THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mukundan Karat, a former bank employee from Karanthur, with a rich agricultural ancestry embraced drip fertigation method for his coconut farm, which has over 60 coconut trees, after realising the benefits of the irrigation technique which has now found wide acceptance among the farmers of the state.
Micro irrigation methods such as drip irrigation assumes significance in the present scenario as water scarcity has become a very potent problem for farmers in many parts of the state.
Drip fertigation is a process by which fertilisers in liquid form are injected into the drip irrigation system for more efficient administration of manure to the crop.
“I have been using drip fertigation method for the coconut trees in my farm since past three years. There has been a significant increase in the yield ever since I started following the technique,” testified Mukundan. According to him, there is no need of using the system when the crops receive rainfall abundantly. He said that he harvests around 90 to 100 coconuts per year from a single tree.
Scientists at the Center for Water Resources Development and Management (CWRDM) at Kunnamangalam, who have been persistent in their research for relatively cheaper methods of scientific irrigation while adhering to strict water conservation policies, opine that the adherence to such methods have become very important for the farmers in the state.
“Drip fertigation technique involving application of soluble fertilisers along with drip irrigation offers more advantages to the farmers than the latter technique alone. This will significantly improve the yield and quality of crops, as proved by the various research trials. Such a benefit is very important for farmers in Kerala as it will work towards improving their income, which is very much the need of the hour because of the high cost of cultivation,” said Madhavan Chandran, a senior scientist at Agriculture division of CWRDM.
Drip fertigation at Mukundan’s coconut farm was installed by CWRDM under its three year ‘Farmer participatory demonstration and evaluation of drip fertigation technique in Kerala’ project.
Mukundan, however, admitted that drip fertigation will not work very well with organic manure due to its insoluble nature. “Organic fertilisers will not dissolve well in water and hence it is difficult to inject such manures into the system,” he added. However, he opined that the use of chemical fertilisers like NPK (Nitrogen Phosphorous Potassium) in required quantities will not lead to any adverse health impact.
Mukundan is all praise for the state agricultural department which has set the floor price of coconut as `28. “Nowadays, I am never disappointed when selling coconuts. If I do not get the required price for my coconuts in private market, I sell it to Krishi Bhavan where it is procured at a rate of `28 and that not a very bad price,” he added.