Irrigation (Definition): The supplying of water to crops on farms at regular intervals called irrigation. Also the time and frequency of irrigation varies from crop to crop, soil to soil and season to season.
Sources of Irrigation:
The major sources of water for irrigation are- Wells, tube-wells, ponds, canals, rivers, lakes and dams. Moreover, The tank irrigation is common in the eastern and southern states. And also Canal contribution has its maximum development in the Great Plains and in the rivers like Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna deltas in the eastern coastal plains. Wells and Tube-wells are popular in the alluvial plains.
“The best way to give water to our crops is through irrigation”.
Types:-
Majorly there are two types of irrigation method:
- Traditional methods of Irrigation,
- Modern methods of Irrigation.
1.Traditional methods of Irrigation:
In this type of method; the water available in wells, canals and lakes etc. has lifted up by different methods in different regions, for taking it to the field. Also the cattle or human labor is used in these methods. So these methods are cheaper; but less less efficient.
“Traditional methods will teach us for betterment of future”.
Therefore the various traditional ways are:-
- Moat (pulley system)
- Chain pump
- Dhekli
- Rahat (lever system)
a. Moat or pulley system:
It is a manual irrigation method. By this method, water has directly taken out of wells with the help of a pulley and is used to irrigate fields. So this method composed required a pulley and a rope. A bucket has to tied to one end of rope. Another end of rope have pulled through over the pulley in order to draw water.
b. Chain pump:
The chain pump is type of a water pump in which several circular discs are positioned on an endless chain. One part of the chain dips into the water, and the chain runs through a tube, slightly bigger than the diameter of the discs. Moreover, they are slow moving and the corrosion, wear, or failure of one part will not usually prevent the pump from working.
c. Dhekli:
It is a traditional system of irrigation; which has mainly seen in rural areas. It has done through manually. The person had to take out water through a bucket and pour it into the field. Moreover, the major disadvantage is that this causes a lot of water wastage and now for water scarcity. So people don’t use this method.
d. Rahat or lever system:
Rahat or lever system the older method; which uses animals as labor. So in this type of irrigation, the wheel should have turned by oxen, buffalo or cows to get the water out of the well, and then spread out over the crops. As a result, in older days it is very effective technology; but it mostly used in plain areas.
Conclusion:
To conclude this, it is very important in country like India. As rainfall in India is seasonal and sometimes it does not provide adequate amount of water for large scale process like agriculture. Therefore we depend on various kind of technique for the growing of crops. And also we should find some other processes of irrigation to get agriculture successful.
NOTE- hope this article will help you for better understanding of the topic. All the best!
https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/other/agricultural/types.html
http://mechomotive.com/agriculture/
