A very interesting topic. ...

A very interesting topic. First of all good potable water from rivers should not be used in agriculture. Agriculture world over uses 80% of water for irrigation purposes. India dispels 67,000 mld of wastewater every day. Out of this only 27,000 mld is treated and then released into rivers. Ideally all the 67,000 mld of wastewater should be treated to tertiary level quality and then used for irrigation.

There is also the other aspect of how much water should be drawn by farmers into the fields for irrigation purposes. There are so many agri experts who can assess the volume of water required per hectare as well as based on the produce that is being grown. Once the farmer knows the volume of water required for his field only that much is drawn either from a canal or from a water source. This water then needs to be stored in a tank on his farm and this water can be let out into his field for irrigating purposes. Ideally drip irrigation would be the best method to incorporate instead of flood irrigation. But all farmers may not be in an economic state to install drip irrigation system in his fields. In such a scenario the farmer can approach Banks or NABARD to get financial assistance to set up drip irrigation systems on his farm.

Better yields and lower losses will be possible only if agriculture is approached in a scientific manner.