Most of agriculture in India is rain-fed, several different kinds of irrigation system are adopted to supply water to agricultural lands.

The resources are: wells, canals, rivers and tanks.

Wells: Dug wells and tube wells. In dug wells water is collected from water bearing strata.

Tubewells: Can tap water from deeper strata.

Canals: Most extensive irrigation system. Canals receive water from reservoirs or rivers. The main canal is divided into branch canals having further distributaries to irrigate fields.

River lift system: Water is directly drawn from the river for supplementing irrigation in areas close to rivers.

Tanks: These are small storage reservoirs, which intercept and store the run-off of smaller catchment areas.