Enterprising cotton cultivators see hope in drip irrigation technique

BATHINDA: Nearly 75 cotton growers of Punjab, who switched to drip irrigation in the last kharif season, see the technique as a potential gamechanger for the agronomics of south Malwa region.

According to the soil and water conservation department, in 2020 about 70-hectare land under cotton cultivation was brought under the micro-irrigation system in various districts.

Farmers say the technique not only saves water immensely but there was a significant improvement in the yield of natural fibre.

A 26-year-old cotton grower, Arshdeep Singh from Bathinda’s Nandgarh Kotra village expressed his satisfaction with his maiden experiment with drip irrigation.

“Our area in Rampura Phul sub-division has no canal water supply whereas the groundwater table is depleted to 73 feet. With scarce water here, we value efforts that can conserve natural resources,” said Arshdeep.

Following his family’s approval, last year he decided to give the highly subsidised micro-irrigation system a try on 2.5 acres of land.

“Against the average yield of 10 quintal cotton from an acre land under conventional flood irrigation, I harvested about 14 quintals with the micro-irrigation technique, which is easy to use and has high water efficiency level,” he said.

Experts say drip irrigation saves more than 60% water than the traditional method.

Maninder Pal Singh of Buladewala village said his experience in the last two kharif seasons was encouraging.

He had spent Rs 10,000 on the subsidised micro-irrigation system and recovered the cost due to better yield on two acres.

“The cost on seeds, fertiliser and pesticide used in micro-irrigated fields was half of that I incurred in my fields earlier under conventional irrigation. I harvested about 14 quintal cotton in the last two seasons,” he said. Another progressive farmer from Majurgarh in Fazilka district, Karamveer Jajaria said drip irrigation is an established water conservation technology and farmers should be incentivised further by allowing enhanced canal water to promote the innovative method.

“In Abohar area, groundwater is saline and unfit for farm irrigation. Canal water is the only option here. Drip irrigation not only drastically reduces water requirement but also saves electricity as tubewells are run for lesser hours. This technique can change the economics of farmers with small and medium scale landholdings by more field demonstrations,” said Jajaria, who is using drip irrigation to cultivate cotton, maize and kinnow.

Dharminder Sharma, chief conservator of soil and water conservation, said the department has intensified drip irrigation after a gap of about nine years.

“Since the last two kharif seasons, farmers are being motivated to try micro-irrigation to find a solution to their chronic problem of low availability of water in the cotton- growing belt. We have planned to expand the area under micro-irrigation,” said Sharma.

harvested 14 quintals of cotton with this method against average yield of 10 quintal per acre

ARSHDEEP SINGH, Bathinda