Development Aspects Impressum Editors

Drip irrigation: Gujarat Green Revolution Company Limited

Gujarat has created the Gujarat Green Revolution Company Ltd (GGRC), a special purpose vehicle to popularize the adoption of drip irrigation among farmers. GGRC offers attractive subsidy-loans to adopters, but more importantly, it has fast- tracked and simplified the administrative procedures for accessing these. Farmers contribute only 5 per cent of the cost initially; GGRC provides a 50 per cent subsidy and helps arrange a loan for the balance of 45 per cent. Around 100,000 ha are covered by drip irrigation, and most of these have been moved to high-value crops (Gulati, Shah and Shreedhar, 2009). It has been estimated that around 74.1 mil- lion kWh of energy has been saved in just one year through the adoption of drip irrigation by Gujarat Green Revolution Company – a body specially created for the purpose.

7. Jyotigram Scheme (technological initiative in the power sector for irrigation needs)

Like elsewhere in India, unreliable farm power supply in Gujarat had been anath- ema for farmers as well as rural society as a whole. Uncontrolled farm power subsi- dies led to unsustainable increases in groundwater withdrawals and left the Gujarat Electricity Board nearly bankrupt. To control farm power subsidies the government began to reduce the hours of three phase power supply used by tube well owners while providing 24 hours of single/two phase supply sufficient for domestic users. In response, farmers in many parts began using capacitors to run heavy motor pumps on two phase or even single phase power. This resulted in a poor power supply environment in rural areas.

International donors and power sector professionals advocated metering of tube wells and consumption-linked charging for farm power. However, for a varie- ty of reasons, farmers strongly resisted metering. Researchers had advocated a sec- ond-best policy of intelligent rationing of farm power supply by separating feeders supplying power to tube wells. In 2003 the Gujarat Government implemented the Jyotigram Scheme (JGS, the “lighted village” scheme), which incorporated the core ideas of the second-best strategy of intelligent rationing. Jyotigram’s aim was to provide three phase power supply to Gujarat’s 18,000-odd villages; but this could be done only if effective rationing was imposed on farmers. During 2002–2006 around US$260 million were spent on the project, to ensure 24 hour, three-phase power supply for domestic and commercial uses in schools, hospitals, etc., and eight hours a day, three-phase full voltage power supply for agriculture; that is, continuous and full voltage power especially for agriculture at predictable timings for villages across Gujarat. By 2007/08, all the 18,066 villages were covered under JGS. With this, Gujarat has become the first State in the country where villages get three-phase power supply and farmers get three-phase, uninterrupted power supply at 430–440 voltage for eight hours according to a strict, pre-announced schedule.
Jyotigram pioneered a real-time co-management of electricity and groundwa- ter for agriculture, found nowhere else in the world. Farmers were also happy that they were spared the very high repair and maintenance cost that the poor power supply imposed on them. Moreover most farmers welcomed Jyotigram for limiting competitive pumping of water and addressing the common property externality inherent in groundwater irrigation. Groundwater and power rationing through the Jyotigram scheme not only increased efficiency of water and power utilization for agriculture, but also freed up these resources for the rural non-farm economy to grow.
Greater access to water not only had a land augmenting effect, but also al- lowed for multi-cropping and growth of high value fruits and vegetables such as mango and banana (that require much water). More water has also been made available for livestock, animal husbandry and fisheries, which are significant sec- tors in Gujarat’s economy.

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