An attempt has been made regarding the temporal variation in sources of irrigation and their impact on the rainfed agriculture in Maharashtra State. The study is based on secondary data culled from the publications of the Agricultural Statistical information Maharashtra State, Pune. The data pertains to a period of twenty-five years i.e., from 1980-81 to 2004-05 and were subjected to compound growth rate analysis. From this study, it may be concluded that there has been a marginal increase in the total irrigated area in the study period. The growth of well irrigation was observed to be higher than surface irrigation. The cropping pattern of Maharashtra is shifting from cereals to pulses, oilseeds and commercial crops due to better returns.
