The Indian Government today upgraded its micro irrigation scheme to a national mission, with an outlay of Rs 8,032.90 crore, to save scarce irrigation water.
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram said “The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the implementation of the Micro Irrigation Scheme (MIS) as a National Mission on Micro Irrigation (NMMI) during the 11th Plan period (2007-12). The mission will bring 2.85 million hectare of area under micro irrigation, ensuring saving of irrigation water, fertilizer and electricity.”
he also said that ” Out of the total outlay, Rs 3,409.26 crore will be contributed by the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DAC) as central share comprising 40 per cent subsidy for general farmers and 50 per cent subsidy for small and marginal farmers,” .
It will help to increase crop productivity as the major government schemes get convergence to create water harvesting structures.
Apart from this, the irrigation mission would be useful for vegetables, spices, and oil seeds.The MIS was under implementation since 2005-06.
This technology greatly enhances water use efficiency and can also be used for fertilizer application.
Since the inception of the scheme, an area of 17.92 lakh hectare has been brought under micro irrigation in 18 states by utilizing Rs 2,013.39 crore as the central share. Around 60 per cent of Indian agriculture is rain fed as the country has scarce irrigation infrastructure
