190

GIS based agricultural water demand analysis for Kurnool district

in Andhra Pradesh, India

M. Venkateswarlu M.L. Narasimham K.M. Lakshmana Rao

Abstract: The spatial and temporal variations in the resource base

of a region plays an important role in the integrated analysis of resources

for preparing developmental plans for that region. Water resources

analysis is of utmost important for assessing the availability and demand

for water for various purposes vis-à-vis for development of other resources

like human resources, services, infrastructure and so on. Thus water is

the critical resource for development of other resources and it is at the

center of any type of planning activity. Since, district is treated as basic

unit for preparing growth oriented developmental plans in India an

integrated analysis of all the resources available in the district vis-à-vis

the water resources available in the district essential.

Kurnool district is located in the Rayalaseema part of Andhra

Pradesh. The average rainfall in the district is 670 mm per annum. Like

any other part of the country, agriculture is the main activity and source of

income for more than 75% of the population who live in rural areas.

Kurnool district has got 19.2% of forest area and the net sown area

forms 50% of the total geographical area which is 17.658 lakh hectares.

The total cropped area in the district is 10.35 lakh hectares. The area

sown more than once during the year is 0.98 lakh hectares. The

agriculture in the district is mostly rainfed with some part of the district

covered under canal irrigation system. Only 2.13 lakh hectares of land is

irrigated through canals, tanks, wells and other sources as per the data for

2007-08. The principal crops grown in the district are Paddy, groundnut,

jawar, sunflower, sorghum and so on. In this paper an attempt has been

made to assess the water demand of various crops in kurnool district

using evopotranspiration method. The study is conducted to analyse the

demand for water over a period of eight years. The productivity vis-à-vis

the water demand of crops during this period was also studied to arrive at

the trend in water demand for agriculture alone. In view of the spatial and

temporal variations in the resource base across the district the GIS

capabilities have been used for water resources analysis of Kurnool

district.

Key words: crop water demand , evapotranspiration , ayacut ,

gross irrigation requirement

INTRODUCTION

The growth oriented developmental plans at macrolevel requires

location specific planning at district level with focus on the resource

potential of a particular area. Water is the critical resource for taking up

any development measures in any region. The development of other

resources like population, land, minerals and so on depends on

availability of potable water resources. With supply side shortages of

arable land, minerals and water in particular; it is necessary to prepare a

comprehensive inventory of all the available resources at micro level and

analyse the development potential of the area. Thus, formulation of

developmental plans in any region must be based on the water resources

potential of that region.

Water resource decisions generally involve a number of

alternatives and criteria and are often characterized by uncertain

consequences, complex interactions and participation of multiple stake

holders with conflicting interests.

The complexity of water decisions have a profound impact on

sustainable development of an area to achieve stable economy, equity

and stability of the environment. A comprehensive inventory of all the

resources will enable for optimum utilisation of water available in a

particular region as analysis and management of other resources depend

upon various environmental settings characteristic of that region. The

different environmental parameters include climatic conditions, soil

taxanory, drainage pattern, population, literacy and so on have profound

impact on water related decisions.

The present study is aimed at preparing a comprehensive data

bank of environmental settings and the resource potential of the study

area i.e kurnool district at mandal level.. Correlations between various

dependent variables have been obtained using GIS capabilities.

Population dynamics create demand for water for various

purposes namely agriculture, industries, domestic use and waste

disposal. Hence an attempt has been made to prepare comprehensive

inventory of water for agricultural production, vis-à-vis, soil type, fertility

status and irrigation techniques in Kurnool district.

Kurnool is a drought prone area with less rain fall is most of the

mandals. There is lot of uncertainty in water availability with high degree

of variability in various mandals. Agriculture is mostly rainfed and with

low levels of technology. In some parts ground water potential also

exploited for agricultural development. In order to sustain the

developmental measures for constant growth, it is necessary to identify

the low productivity zones to prepare strategies, so as to increase the

output by focusing efforts on development of these areas. To achieve this

goal it is necessary to optimize the water resources both surface and

subsurface by improving operational efficiencies ie by minimizing the

usage to avoid wastages.

Aggregating the water demand for various crops during each

season and making allocations and avoiding over explanation will go a

long way in sustainable development. The involvement of all the

stakeholders with proper understanding of critical nature of water in

water related decisions is very much essential. Unlike in an irrigation

system management where the control is centralized, the rainfed system

is very difficult to control as the points of source is distributed

geographically. In this scenario GIS capabilities will help in creating

spatial statistics generation, retrieval of data, visual display of model

results and so on.

The water requirement of various crops should be matched with

variable supplies from ground water and stream flows for operational

efficiencies. In view of highly uncertain variable supplies, minimization

of usage in terms of land use and water usage is essential.

2. Literature review

Spatial variability of recharge of ground is important. De selva (1)

proved it is correct method to estimate recharge. GIS technology has

played critical roles in all aspects of watershed management from

assessing watershed management from assessing watershed conditions

through modeling impacts of human activities on water quality and to

visualizing impacts of alternate management scenarios. Sunday tim (7)

applied GIS in watershed based management and decision making.

Gasin (2) implemented the same for local planning incorporating the

sustainability aspects. GIS based decision support systems can also be

used for real time water demand estimation in canal irrigation system (5).

GIS and remote sensing techniques are applicable to in accessible

regions like Rain gains coal mines, Himalayas etc. (3,6) GIS plays major

role in developing model inputs from digital geospatial databases

through model – GIS interfaces (4).

Description of the Study Area

The study area is bounded between latitudes E and

longitudes N and falling under the Survey of India Toposheet

No. 57 E and I in Andhra Pradesh, India covering an area of 17658Sq.

Km. The field data of entire Kurnool region is collected to assemble in GIS

format.

Agricultural resource analysis is done for Kurnool district, Andhra

Pradesh comprising of 54 mandals with black cotton and red soils. The

crop demand is estimated for some of the main crops like Paddy,

Sunflower, Ground nut, Korra and Chillies using Arc GIS. Software.

Paddy is the main crop grown in eastern parts of Kurnool in the Karif

monsoon season. Sunflower, ground nut, korra and chillies are grown in

karif and rabi seasons in western Kurnool.

007977and

001615and

The average annual rainfall of the district is 670 mm out of which

455 mm about 68% rainfall comes during South-west monsoon. North-

East monsoon brings about 22% of rainfall i.e. 149 mm. Thus, 80% of

the rainfall comes from the month of June to December. January to May

is the dry weather period with occasional showers during hot weather

period from March to May. Between 1985-86 and 2007-08 the lowest

rainfall recorded was 417.3 mm in the year 1986-87 and the highest

rainfall recorded in any year was 1081.3 mm during 2007-08. While the

lowest rainfall recorded was 195.7 mm during the year 1994-95 during

south west monsoon season, the highest rainfall recorded during south

west monsoon was 872.7 mm during the year 2007-08. The percentage

of deviation during south west monsoon from 1985-96 to 2007-08 is 91.8

against annual deviation of 61.4 percent. The return period of rainfall

has been worked out and presented in Table 1.

The area irrigated under various major, medium and minor irrigation

projects has been analysed and found that the major portion of the registered

ayacut i.e. 107498 hectares is under K.C. canal and 155397 hectares is irrigated

under K.C. canal during the year 2007-08. About 451 hectares was irrigated

under medium project Zurreru during the year 2005-06 with an ayacut of 613

hectares. After that, no irrigation was provided due to shortage of water. An

area of 25,431 hectares was irrigated against 61163 hectares of ayacut mostly

during rabi season with 17240 hectares of land irrigated during the year 2007-08

under Tunga Bhadra project LLC. An area of 7082 hectares is irrigated against

an ayacut of 10303 during rabi season of 2007-08 under Gajuladinne medium

irrigation project. An are of 120384 hectares including 55384 hectares during

rabi season under Telugu Ganga project during 2007-08. 18454 hectares was

irrigated gainst 26735 hectares of ayacut during kharif season of 2007-08.

Project Major/ medium/ minor

Ayacut in hectares Area irrigated in hectares

Kharif Rabi Total Kharif Rabi Total KC Canal Major 70978 36520 107498 112749 42848 155397 Zurreru Medium - 613 613 - - - T.B.P. LLC Major 17612 43551 61163 8191 17240 2543 Gajuladinne Medium - 10303 10303 - 7082 7082 TGP Major 65000 55384 120384 26735 - 26735 Tanks Minor 26735 - 26735 18454 0 18454

Table. 2 - Registered Ayacut and area irrigated under major, mediumand minor irrigation projects 2007-08.

Monthwise ground water levels have been analysed for the period

from 2002-03 to 2007-08 against the rainfall during the corresponding

months. The depth to water level is showing increasing trend during

2003-04 and 2004-05 with upward trend in rainfall. However from

2005-06, the depth to water level has been fallen even though there is no

decline in the rainfall perhaps there was more rainfall than the normal

during 2005-06 i.e. 840 mm and 1081.3 mm during 2007-08. The

lowest water level 6.838 is during the year of highest rainfall 1081.3 mm

which is alarming. The pre and post monsoon depth to water levels have

been shown against the monsoon rainfall in Fig 1.1 to 1.5.

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Annual Rainfall mm Pre SWM Water Level m Post SWM Water Level m

Fig. 1.1 Trends & Patterns of annual rainfall and ground water levels

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

SWM Rainfall mm Pre SWM Water Level m Post SWM Water Level m

Fig. 1.2 Trends & Patterns of annual rainfall and ground water levels

Fig. 1.3 Trends & Patterns of annual rainfall and ground water levels

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Annual Rainfall mm Pre NEM Water Level m Post NEM Water Level m

Fig. 1.4 Trends & Patterns of annual rainfall and ground water levels

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Annual Rainfall mm Pre Hot Weather Water Level m Post Hot Weather Water Level m

Fig. 1.5 Trends in month-wise ground water levels during 2007 - 08

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Depth to Ground Water m Rainfall mm

3. Results and Discussion

GIS application in watershed management plays critical key role in

assessing the watershed conditions. The crop demand is estimated using

local information on soil, fertility status, irrigation techniques

implemented in a GIS environment. The water availability and crop

demand for the main crops of Kurnool district will enable to plan the

water shed development activities.

GIS base maps of study area

Arc GIS software of (Geographical Information System) is used to

create the base maps. The field data of the study area is collected for 54

mandals of Kurnool district. The field data comprises details of soil

spread, crop production, fertility status and irrigation techniques

implemented.

The following inference is made from the GIS base maps for fertility

status, soil type and the crop production.

Western Kurnool: The Western Kurnool fertility values are low for

Nitrogen and phosphorous and high for potassium as depicted in Fig.9.

But, Pattikonda has medium potassium and Yemmiganur has medium

phosphorous and high potassium values. Main crops grown from this

region are sunflower, groundnut, korra and chillies as depicted in Fig

5,6,7 and 8. It is evident from Fig.4 that the type of soil of this region is

red soil.

Eastern Kurnool: The Eastern Kurnool region is rich with black cotton

soil as depicted in Fig.4. Paddy is grown in only some mandals of this

region. Fig. 4A. A part from paddy other crops like redgram and Bengal

gram are sown in this region. From Fig.9 it is clear that the fertility values

of eastern kurnool are low nitrogen and phosphorous, high potassium.

Bandi Atmakur, Dornipadu, Gospadu, Sirivella Allagadda and

Rudravaram are having medium potassium values.

Fig.1.6 Location Map of Study Area

Fig. 10 Kurnool District, Andhra PradeshMandal-wise Annual Rainfall 2005 - 2006

Crop Water Demand for Principal Crops

The crop water requirement is estimated using evapotranspiration

technique. The water demand of various crops is shown in Table 3. The area

irrigated under principal crops from 1995-96 to 2007-08 has been shown from

Fig. 3.1 to 3.4 for Paddy, sunflower, groundnut and chillies. The area under

principal crops during kharif and rabi seasons with total area irrigated is shown

in Fig. 3.5. The net area irrigated is shown in Fig 3.6. The cropping intensity and

irrigation intensity are shown in Fig. 3.7 and 3.8 respectively. Fig. 3.9 shows

cropping intensity against irrigation intensity.

Year

Crop

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Paddy

1097.40

1271.57

1267.55

1235.25

1244.53

1082.45

1313.76

1168.42

Maize

190.71

200.46

249.17

218.47

248.46

181.29

281.04

197.63

Cotton

325.08

495.46

402.84

359.32

386.65

313.34

434.04

350.30

Millet

152.51

132.92

183.19

161.24

191.57

128.75

218.44

143.34

Ground-

nut 149.84 197.63 246.35 204.75 233.51 166.68 278.22 194.86

Table 3A Gross Irrigation Requirement of Cropsbased on Crop Growth Stages

Table 3B Gross Irrigation Requirement of Cropsbased on Seasonal Average Consumptive Use

Year

Crop

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Paddy

1100.00

1275.00

1270.00

1238.00

1247.00

1085.00

1317.00

1171.00

Maize

333.03

339.46

350.64

342.97

350.97

325.69

359.11

332.77

Cotton

479.54

528.60

504.73

492.41

517.00

472.29

512.53

485.85

Millet

269.39

273.39

285.95

280.06

279.96

266.28

293.97

271.95

Ground-

nut 324.26 340.22 351.39 340.99 348.68 323.45 359.86 333.51

128,976123,457

90,845

91,027

43,894

71,040

119,032

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Are

a i

n H

ec

tare

s

Fig. 3.1 Area irrigated under Principal Crops- Rice

7,658

8,433

5,474

7,025

7,7227,284

4,917

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Are

a i

n H

ec

tare

s

Fig. 3.2 Area irrigated under Principal Crops- Sunflower

7,551

7,873

546

5,801

4,974

6,181

8,616

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

10,000

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Are

a i

n H

ec

tare

s

Fig. 3.3 Area irrigated under Principal Crops- Groundnut

Fig. 3.4 Area irrigated under Principal Crops- Cotton

3,085

2,0282,498

5,897

2,610

4,434

8,006

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

9,000

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08

Are

a i

n H

ec

tare

s

Fig. 3.5 Area irrigated under Principal Crops 2007-08 in hectares

128976, 84%

7551, 5%1339, 1% 3085, 2%

7658, 5%

5269, 3%

Rice

Jowar/Maize

Sunflower

Groundnut

Millet

Cotton

Fig. 3.6 Net Area irrigated under Principal Crops

Are

a in

Hec

tare

s

Perc

enta

ge

Fig. 3.7 Cropping intensity vs. Irrigation intensity

The gross irrigation requirement for major crops has been

calculated using average seasonal consumptive use and also for stage

wise growth of the crops. The same is presented from Fig. 3.10 to 3.15 for

paddy, maize, sorghum, groundnut and millet. The gross irrigation

requirement of various crops has been shown in Fig. 3.16 for the year

2007. The trend in gross irrigation requirement for various crops from

the year 2000 – 2007 is shown in Fig. 3.17. It is found the trend in

irrigation requirement is almost constant without much variation. Gross

irrigation requirement for various crops calculated for average seasonal

consumption and stage wise growth of the crops is presented in Table 4

and 5. The area under each principal crop, the yield and annual rainfall

has been shown in Fig. 3.18 to 3.22.

Fig. 3.8 Gross irrigation requirement - Rice

1,0

97

.40 1,2

71

.57

1,2

67

.55

1,2

35

.25

1,2

44

.53

1,0

82

.45 1

,31

3.7

6

1,1

68

.42

1,100.00

1,275.00 1,270.001,238.00 1,247.00

1,085.00

1,317.00

1,171.00

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

IRR

IRR from Crop Growth Stages mm IRR from Monthly Consumptive Use mm

1,168.42

197.63 170.38

350.30

143.34194.86

130.86

309.64

485.85

271.95333.51

226.12

332.77

1,171.00

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

Rice Maize Sorghum Cotton Millet Groundnut Legumes

IRR

IRR from Crop Growth Stages mm IRR from Monthly Consumptive Use mm

Fig. 3.9 Gross irrigation requirement for various crops 2007

Table 4 Total Irrigation Water Demand of Principal Crops

Crop

IRR

Area Total Water

Demand

Paddy

1168.42

108474

126743

Maize

197.63

18,358

3628

Cotton

350.30

8546

2994

Millet 143.34 9232 1323

Groundnut 194.86 34168 6658

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

IRR

Rice Maize Sorghum Cotton Millet Groundnut Legumes

Fig. 3.10 Trend in gross irrigation requirementfor various crops 2000 - 2007

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

19

95

-96

19

96

-97

19

97

-98

19

98

-99

19

99

-2K

20

00

-01

20

01

-02

20

02

-03

20

03

-04

20

04

-05

20

05

-06

20

06

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20

07

-08

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

4,000

Area ha Yield kg per ha Actual Rainfall mmA

rea

Yie

ld / R

ainfall

Fig. 3.11 Comparison of Yield with Annual Rainfall - Rice

Fig. 3.12 Comparison of Yield with Annual Rainfall - Groundnut

Are

a

Yie

ld / R

ainfall

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

300,000

350,000

19

95

-96

19

96

-97

19

97

-98

19

98

-99

19

99

-2K

20

00

-01

20

01

-02

20

02

-03

20

03

-04

20

04

-05

20

05

-06

20

06

-07

20

07

-08

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

1,400

1,600

Area ha Yield kg per ha Actual Rainfall mm

Fig. 3.13 Comparison of Yield with Annual Rainfall - Sunflower

Are

a

Yie

ld / R

ainfall

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

19

95

-96

19

96

-97

19

97

-98

19

98

-99

19

99

-2K

20

00

-01

20

01

-02

20

02

-03

20

03

-04

20

04

-05

20

05

-06

20

06

-07

20

07

-08

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Area ha Yield kg per ha Actual Rainfall mm

Fig. 3.14 Comparison of Yield with Annual Rainfall - Cotton

Are

a

Yie

ld / R

ainfall

0

20,000

40,000

60,000

80,000

100,000

120,000

140,000

160,000

19

95

-96

19

96

-97

19

97

-98

19

98

-99

19

99

-2K

20

00

-01

20

01

-02

20

02

-03

20

03

-04

20

04

-05

20

05

-06

20

06

-07

20

07

-08

0

200

400

600

800

1,000

1,200

Area ha Yield kg per ha Actual Rainfall mm

Fig. 3.15 Comparison of Yield with Annual Rainfall - Chillies

Are

a

Yie

ld / R

ainfall

0

2,000

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000

18,000

20,000

19

95

-96

19

96

-97

19

97

-98

19

98

-99

19

99

-2K

20

00

-01

20

01

-02

20

02

-03

20

03

-04

20

04

-05

20

05

-06

20

06

-07

20

07

-08

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

2,500

3,000

3,500

Area ha Yield kg per ha Actual Rainfall mm

It is found from the analysis of water resource potential of the

study area that though there is much variation in temporal distribution

of rainfall, there is not much variation in the area irrigated under

principal corps except in respect of chillies where there was upward

trend in area irrigated upto 2004-05 and there was a fall in the area

irrigated in the year 2005-06. In case of cotton there is downward trend

in area irrigated during the period 1995 to 2007-08. The area irrigated

under Paddy, jowar, bajra, sunflower is showing upward trend from the

year 2001-02 whereas the trend is negative in case of groundnut. It is

also seen that the production of various principal crops is following the

trend of area under each crop irrespective of the trend in rainfall.

4. Conclusions

The area under various principal crops in the study area is

showing an increasing tend particularly crops like Paddy, jawar, bajra,

sunflower, chillies and onion with increase in land brought under

cultivation. Whereas the trend in area under crops like groundnut and

cotton is showing a decreasing trend with land under these crops coming

down. The gross irrigation requirement of various crops is almost

constant from 2000 to 2007. As the area under certain crops is showing

increasing trend, the total crop water demand is also increasing. With

occasional excess rainfall during 2007-08 the average rainfall in the

district is close to the normal rainfall perhaps below the normal rainfall

in many years. As such it is necessary to optimize allocation of water to

various sectors particularly to agriculture as a major sector as far as

consumption of water is concerned.

Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Shri Ch V.S. Baskara Sarma, Chief Planning Officer,

Kurnool district for providing data on various resources. Thanks to

Sri J Venkatesh, Head of the Department, Remote Sensing, Institute of

Science and Technology, JNTUH for consistent help in providing

resources from remote sensing laboratory. The encouragement from

Prof. K. Manjula varu, Institute of Science and Technology, JNTU is duly

acknowledged.

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