Can new tech adoption fix Agri water woes?

It is indeed quite an alarming fact to consider that India, which accounts for 17 per cent of the world’s population, has only 4 per cent of the world's renewable water resources, reveals the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. As a major agricultural economy, the country consumes more than 80 per cent of the water available in the country in its agrarian endeavours. Keeping in mind a projected grim reality of acute water paucity, the government has set in motion a multi-pronged strategy that includes water conservation, fair distribution and overall minimisation of this precious resource.

The ‘Green Revolution’ which was introduced in 1965 can be considered as the game-changer for the farming sector as it exposed the farmers to better quality seeds, fertilisers, farm equipment and new innovative techniques of irrigation. With these revamped farming procedures, cultivators became less dependent on monsoon, largely due to the introduction of large scale irrigation projects and digging of borewells. Five decades on, India’s agriculture sector is battling a future prospect of acute water scarcity due to the erratic monsoon and over-exploitation of groundwater. To further enhance the country's irrigation system, many companies and state governments have come up with innovative and creative ideas that will come in really handy to keep the agriculture supply chain up and running in the coming future.

India’s waste management is a massive

challenge that needs to be addressed immediately and due to this mismanagement of waste; the country's water systems have been suffering from immense water pollution issues. For example, river Ganga which is the most revered and national river of India has been contaminated with hazardous solutions such as discharge of increasing quantities of sewage, industry effluents and other pollutants on account of rapid urbanisation and industrialisation.

'Water' is part of the Indian jurisdiction of governments at the national, state and local level. The demand for water in India mainly comes from the agriculture sector (80 per cent), the industrial sector (15 per cent) and the domestic sector (4-6 per cent) as per the data shared by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation (MOWR). Now, the government has resolved to execute various schemes and implement innovative ideas that will overhaul the entire irrigation system of the country.

Micro-irrigation to the rescue

As compared to flood irrigation, microirrigation has by far better efficiency. According to a report by Centre for Management in Agriculture- Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, flood irrigation efficiency is mapped to 35-40 per cent whereas micro-irrigation provides an efficiency of 90 per cent which is almost double. Micro-irrigation is defined as the frequent application of small quantities of water directly above and below the soil surface; usually as discrete drops, continuous drops or tiny streams through emitters placed along a water delivery line.

However, the spreading rate of this technique is very slow and it is not due to economic reasons but it is because of lack of awareness among farmers. The cultivators are not aware of the fact that applying this system to their farm will benefit them economically as well as provide them heavy returns.

Commenting on this, Vijayeendra H S, Cofounder and Director, Avanijal Agri Automation Pvt. Ltd, “Slow adoption of the micro-irrigation system is mainly because of lack of awareness amongst the farmers. It is high time now that we pull up our socks and start educating them about the additional benefits they receive if they enrol for this system of cultivation. If farmers install a micro-irrigation system then their productivity will increase as the system equips them with the ability to control, quite precisely, water application at the plant roots. Further, the system also cuts down the cost of cultivation drastically hence adding more financial aid to the farmer’s pocket.”

The Government of India has been implementing a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Micro Irrigation with the objective to enhance water use efficiency in the agriculture sector by promoting appropriate technological interventions like drip & sprinkler irrigation technologies and encouraging the farmers to use water-saving and conservation technologies. The Scheme was launched by the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture in January, 2006 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Micro Irrigation (CSS). In June 2010, it was up-scaled to National Mission on Micro Irrigation (NMMI), which continued till the year 2013-14. From April 1, 2014, NMMI was subsumed under National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) and implemented as ‘On Farm Water Management’ (OFWM) during the financial year 2014-15. From April 1, 2015, Micro Irrigation component of OFWM has been subsumed under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana. It was implemented as Centrally Sponsored Scheme on Micro Irrigation during the financial year 2015-16 as per the same pattern of assistance and cost norms as were prevailing under OFWM, until revised.

With a view to providing impetus to the Micro Irrigation in the country, Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) with a corpus of Rs 5000 crore was created with NABARD during 2018-19. The major objective of the fund is to facilitate the States in mobilizing the resources to provide top-up/ additional incentives to farmers for incentivising micro-irrigation beyond the provisions available under PMKSY-PDMC. States may also access

MIF exclusively for innovative integrated projects (like high water duty crops like sugarcane/solar linked systems/micro-irrigation in command area etc.) including projects in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode depending on Statespecific requirements. The Government of India provides 3 per cent interest subvention on loans extended to State Government under MIF.

To further strengthen and expand the adoption of Micro Irrigation systems by the

farmers in the county for enhancing water use efficiency at the farm level, recently, a Budget announcement has been made to double the initial corpus of the Micro Irrigation Fund of Rs 5000 created under National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), by augmenting it by another Rs 5,000 crore.

Startups providing technical assistance

Like in many other sectors, startups are also dipping in to provide innovative technical solutions to solve the water woes of the farmers. On a similar line, a Hyderabad based startup is extending their helping arm to small scale farmers by providing them with an innovative ‘Greenhouse-in-a-box’. This system provides cultivators with an affordable farming system that is equipped with all kinds of farming services and uses 90 per cent less water than orthodox farming. “We design, adapt and implement lowcost farming solutions that help small farmers increase yield and predictability of produce. We combine these technologies with end-to-end support to give these farmers a seamless path towards income increase,” stated Saumya Sahay, Co-founder, Kheyti.

Adding another technological quotient to the irrigation sector is Vassar Labs, another Hyderabad based startup, which is assisting farmers by providing them water management solutions. The brainchild of IIT Madras graduates Laxmiprasad Putta and Chandrakiran Mallarapu, the company has developed Water Resources Information and Management System for the state and its website that enables the farmers to view all the information related to water and also adheres to their queries. Some basic information in this project includes the amount of water a state/district/village has, knowledge about water stress and how to mitigate and source it, the prediction of water demand across river basins, among others. “Apart from providing information and technical assistance to the farmers, we have also developed an Artificial-intelligence system which can do self-assessment and produce effective results. As most of our data such as automatic weather stations, groundwater sensor, reservoir and canal level sensors, is procured through IOT devices, such a system is required to provide us accurate results,” said Laxmiprasad Putta, Founder, Vassar Labs.

There is a consistent pressure on the agriculture sector to continue providing an ever-increasing quantity of food to a booming population. Climate change and the need for reduction of chemical use have also become additional pressure points to be considered. A combination of judicious water use and technological solutions seem to be the only way out.

“Slow adoption of the microirrigation system is mainly because of lack of awareness amongst the farmers. It is high time that we pull up our socks and start educating them about the additional benefits they receive if they enrol for this system of cultivation. If farmers install a micro-irrigation system then their productivity will increase as the system equips them with the ability to control, quite precisely, water application at the plant roots. Further, the system also cuts down the cost of cultivation drastically, adding more financial aid to the farmer’s pocket.”

- Vijayeendra H S, Co-founder and Director,

Avanijal Agri Automation

“We design, adapt and implement low-cost farming solutions that help small farmers increase yield and predictability of produce. We combine these technologies with end-to-end support to give these farmers a seamless path towards income increase."

- Saumya Sahay, Co-founder, Kheyti

“Apart from providing information and technical assistance to the farmers, we have also developed an Artificial-intelligence system which can do self-assessment and produce effective results. As most of our data such as automatic weather stations, groundwater sensor, reservoir and canal level sensors, is procured through IOT devices, such a system is required to provide us accurate results."

- Laxmiprasad Putta, Founder, Vassar Labs