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Irrigation.
During the period of the first two development plans, the
irrigation service area increased from 1.5 million hectares in
1964 to two million hectares in 1974. By the end of 1993, the
irrigated area was 4.24 million hectares which is 18 percent of
the entire agricultural area. Most of the irrigation service areas
are in the central and northern regions fed by tributaries of the
Chao Phraya River. Areas in the Northeast irrigated by canals came
to about 13 percent of the total.
About
3.4 million hectares have access to gravity irrigation, and 92,800
hectares of these are under an intensive on-farm development
programme known as the Land Consolidation Project. Within gravity
irrigation servicing areas, major structures such as reservoirs,
diversion dams and main canals have been built.
Investment
in on-farm development is generally required to enhance the
effectiveness of the system.
Pumping
irrigation is another important technique in the irrigation system.
This technique was first implemented in 1973. In 1993 pumping
stations serviced 500,000 hectares. The northeastern region
benefits most from this service.
In
addition, underground reserves provide a significant amount of
irrigation water in certain areas. It is estimated that farmland
irrigated by ground-water at present amounts to 1,600 hectares.
Farm ponds are also used to supplement rainfall for many areas of
the dry Northeast.
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