Irrigated farming
Also called: Irrigated agriculture, Irrigation · Topic: Land Use, Farming Systems and Cropping Seasons in India · NCERT: Class 6, Ch 3 "Landforms and Life"; Class 7, Ch 1 "The Story of Indian Farming"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"
Meaning
Irrigated farming is farming in which crops get water mainly from canals, wells, tubewells or tanks, not only from rain. By purpose it is of two kinds. Protective irrigation saves crops from drought. Productive irrigation gives plenty of water for high yields. Irrigation makes it possible to grow more than one crop a year and to use high-yielding varieties (HYVs) of seeds. But heavy pumping has drained groundwater, and poor drainage can make soils salty.
Example
Punjab and Haryana became the centre of the Green Revolution because of canal and tubewell irrigation. Today about 80% of Punjab's area has overexploited groundwater, and salinisation is the main way irrigated farmland degrades.
Don't confuse with
- Rainfed (barani) farming: depends on rain alone. It covers about half of India's net sown area.