International Journal on Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication ISSN: 2321-8169 Volume: 2 Issue: 3 545 – 547 ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 545 IJRITCC | March 2014, Available @ http://www.ijritcc.org ____________________________________________________________________________________ A Decision Support model for better Crop Productivity through Irrigation Water in Saurashtra Region Mr. Navtej Bhatt MCA Department Parul Institute of Engineering and Technology Vadodara, India bhattnavtej@gmail.com Dr. P.V. Virparia Department of Computer Science Sardar Patel University Vallabh Vidyanagar, India pvvirparia@yahoo.com Abstract— Agriculture in Saurashtra plays an important role in Gujarat Economy. It produces largest crop production of groundnut in country. It also produces other food and non-food crops. Water is an integral part of agriculture. Due to poor practices of water management, a huge amount of water in irrigated agriculture is wasted. There are large amount of data generated and available through research and advancement in agriculture. This data can be used in water demand forecasting for agriculture if utilized properly. The challenging task is to utilize the available data for estimation of future water requirement. To improve water management in irrigated areas, models for estimation of future water requirements are needed. This has led to methods and techniques such as decision support system that can be used to forecast irrigated water demand for agriculture in Saurashtra region for better productivity of crops. This paper reviews and summarizes the need of decision support system for water demand forecasting for agriculture. Keywords- decision support system; water demand forecastin; data mining; __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________ I. INTRODUCTION Agriculture and its allied sectors are the principal sources of livelihood for more than 58% of the population in India. It plays a significant role in the overall socioeconomic development of India [1]. As per latest estimates released by Central Statistics Office (CSO) the share of agricultural products/Agriculture and Allied Sectors in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country was 51.9 per cent in 1950-51, which has now come down to 13.7 per cent in 2012-13 at 2004-05 prices. Agriculture contributes 15% of Gujarat's GSDP (Gross State Domestic Product). About 35% of the land area in Gujarat falls in arid and semi-arid zone or along salinity affected areas. 3 out of 10 years have also traditionally seen inadequate rainfall. As per the IWMI (International Water Management Institute) report, in 1991-92, Saurashtra had a 31 per cent share in Gujarat's net value of selected crops. This share, after some fluctuations, has steadily soared post-2000 to 49 per cent in 2007-08, says IWMI report. Saurashtra being known as the “groundnut bowl” of India. It is having total land area 6.34 million hectors and agriculture land is 4.17 million hectors. The area under groundnut, which is the most dominant kharif crop of Saurashtra region, has been hovering around 2.0 m. ha during the past 3 decades or so, after a slow decline from a peak of 2.3 m. ha in the early 60s. An exception is the shrinking of area which occurred during 1987-88, the third year of the most severe drought of the century. This is quite understandable, as the farmers in the region were facing extreme water shortages after two years of drought and did not want to take a major risk [2].