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An evaluation of the irrigation investments in smallholder coconut crop in Kerala State in India showed that the share of irrigation costs to total costs was 25-50 percent in small irrigated holdings. Yhe average variable cost of irrigation was Rs. 1,667.36 and the average capital cost was Rs. 1,031.49 per hectare. The irrigation investments showed wide variations among holdings of different land categories and also different sources qf irrigation. INTRODUCTION In the uplands of Kerala State, plantation crops have dominated the cropping systems. They include tea, coffee, rubber, coconut, arecanut and cardamom. The downward trend in production of some of these crops in recent years is a discomforting feature in agriculture in this region. There exists scope for increasing the productivity of these crops by way of (i) irrigation and (ii) scientific management practices. At present only coconut and arecanut are irrigated to a considerable extent. The rural economy of Kerala is closely linked with these crops. Any developmental strategy drawn with regard to these crops will have an impact on the small holdings which constitute more than 90% of the total holdings. The identification of ideal sources of irrigation and optimum management strategies need a thorough understanding of the present status of development and management. Hence a study was taken up on the irrigation investments with reference to the major irrigated plantation crop of the state, viz., coconut. METHODOLOGY The district of Kasaragod was selected for the study in view of the fact that the percentage of irrigated area to the total area cultivated was the maximum in this district with respect to the crop under study, viz., coconut. A multi stage random sampling procedure was adopted for the study. The total sample of 193 holdings was distributed wnong three physiographic zones, viz., low land (altitude less than 7.5 m above MSL), midlands (lying between 7.5m and 75 m above MSL) and highlands (more than 75 m above MSL). Two major sources of irrigation in each zone was considered for the study. The final sample categories were as follows: S1 : Lowland well source S2 : Lowland river S3 : Midland well S4 : Midland rivulet 1 Assistant Professor, Kerala Agricultural University, Regional Agricultural Research Station & Professor, Water Technology Centre, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, respectively. 2 S5 : Highland tanks S6 : Highland rivulets The data pertained to the year 1992-93. The following procedure was used to compute the irrigation investments in coconuts in a boconut based farming cropping system. (i) Cost of irrigation and pumping. The levelised annual cost (LAC) approach which is equivalent to the Net Present Worth (NPW) approach in which each of the cash flows is determined and discounted to a present value, is used to compute the pumping cost. The LAC is defined as, LAC = output Energy Annual Cost Annualised where, Annualised cost = Capital Investment x CRF + annual operation, maintenance and repair costs + annual fuel costs. The annual energy output for the pumping systems is in proportion to the amount of water pumped in m/year for a given system. Hence the annual water output is considered. Capital Recovery Factor (CRF) is given by, CRF = r/1(1-r) -CL Where 'r' is the annual discount rate and OL is the operating life of the system. In this study the annual discount rate was taken as 15 percent, being the lending rate of the banks (or the rate at which the farmer is able to borrow money) and the operating life of the system as 25 years. The annualised cost is given by, AC = I x CRF + OMR + FC, where, AC is the annualised cost, l is the capital investment, OMR is the annual operation, maintenance and repair cost, FC is the fuel cost (either electricity charges or Diesel/Kerosene/Petrol charges depending upon the number of hours of operation in a year). The annual water output was worked out using the relationship, w = T N x HP x E x 75 where E efficiency which ranged from 0.5 to 0.7, HP is the horsepower of the pumpset, N the number of working hours and T the total head. (ii) Allocation of area in mixed crop stands. Since coconut was grown as a mixed crop in the hornesteads it was necessary to allocate the effective area occupied by each crop in the crop mix. Tle following methodology was used for allocating the area under each crop (Kaseko, 1976).

IRRIGATION INVESTMENTS IN SMALLHOLDER COCONUT FARMING IN KERALA INDIA