in the country in the recent years and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  percentage  of  the  land  irrigated  by  ground  water  alongwith  the  percentage  of land irrigated by canals, rivers and ponds and the percentage of desert and plateau land;
- (c) the percentage of agricultural land that has been reduced during the last ten years due to expansion of cities and villages, railways, airports and national highways with the use in population of the country; and
- (d) the details of its impact on foodgrain production?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF  STATE IN THE  MINISTRY OF  AGRICULTURE AND  FARMERS  WELFARE कृ ष एवं कसान कयाण मंालय म राय मंी ( SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT)

- (a):  As  per the latest data available on land use statistics,  details of net irrigated and net un-irrigated area in the country for the years 2010-11 to 2014-15 is as follows:

## (thousand hectares)

| Year    |   Net Irrigated Area |   Net Un-Irrigated Area |
|---------|----------------------|-------------------------|
| 2010-11 |                63665 |                   77898 |
| 2011-12 |                65707 |                   75272 |
| 2012-13 |                66285 |                   73650 |
| 2013-14 |                68116 |                   73312 |
| 2014-15 |                68383 |                   71747 |

(b):  As  per the latest data available on land use statistics, the percentage of land irrigated by various sources for the year 2014-15, is as follows:

## (thousand hectares)

| Source of Irrigation   |   Land Irrigated |   Percentage of Net Irrigated Area |
|------------------------|------------------|------------------------------------|
| Government Canals      |         16019.5  |                              23.43 |
| Private Canals         |           162.92 |                               0.24 |
| Tanks                  |          1722.81 |                               2.52 |
| Tube-wells             |         31605.7  |                              46.22 |
| Other wells            |         11353.7  |                              16.6  |
| Other Sources          |          7518.78 |                              10.99 |

As per the latest data available on land use statistics, barren & unculturable land in the  country  including  desert  and  other  areas  in  2014-15  is  5.52  percent  of  the  reporting area.

(c): As per the latest data available on land use statistics, agricultural land in the country in 2005-06 was 59.53 percent of the reporting area and estimated to have slightly declined to  59.09 percent in 2014-15. The reduction has been mainly due to diversion of land for non-agricultural purposes such as urbanization, roads, industries, housing etc.

(d): Agricultural production and productivity in the country has been generally increasing with the exception of the years affected by drought, floods, other natural calamities, etc. As per the Fourth Advance estimates of production of food grains 2017-18, the production of total food grains is estimated at 284.83 Million Tonnes in 2017-18.

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