67 International Journal of Water Research 2014; 2(2): 67-70 ISSN 2348 – 2710 Original Article A study on the Crop Water Requirement for Agriculture in a Typical River Basin of India Rijwana Parwin Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, NIT, Rourkela, India, 769008 Email: rijwana.parwin27@gmail.com Received 03 November 2014; accepted 18 November 2014 Abstract Water, the precious resource with which a life can be prolong on Earth. The term crop water requirement is defined as “amount of water required to the crop from its planting date to harvesting date”. It also refers to the amount of water required to compensate the evapo-transpiration loss from cropped field. It depends on crop type, stage of growth and evaporation demand. This study focuses on one of the most important basins i.e., Brahmani River Basin, Odisha, India which has been a primary agricultural center and now transforming in to industrial hub at various locations. It is a water surplus basin, but has water scarcity as well as water logging/flooding at different reaches. The crop water requirement is much below the available rainfall and even available groundwater at various locations of Brahmani River basin. © 2014 Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved Key words: Brahmani River Basin, Crop water requirement, Crop coefficient, Evapotranspiration. Introduction Indian agriculture is diverse, ranging from impoverished farm villages to developed farms utilising modern agricultural technologies. Irrigation in India refers to the supply of water from Indian rivers, tanks, wells, canals and other artificial projects for the purpose of cultivation and agricultural activities. In developing country such as India, 64% of cultivated land is dependent on monsoons [1]. Agriculture is an important part of Indian economy. 1.6 billion People live in areas experiencing economic water scarcity, where the lack of investment in water or insufficient human capacity makes it impossible for authorities to satisfy the demand for water [2]. However, milk production generates more value than the outputs of rice and sugarcane combined. Sustainable water use and agricultural growth in major milk-producing areas require a drastic reduction in groundwater Consumptive water use, which, at present, exceeds natural recharge. It is suggested that diversifying to a mix of milk and high-value (but low water consuming) crops can reduce groundwater CWU while ensuring higher total output [3]. The loss of benefits when irrigation water reallocate for requirement of environmematal flow is only 1.2–1.6 % of the gross value of crop production, which can be overcome with an increase in irrigation efficiency or marginal productivity[4]. Crop water requirment depends on crop type, stage of growth and evaporation demand [5]. Study area and Data collection This study focuses on one of the most important basins i.e Brahmani River Basin, Odisha, India which has been a primary agricultural center and now transforming in to industrial hub at various locations. It is a water surplus basin, but has water scarcity as well as water logging/flooding at different reaches. River Brahmani is the second largest river (Mahanadi river is 1 st ) in the State of Odisha.River Sankh originating in Chattishgarh and river Koel originating in Jharkhand are the two major tributaries of River Brahmani. After their confluence at Vedvyas, Panposh in Odisha, the river is known as Brahmani. The total drainage area of the river basin is 39116 Km 2 . Of this, basin area inside Orissa is 22516.08 Km 2 . which constitutes 57.36-% of the total basin area. The basin area inside Jharkhand and Chattishgarh are 15700 Km 2 . and 900Km 2 . respectively. This basin is located within the geographical co-ordinates of north latitude 20 0 28' to 23 0 35' and east longitude 83 0 52' to 87 0 03'. Brahmani river basin is an inter- state river basin (Figure 1). Monthly precipitation data for each district (15 districts in all covering Brahmani river basin) for a time period of 1901 to 2012 was collected from Indian water portal and IMD, Pune. Data related to ground water usages and water level (quarterly) were collected from water resource department (odisha,chattissgarh and Jharkhand) and CGWB,respectively. Daily discharge data collected from central water commission for all five gauge sites like Available online at http://www.urpjournals.com International Journal of Water Research Universal Research Publications. All rights reserved