Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

EXAMINING ELECTRICITY WELL IRRIGATIONS NEXUS IN SOUTH INDIA: A MULTIVARIATE CO INTEGRATION APPROACH

R. Paramasivam, P. Paramasivam1, M. Umanath, R. Balasubramanian2 and A. Surendran

Abstract

The present study examined cointegration between electricity consumption by agriculture and area under well irrigationin Tamil Nadu by using ARDL bound test approach. The test is complemented for Johansen and Juselius maximum likelihood procedure in a dynamic framework of inclusion of electricity consumption in the agricultural sector, area under well and surface irrigation and rainfall. The study failed to examine Granger-causality between electricity consumption and area under well irrigation in the short run. Any changes in the well irrigated area unaltered the consumption of electricity. However, bi-directional causality is reached between well area and surface area; and electricity consumption and rainfall in the short run. Unidirectional causality existed from the area under surface irrigation to well irrigated area; area under surface irrigation to electricity consumption; and rainfall to well irrigated area. In the long run, there existed Granger-causality from the well area to electricity consumption, indicating that any reduction in area under irrigation would affect electricity consumption positively.