Decision support for on-farm water management and long-term agricultural sustainability in a semi-arid region of India

The long-term success of irrigated agriculture for sustainable crop production in India depends largely on the careful management of land and water resources. Currently, some serious environmental problems of waterlogging and soil salinization are burgeoning in parts of Haryana State of India: half a million hectare area of the State is already waterlogged. Poor irrigation and drainage management and inadequate exploitation of saline ground water are the main factors responsible for this phenomenon. In order to prevent further degradation and to maintain the food production for the growing population, judicious use of natural resources is a must. A wide range of solutions could be considered to address the problems. But the effectiveness of all the solutions and their combinations cannot be verified with on-farm experiments. Simulation models by way of their predictive capability are often the only viable means of providing input to management decisions. These models can help to forecast the likely impacts of a particular alternative management strategy. In the present study a physical based one-dimensional simulation model SWASALT was employed to evaluate on-farm irrigation water management options. After successful calibration and validation with field experimentation data, several scenario building exercises have been conducted under different crop, soil and rainfall conditions. The water and salt balance component obtained for each simulation run were used to derive water management response indicators. The simulation study revealed that in most conditions, saline water of up to 7.5 dS/m can be used safely on long term basis for crop production. The simulation study further revealed that alternative use of canal and saline water had an edge over mix use. Several alternatives have been suggested for sustainable agricultural production in the region. The strategies suggested, if followed, would lend sustainability to the agricultural production besides substantial increase in production and water resources conservation, by impeding the environmental hazard of waterlogging and soil salinization. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.