Conclusion and Suggestions The present study enlists various sources of irrigation, their spatial patterns and growth trends in Uttar Pradesh state of India. This study tries to explore the human-­ water interactions in irrigated agriculture of the state adapting socio-hydrological approach. Being the most populated state in the country, water demand in agricul- ture is high to produce adequate food for sustaining the population of the state. As a result, more use of groundwater through water extraction devices mainly through tubewells is prevalent since mid-1960s, which has resulted into change in land use dynamics focusing mainly on wheat and rice crops. The plentiful availability of ground water in the state has led to high level of development in certain parts of the state. Uneven patterns of human-water relation occur where indiscriminate exploi- tation of groundwater resources prevails, which led to decline in water tables in many pockets of the state. Hence, irrigation water management is a prerequisite condition for achieving sustainable agricultural development in the state. This research deals with the development of irrigated agriculture in the state dur- ing 20 years of time period since 1995–1996 to 2014–2015 which has been further divided into four quinquennial periods, i.e., 1995–2000, 2000–2005, 2005–2010 and 2010–2015 so as to make a comparative assessment. From the analysis, it can be explained that, there has been a significant increase in gross irrigated area in the state from 67.28% (17.59 million ha.) to 77.85% (20.11 million ha.) during the peri- ods of 1995–2000 and 2010–2015. Bundelkhand region of the state recorded the highest positive growth in gross irrigated area, followed by central and eastern parts, whereas its growth in western region has been negative during the periods 1995– 2000 to 2000–2005 and 2005–2010 to 2010–2015. The number of districts almost tripled having above 85% of gross irrigated area from 1995–2000 to 2010–2015, and most of the growth in gross irrigated area was observed in the districts confined to Awadh and Purvanchal regions of the state. It is evident from the study that, net irrigated area was high in almost all the districts of the state, except some districts of Bundelkhand and north-eastern tarai belt of the state. Net irrigated area has been positive with a growth of above 3% during the respective periods of study. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 349 S. Lata, Irrigation Water Management for Agricultural Development in Uttar Pradesh, India, Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00952-6 350 Conclusion and Suggestions Bundelkhand and central regions of the state have shown a high positive growth in net irrigated area during these periods. It can be observed from the study that, area irrigated more than once acquired a steady increase in its area from 28% to nearly 38% during this period. The districts belonging to Bundelkhand and eastern region of the state achieved the higher growth in area irrigated more than once as against the western region which was characterized with negative and low growth during these periods. This is attributed to the fact that, an increase in area irrigated more than once led to an increase in gross irrigated area in the state. While examining the source-wise growth in irrigated area, it was observed that, it has been significant in groundwater (tubewells) development in the state because of inherent weaknesses in maintenance of the surface water (canals) sources of irri- gation. It has been noted that operational efficiency of canal water is low because conveyance loss in irrigation water through canals is twice that of tubewells. Groundwater seems to be relatively more equitable than surface irrigation, though recent trends favour richer farmers who can afford deeper wells and larger pumps. As a result of the poor performance of public canal irrigation and the relative advan- tages of groundwater use, tubewells have become the predominant means of irriga- tion. Tubewells play a significant role in enhancing the extent of net irrigated area in the state and have become the major source of irrigation as they account for more than 70% of net irrigated area in the state. At present, more than 90% of tubewells irrigated area was observed in the districts of Gorakhpur, Farrukhabad, Baghpat, Kheri, Sitapur, Gonda, Mahamaya Nagar, Shrawasti, Agra, Aligarh, Mau, Kannauj and Firozabad. The districts of Bundelkhand region and Sonbhadra of Purvanchal showed a remarkable progress in tubewell irrigated area and achieved a growth of above 20% during all the periods of growth. In spite of the achievements, Bundelkhand still considered to be backward region in respect of irrigation, as about 40% of its total cropped area receives irrigation. Area irrigated through canals was very high in the districts of Chandauli, Sonbhadra and Mirzapur of Purvanchal region, and Jalaun of Bundelkhand region. The districts belonging to central part and Bundelkhand region of the state regis- tered a negative growth in canals irrigated area during all the periods of study. There has been a rapid decrease in area irrigated by government tubewells in all regions of the state during previous two periods of growth, i.e., 1995–2000 to 2000–2005 and 2000–2005 to 2005–2010. While during later period of growth (2005–2010 to 2010–2015), the government tubewells showed significant growth of 10.54% in the state including all the regions. These tubewells share a low percentage (about 3%) in net irrigated area in the state. Irrigated area by other wells recorded a significant growth in the state to the tune of 39.88, 27.15 and 19.37% in respective periods of growth. Annual growth rates calculated for the last 20 years period from 1995–1996 to 2014–2015 showed a positive growth of 1.06 and 0.86% per annum in gross and net irrigated area of the state, respectively. Highest positive growth in gross irrigated area was seen in the districts of Bahraich followed by Gonda, Lalitpur, Sitapur, Deoria and Jalaun, whereas lowest negative growth was recorded by the districts of Etah, GBN and Sonbhadra. In terms of net irrigated area again the districts of Conclusion and Suggestions 351 Bahraich, Sitapur, Lalitpur and Jalaun were on top of the list, whereas the districts namely Meerut, Varanasi, Sonbhadra, Etah and GBN were showed negative growth rate per annum. The districts possessing high growth rate per annum in area irri- gated more than once mainly belonged to Purvanchal region of the state, including the district of Gonda, along with Jhansi and Jalaun of Bundelkhand region. Area irrigated through canals recorded a negative growth of −0.94% per annum in the state. Highest positive growth in canal irrigated area was recorded in the districts of Bijnor followed by Lalitpur, Siddharthnagar and Faizabad in contrast to a low nega- tive growth achieved by the districts of JPN, Baghpat, Basti, Rampur, Shrawasti and Budaun. Very high growth in tubewell irrigated area was noticed in the districts of Bundelkhand region namely, Lalitpur, Mahoba and Chitrakoot, and also including Sonbhadra of Purvanchal. As regards to annual growth rates in crop-wise irrigated area, cash crops and cereals were highly irrigated crops to the extent of about 96.63% and 85.04% of the total area sown under these crops, and showed a significant growth of 1.40 and 1.19% per annum, respectively during the study period. The districts representing Awadh, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand and lower doab regions recorded a very high and high growth rate per annum in irrigated area under cereal crops. Very low negative growth rate per annum in irrigated area of cereal crops was featured in the districts of Meerut, Etah, GBN and Sonbhadra. High percentage of growth in area irrigated under cash crops during the same period was seen in the districts of Awadh and middle and lower doab regions of the state. For state as a whole, the growth rate per annum in area irrigated under pulse crops was in negative order (i.e., −1.59%). For pulse crops, very high and high growth rates were recorded by the districts of Bundelkhand, Awadh, lower doab and Rohilkhand regions. In contrast, the districts namely, Bara Banki, Etah and Agra were characterised with very low negative growth rate. Oilseed crops in the state showed a slight positive growth (0.03%/ annum) in irrigated area during this period. The districts of Bundelkhand, Rohilkhand and Purvanchal regions showed a very high and high growth in irrigated area under oilseed crops in the state. About growth trends in irrigated area under cereal crops, bajra, rice and wheat were characterized with positive growth rates of 5.56, 2.02 and 0.90% per annum, respectively. In contrast to this, other cereal crops had negative growth during this period. Highest negative growth rate was seen in jowar (−5.55%/annum) followed by barley and maize with −2.95 and − 0.29% per annum, respectively. All the pulse crops recorded negative growth rates. Among oilseed crops, irrigated area showed positive growth rate for groundnut and til. Soybean and mustard and rapeseeds were having negative growth rates to the tune of −8.28 and −0.01% per annum, respec- tively. Among cash crops, potato and sugarcane crops were accounted for 2.16 and 1.21% growth rate in irrigated area, respectively during 1995–1995 to 2014–2015. The analysis indicates that, average irrigation intensity for the state as a whole was 145% during 2010–2015. The districts of Rampur and Moradabad of Rohilkhand, Mainpuri of lower doab and Bara Banki of Awadh region showed very high irrigation intensity during the periods of study.