PROBLEMS, PERSPECTIVES AND CHALLENGES OF AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT pdf

PROBLEMS, PERSPECTIVES AND CHALLENGES OF AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT Edited by Manish Kumar Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management Edited by Manish Kumar Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2012 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work. Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source. As for readers, this license allows users to download, copy and build upon published chapters even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications. Notice Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher. No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters. The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book. Publishing Process Manager Dejan Grgur Technical Editor Teodora Smiljanic Cover Designer InTech Design Team First published March, 2012 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechweb.org Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management, Edited by Manish Kumar p. cm. ISBN 978-953-51-0117-8 Contents Preface IX Part 1 Equity, Profitability and Irrigation Water Pricing 1 Chapter 1 Equity in Access to Irrigation Water: A Comparative Analysis of Tube-Well Irrigation System and Conjunctive Irrigation System 3 Anindita Sarkar Chapter 2 Irrigation Water: Alternative Pricing Schemes Under Uncertain Climatic Conditions 19 Gabriele Dono and Luca Giraldo Chapter 3 Irrigation Development: A Food Security and Household Income Perspective 43 Kenneth Nhundu and Abbyssinia Mushunje Chapter 4 Water Rights Allocation, Management and Trading in an Irrigation District - A Case Study of Northwestern China 65 Hang Zheng, Zhongjing Wang, Roger Calow and Yongping Wei Chapter 5 Effects of Irrigation-Water Pricing on the Profitability of Mediterranean Woody Crops 91 M. A. Fernández-Zamudio, F. Alcon and M. D. De-Miguel Chapter 6 Irrigation Institutions of Bangladesh: Some Lessons 113 Nasima Tanveer Chowdhury Part 2 Modelling, Monitoring and Assessment Techniques 133 Chapter 7 Modelling Current and Future Pan-European Irrigation Water Demands and Their Impact on Water Resources 135 Tim Aus der Beek, Ellen Kynast and Martina Flörke VI Contents Chapter 8 Basics and Application of Ground-Penetrating Radar as a Tool for Monitoring Irrigation Process 155 Kazunori Takahashi, Jan Igel, Holger Preetz and Seiichiro Kuroda Chapter 9 A Low Cost Remote Monitoring Method for Determining Farmer Irrigation Practices and Water Use 181 Kristoph-Dietrich Kinzli Chapter 10 Critical Evaluation of Different Techniques for Determining Soil Water Content 199 Alejandro Zermeño-González, Juan Munguia-López, Martín Cadena-Zapata, Santos Gabriel Campos-Magaña, Luis Ibarra-Jiménez and Raúl Rodríguez-García Chapter 11 Precision Irrigation: Sensor Network Based Irrigation 217 N. G. Shah ancd Ipsita Das Chapter 12 Using Wireless Sensor Networks for Precision Irrigation Scheduling 233 John D. Lea-Cox Chapter 13 Comparison of Different Irrigation Methods Based on the Parametric Evaluation Approach in West North Ahwaz Plain 259 Mohammad Albaji, Saeed Boroomand Nasab and Jabbar Hemadi Part 3 Sustainable Irrigation Development and Management 275 Chapter 14 Guideline for Groundwater Resource Management Using the GIS Tools in Arid to Semi Arid Climate Regions 277 Salwa Saidi, Salem Bouri, Brice Anselme and Hamed Ben Dhia Chapter 15 Soil, Water and Crop Management for Agricultural Profitability and Natural Resources Protection in Salt-Threatened Irrigated Lands 293 Fernando Visconti and José Miguel de Paz Chapter 16 Criteria for Evaluation of Agricultural Land Suitability for Irrigation in Osijek County Croatia 311 Lidija Tadić Chapter 17 Rationalisation of Established Irrigation Systems: Policy and Pitfalls 333 Francine Rochford Contents VII Part 4 Strategies for Irrigation Water Supply and Conservation 351 Chapter 18 Optimal Design or Rehabilitation of an Irrigation Project’s Pipe Network 353 Milan Cisty Chapter 19 An Algebraic Approach for Controlling Cascade of Reaches in Irrigation Canals 369 Mouhamadou Samsidy Goudiaby, Abdou Sene and Gunilla Kreiss Chapter 20 Spatial Variability of Field Microtopography and Its Influence on Irrigation Performance 391 Meijian Bai, Di Xu, Yinong Li and Shaohui Zhang Chapter 21 Performance of Smallholder Irrigation Schemes in the Vhembe District of South Africa 413 Wim Van Averbeke Chapter 22 Decision Strategies for Soil Water Estimations in Soybean Crops Subjected to No-Tillage and Conventional Systems, in Brazil 439 Lucieta G. Martorano, Homero Bergamaschi, Rogério T. de Faria and Genei A. Dalmago Preface Food security emerged as an issue in the first decade of 21 st century, questioning the sustainability of the human race, which is inevitably related directly to agricultural water management. In the context of irrigation water use, common resource management at community scale, stake holder participation and related economical issues play a vital role, but scientific precise monitoring and assessment have also become important for developing new strategies and technology to sustain increasing food demand, which is why academics and scientists from various disciplines have been involved in the development of an appropriate basis for understanding and management of the irrigation related issues. The purpose of this book is to bring together and integrate in a single text the subject matter that deals with the equity, profitability and irrigation water pricing; modeling, monitoring and assessment techniques; sustainable irrigation development and management, and strategies for irrigation water supply and conservation. The book is divided into four major sections dealing with the subjects mentioned above, and is intended for students, professionals and researchers working on various aspects of agricultural water management. Each section is comprised of at least six chapters from various research groups and individuals working separately. The book seeks its impact from its diverse topic coverage, revealing situations from different continents (Australia, USA, Asia, Europe and Africa). Various case studies have been discussed in the chapters to present a general scenario of the problem, perspective and challenges of irrigation water use. The first section highlights the concern of equity in access to irrigation water across different classes of farmers and focuses on the consequences of unequal access to irrigation water by analysing the inequity in net returns to agriculture among agricultural communities. This section critically evaluates the benefits and uses of irrigation development to the smallholder farmers and prioritizing the need of water rights. It also emphasizes the current European Water Framework Directive (WFD) that proposes establishing a pricing policy, as well as how public institutions and water markets have evolved over time in response to changes in irrigation technology, and how they affect the cost and price of irrigation water. Section two focuses on analyzing the impact of water withdrawals on the existing water resources of semi-arid regions in Mediterranean countries in order to evaluate the consequences for sustainable water management. It also deals with a new X Preface approach, Ground-penetrating radar, as a tool for monitoring the irrigation process, and describes in detail the instrumentation of the farm fields, including soil moisture sensors and low-cost flow measuring devices. This section is particularly useful to the readers dealing with instrumentation, because a complete description of the characteristics of different methods, such as gravimetric, neutron probe, time domain reflectometry (TDR), tensiometer, resistance block and soil psychrometer for determining soil water content is discussed, followed by a summary of the pros and cons of certain Wireless Sensor Networks for Precision Irrigation Scheduling. The section is concluded with a comparison of the different types of irrigation techniques in the southwest of Iran. Section three is intended for researchers that are trying to find ways to apply new age technologies for sustainable irrigation development and management. This section begins by introducing a unique approach to the overall concept of groundwater resource management and emphasizes GIS techniques as a tool for groundwater vulnerability assessment in arid to semi arid climate regions. It proposes the idea of developing optimum guidelines for soil, water and crop management in irrigated salt- threatened areas under various climates, which has been a major challenge in achieving the green revolution, based on the experiences obtained in the case of sub- Saharan Africa. This section is extremely valuable for understanding the irrigation industry reforms in northern Victoria, Australia. It provides a single platform for the readers to get an overview of the social, political and legal context of the reforms, with consideration of the national cooperative agreement. The final section of the book deals with the formulation of cutting edge strategies for sustainable irrigation water supply and conservation through innovative techniques. The section begins with an example of “Hydrogel Polymers and Antitranspirant” use to conserve irrigation water in arid and semi-arid regions. An algebraic approach for evaluating the influence of spatial variability of field microtopography on irrigation performance by numerical simulation is also proposed, along with a new hybrid approach using a combination of the differential evolution and linear programming methodology for determining the minimal cost of the design or rehabilitation of a water distribution system. This section is useful to the policy makers that are working on issues of revitalisation and management of smallholder irrigation schemes as a part of rural and per-urban economic development strategy, aimed at creating or improving livelihoods. It is evident but nevertheless worth mentioning that all the chapters have been prepared by individuals who are experts in their field. The views expressed in the book are those of the authors and they are responsible for their statements. An honest effort has been made to check the scientific validity and justification of each chapter through several iterations. We, the editor, publisher, and hard-working agricultural water professionals have put together a comprehensive reference book on problems, perspectives and challenges of irrigation water use with a belief that this book will be [...]... cultivation and even its importance exceeds that of land In such groundwater dependant societies, land has no value unless it is endowed with water extraction machines and the bargaining power is also in the hands of those who own water along with land and not only land Thus, there is a complete shift of power relation from the hands of ‘landlords’ to ‘waterlords’ The control and access over groundwater offers... to the levels of the existing water table, it is important to examine how different land holding categories at different levels of resource depletion differ in access to groundwater irrigation 6 Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management Fig 1 Location of Study Areas Equity in Access to Irrigation Water: A Comparative Analysis of Tube-Well Irrigation System and Conjunctive... and density of tubewells The following section analyses the interplay of these dynamic factors among various size classes of farmers at different levels of groundwater depletion to understand the variability of groundwater accessibility with continuous resource depletion 2.1 Land ownership and accessibility to groundwater The distribution of land ownership and the extent of land subdivision and fragmentation... Ownership and Area of Influence of Tube Wells across Farm Size Classes (Change into percentage) 10 Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management Moreover, the poor farmers even after owning wells may be trapped in a regime of low well yields as not only water table is receding progressively but also many new wells are dug2 Because of declining water tables and increasing density of. .. 20 Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management There are various sources of uncertainty in climate change simulations (Raisanen, 2007), including those associated with the nature of the direct relationships between climate variability and water resources, given the strong influence on such relationships of land cover (Beguería et al., 2003; García-Ruiz et al., 2008) and water- management. .. of reducing relative 4 Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management inequalities among rural incomes, groundwater irrigation development may actually have enlarged both the absolute and relative inequalities already prevalent (Shah 1987 and Shah 1993) Many micro level studies have also highlighted these serious equity implications of groundwater exploitation with falling water. .. groundwater further leads to equity and sustainability problems and deteriorating socio-economic conditions The immediate consequence of groundwater depletion is linked with the increasing cost of groundwater irrigation in terms of both capital and operating costs which is an increasing function of depth of water table If the receding water table becomes a common phenomenon, the cost of groundwater... case of considerable decline in water table, the external effect could not be only extra capital and operational costs but also lower farm output because of either reduced availability of water or lesser use of water at the enhanced cost of lifting it, or both When the enhanced cost of water lifting exceeds the benefits from the use of such water for small farmers with traditional modes of groundwater... shifts to canal water and seepage from unlined part of the canal network augments groundwater recharge Thus a policy of simultaneous development of surface and groundwater irrigation will prevent permanent decline of water table in arid or semi-arid or low rainfall areas because of over-exploitation of groundwater which in the long run will also lead to sustainale agriculture Sustainable water management. .. and equity issues and should cater to the needs of the poor and underprivileged who are generally marginal and small farmers 6 References Abu-Zeid, Mahmoud (2001), Water pricing in Irrigated Agriculture”, Water Resources Development, Vol.17, No.4 6 As no government tube-wells are functional and no credit is given to install new tube-wells 18 Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water . PROBLEMS, PERSPECTIVES AND CHALLENGES OF AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT Edited by Manish Kumar Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management. Table 3. Incidence of Tenancy by Landownership (percentage of land leased out to total land owned by each group) Problems, Perspectives and Challenges of Agricultural Water Management 8 prevalent. depletion. 2.1 Land ownership and accessibility to groundwater The distribution of land ownership and the extent of land subdivision and fragmentation affect the development and use of groundwater.