Status of irrigation in drought prone areas

Irrigation has proved to be the most effective drought proofing mechanism and single biggest factor in bringing about a large measure of stability in agricultural production. The Statewise irrigation status of the drought prone areas is given in the link below .

It would be seen that the total geographical area of the drought districts is 108 M. ha out of which 81 M. ha is culturable (75%), gross sown area is 61.9 M.ha (57.4%) and the gross irrigated area is 14.3 M. ha. About 23.23% of the total cropped area is irrigated in the drought districts as against an all India average of 30.15%.