OPTIMIZATION OF LAND AND WATER RESOURCES FOR MAHANADI-CHITROTPALA ISLAND, ORISSA.

Abstract

Land and water are two most important natural resources for the development of Indian agriculture. It is therefore necessary to manage those two resources optimally to meet the demand of the growing population. Linear optimisation techniques are perhaps the best known and most widely used method for management science. Hence land and water use management by linear proramrning has been used in the present study. This dissertation is an attempt to find out a policy for optimal use of land and water resources resulting in optimal benefits from the study area. The study was done both an the basis of fixed irrigation and variable irrigation of various crops. Two different plans of with and without minimum area constraints were imposed on the above two models to find out the optimal cropping pattern. The study area is situated in Cuttack district of Orissa. It is surrounded by river Mahanadi and Chilrotpala and is well known as Mahanadi-Chitrotpala Island. It has a gross command area of 27,920 ha. out of which 19,542 ha. is culturable.