On-Farm Application System Design and Project-scale Water Management

Project-scale optimal on-farm designs considering total water availability and also the variability in the on-farm parameters are obtained using a two-stage programming approach in a mode of maximizing the net benefits from the project area. This provides the basis for comparing the consequences of projectscale design and operation under modes of volumetric equity and iso-efficiency. A methodology to subdivide the project area into different distinct portions is developed. A sample application indicates that there could be a wide variation in flow requirements in all the three modes. Variations in net on-farm benefits under modes of project-scale optimality and volumetric equity are also large. The sample study indicates that the iso-efficiency design results in near-optimal project-scale returns with uniform unit benefits in the different areas.