The government has brought a strategy of providing irrigation facility on additional 44,500 hectares area in the next three years.
This is stated in the work plan related to the medium term expenditure structure released by the National Planning Commission (NPC) recently. The irrigation facility is being expanded as a strategy to promote agricultural production and achieving the goal of economic prosperity.
It is stated in the work plan that projects regarding surface irrigation, ground water irrigation and inter-watershed transfer would be moved ahead with long term goal to provide sustainable irrigation facilities.
Along with this program, the government has the objective of providing surface irrigation facilities on 25,745 hectares, ground water irrigation facilities to 122,100 hectares.
Surface and ground water irrigation facilities are available only on around Rs. 1. 43 million hectares of land out of the total about Rs 2. 41 million hectares irrigated land in the country.
The government has initiated intensive efforts for the development of the irrigation infrastructures as well as planned management of the available irrigation system. It is found that some 300,000 hectares of land on which irrigation is feasible from the viewpoint of traditional technology and economic viability is still devoid of irrigation facility.
The government has the objective of reaching irrigation facility to the comparatively dry and upland areas in the hilly region by employing the new irrigation technology. Likewise, the government plans to make the management of the large and extensive irrigation systems developed in the Tarai region stronger and effective.
It is stated that multi-purpose reservoir and inter basin water translocation projects would be started in the coming three years for providing reliable irrigation facility to the farmers.
