Climate compass for Assam’s irrigation roadmap

The rise in frequency of extreme weather events in Assam has posed grave sustainability challeng-es to rainfed cultivation in the state. Drought-like situations on account of deficient rainfall or prolonged dry spells prevailing during the peak of the seed-sowing season have become the new normal. Unusual departures from normal rainfall adding to challenges of rain-dependent farmers call for innovative approaches to planning and execution of irrigation schemes and projects in the state. Decline in paddy production due to delay in the crop cycle, if left unchecked and unaddressed, will expose farmers in the state to interlinked shocks of loss of income, livelihood, bank loans taken for farming becoming Non-Performing Assets and the resultant weakening of the rural economy. The chronic shortfall in irrigation coverage gripping the state, despite it being endowed with an abundance of water bodies and plenty of underground water sources, is not a resource problem but an administrative disconnect with the intent of the strategic vision and execution. The State Irrigation Plan (2022-2027) sets an ambitious target of increasing the state’s irrigation coverage to 52% of the total sown area by 2027 from 21.54% in 2022, but the plight of farmers gripped by drought-like situations in several districts affected by less rain points towards poor implementation and failure to build an efficient irrigation system that mitigates the climate change impacts. The Plan envisages a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation framework ensuring that project milestones are met, resources are optimally utilised, and corrective measures are initiated. The monitoring and evaluation system will track both quantitative outputs, such as area irrigated, and qualitative impacts, like changes in crop yield and water use efficiency, it says. The online irrigation project monitoring system that brings officials of the Irrigation Department, contractors, and farmers onto a common platform lacks transparency for the general public, and the portal does not display a comprehensive picture about the implementation of schemes and projects and real-time data on the progress of work. Redesigning the portal on the line of Central Government Monitoring Dashboards will bring more transparency to the system and enable all stakeholders to know the status of various projects and schemes. Data transparency will also help domain experts and climate scientists come up with suggestions to increase irrigation coverage in the state. Addressing the problem of water availability for farmers in Assam is an urgent necessity, as 60% of cultivated areas in the state are rainfed, while experts have cautioned that the crop yield of rainfed rice is projected to decline by 20% by 2050. Increasing irrigation coverage in the state cannot be reduced to merely augmenting farmers’ income or setting target dates of completion of schemes and projects. A bigger problem of food security is looming large. Providing compensation to affected farmers under the crop insurance scheme is also no answer to the problem, even though it mitigates farmers’ loss due to erratic rainfall or flood to some extent. Timely execution of the irrigation schemes and projects, maintenance of the running schemes, and revival of idle schemes are critical to building the resilience of farmers cultivating rainfed rice. When members of farm households lose their livelihoods based on primary occupation, their savings erode, and the purchasing capacity of a large section of the rural population sharply declines until they find alternative livelihood avenues and start earning income that matches earnings from farming. From the perspective of consumers, the state becoming self-reliant in food crops, livestock, dairy products, and other food items is essential to protect them from price shocks in food procured from outside the state. Consumers belonging to middle- and lower-income families in the state feel the pinch of the price rise of edible oil, pulses, and other food items on which they are dependent on supplies from outside squeezing their household budget every time the prices go up at the source or due to a rise in transportation cost. If the climate change impact on the cultivation of rice in the state is not effectively addressed and the state at some point of time in the future is compelled to depend on supplies from other states to meet the demand of the growing population, then it will seriously impact the overall economy of the state, aggravating the crises of middle- and lower-income families. The state is significantly increasing paddy procurement at Minimum Support Price from farmers has incentivised many farmers to invest more by taking loans to increase production. Failure of crops on account of erratic rainfall or inclement weather will push them into a cycle of debt and distress. Strengthening the oversight mechanism is an urgent need of the hour to ensure that the policy and plan for increasing irrigation coverage in the state do not remain on paper. Putting in place a stronger oversight mechanism is not just finding more faults and recording findings and feedback about what went wrong but developing deep insight about the deficiency and lack of accountability in the system and taking corrective action.