Scientists stress on micro irrigation in agriculture

Senior scientists on Saturday emphasized on use of less water for agricultural production. Most of them advised to use micro irrigation system like drip irrigation and sprinklers to grow crops. While discussing on the 'Minimizing water use in agriculture' here at the ICAR-Indian Institute of Water Management (IIWM), the agricultural scientists expressed concern over declining per capita availability of surface and ground water resources in India. As demand for water is increasing in other sectors including industry, water to agriculture has become a challenge. "If we fail to use water efficiently, we can't meet the water demand in future," said the experts.

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Dr Himanshu Pathak, director of National Rice Research Institute at Cuttack, said climate change has become a major problem in the world. Due to the impact of climate change, drought, flood and other natural calamities occur across the globe. It badly impact on water resources too. "So a big challenge for us to save the rain water and use the existing water resources judiciously," he added. IIWM's principal scientist Dr Gouranga Kar said micro irrigation can bring big change in use of water. "We can't check population or industry, but we can control use of water," he added.

He suggested three tricks to minimize water use in agriculture. "Cropping system needs to be changed. We have to develop seeds which can be grown with minimum water. Low water requiring crop can become an answer to this. Second, we have to charge the ground by preserving the rain water. Third, use of micro irrigation system in agriculture," he said. IIWM director SK Ambast said micro irrigation is considered as a very economic and efficient proposition for the purpose of water irrigation. During their experiments conducted in different states for several crops, they have found that the micro irrigation system saves roughly 30-40 per cent of water and around 20 per cent fertilizer and also enhances the yield by almost 20 per cent, he added.  

There is only 40 per cent efficiency in canal irrigation or surface irrigation system, but if we add piped irrigation with micro irrigation system, a huge amount of water will be saved. "We have started our experiment on Puri canal in Odisha. We will demonstrate the techniques to farmers," he added. He also said that fertilizer can be mixed with water in drip irrigation system while irrigating the farm land. It is called as drip fertigation. "We are using this trick at some farmlands at Dhenkanal sadar block. It has yielded good result," he added. Some scientists said how treated waste water can be used for agriculture. They said waste water of Gangua nulla, where all natural drainage channels fall, on city outskirts can be used for agriculture purposes. 

Source : Times of India