Farmer gets wise, beats drought with micro-irrigation

Farmer gets wise, beats drought with micro-irrigation

At a time when the district has been reeling under scorching sun and acute water shortage, a farmer in a remote village here has been reaping rich harvest by switching over to micro-irrigation system and saves himself from falling victim to the drought caused by failure of monsoons last year.

P Balachander needs to water the sprouting crops twice a week so that he can save water by way of adopting drip and sprinkler irrigation techniques.

“I have brought about six acres of my land under the drip irrigation system for five years now. And another half acre has been under sprinkler irrigation. I get 25 per cent more yield than what I get through normal irrigation system”, he said proudly.

All he needs to spend to install the micro-irrigation system is `43,650 for drip and `20,000 for sprinkler per acre respectively.

Not only has he been getting better yield, but also able to tackle water scarcity as the land has gone arid in many places without sufficient rains.

Balachander says,”This is the first time that water shortage is almost paralysed farming activities in our area, lying on the foot hills of Kolli hills. Micro-irrigation helps us tide over the water crisis by judiciously using the available resources in the area.”

Swathes of land belonging to this farmer appears greener with groundnut and tapioca plants growing well. He has already made a good harvest of about 100 kg turmeric and 2,400 kg shallots earlier.

The government is promoting micro-irrigation system by providing subsidy to farmers.

According to A Umamaheswari, Agriculture Officer, Namagiripet, “The Agriculture Department provides 75 per cent subsidy to farmers switching over to micro-irrigation while the Horticulture Department gives 100 per cent subsidy to the farmers.”

The system that puts in place judicious use of water is being encouraged under two schemes, Micro-irrigation Project and National Agriculture Development Project.

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