Development of irrigation in Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesll has been a food defIcit area since late 50's, But the country attained selfsufficiency during the year 1999-2000. Rice production increased from 11.82 million metric ton in 1969 to 28.38 million ton in the year 2003-04. This revolution in food production happened mainly due to introduction of irrigation in the early sixties_ The development of irrigation in Bangladesh has passed through a senes of phases from its traditional manually lifted devices to the modern mechanized minor irrigation ,md major canal irrigation. In this study atlempts have been made to document the hIstorical development of imgation, the policies so far adopted and their Impacts, and irrigation coverage of the country. In documenting the history, atlempt has been made to present a brief discussion from ancient period, el~borating the development of modem irrigation, It is found from the contemporary records-that about 3000 years ago the Bengal Rulers introduced "Overflow Irrigation" system during the Ancient Period (up to 1213) which developed as "Tank Irrigation" system during the Medieval Period (1213 to 1757) wah some improvements in nood control and drainage facil1tlcS. In this period, during Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah (1442-1459 AD) a great portion of the Southern Bengal Came under cultivation due to hIS flood control and irrigation policies_ Among other medieval builders were Rukunllddin Barak Shah (1459-1474 AD) and Alauddin Husain Shah (1493-1519 A D) who built innumerable embankments, tanks, bridges and roads for the improvement of agriculture and communication. The agricultural prosperity achieved by the Sultani regimes was maintained and then further promoted by the Mughals. The Mughal technology of flood and irrigation management laid stress on the distribullon of water through arteries of planned canals and construction of embankments beside the rivers, inste~d of digging tanks, as were done by the Sultans_ River,dredging was another new element added by the Mughal rulers to the e~is(ing technology. During the Colomal Penod (1757 (0 1947). water resources development suddenly stopped and navigation got top priority. which would facilitule their business activities_ Due to long negligence by the colonial administration, the river system reached a "sorry state" by the time the country came out of the British rule, As early as September 1947, government gave due auention to water resources development and thus, Modem Period of water resourees development opened. Afterwards, government adopted a number of policies for the development of irrigation. The policies can be phased as: Public sector Initiation Phase (1951-1974), Public Sector Rationalization Phase (1974.1979), Private sector Expansion Phase (1979-84), Return towards Public Sector Control (1984-1987), Private Sector Liberalization and Expansion Phase (l987 to onwards) and National Water Policy (1999) 'where among other issues, people participation in management of public sector project is widely advocated. As a result of government import liberalization and privatization policy, the irrigation coverage has increased from about 0.5 million ha in 1959-60 to more than 4.68 million ha in 2002.03 which is 56.45% of the total cultivable area (8.29 Mha) and 66.85% of the irrigable area (7.0 Mha). Out of total irrigated area, groundwater covers about 71%, while surface water covers 29%. Regardmg irrigallOntechnology, minor irrigation contributed to about 86%, whereas 14% is contributed by major canal irrigation. Lower capital cost, greater case of installation and management have made STW popular among small and medium farmers and occupied 60% of the total minor irrigation and 51% of the total irrigation of the country. A downward stage has now been reached where availability of both groundwater and surface water resources have become constraint to further expansion of minor irrigation in certain regions. The reduced dry season flow of large rivers has become a limiting factor for achieving the targeted irrigable areas of the large irrigation projects. As regards facilities created, due to groundwater lowcring, power inteffilption and poor water management the perfonnances of existing STWs, DTWs and ll..Ps are below the potential and have hindered the expansion of irrigation by these facilities. On the other hand, a dramatic increase in the number of STWs and a constant declirle in command area per STW irldieate that the STWs are underutilized. Most of the large projects suffer from scarcity of O&M fund and majority of the small and medium projects need rehabilitation. Provision of necessary fund for O&M of running projects and due importance should be given on rehabilitation and conunarld area development of the age-old projects. Electricity supply for the irrigallon equipment should be maintained with dl.le importance. Augmentation of monsoon surface water for dry seaSOrluse by constructing barrages in the suitable location of the courltry, a realistic water treaty with the up-stream countries for proper sharing of the trans-boundary rivers and an integrated approach of irrigation developmerlt considering conjunctive use of both groundwater and surface water is necessary for further development of irrigation of Bangladesh.