Amid pandemic, Malwa farmers experimenting with drip irrigation to cultivate cotton
BATHINDA : Fighting against all odds amid the Covid-19 outbreak, progressive farmers in Punjab’s Malwa belt are experimenting with drip irrigation technology for cultivating cotton.
The state agriculture department says about 83 hectares land in various districts of the region, including the semi-arid areas of Fazilka and Bathinda, has been cultivated under the watersaving technique.
Supported by the state soil and water conservation department, the cotton growers hope that the micro-irrigation system will help them in improving their financial condition.
Fazilka, the state’s second largest cotton-growing district, has 61 hectares under drip irrigation, while farmers in Bathinda have cultivated cotton on about 4 hectares with the help of the technique.
Kanwaljit Singh, a progressive from Bathinda’s Dialpura Bhai Ka village, has installed drip irrigation system for the first time on 1 acre land after getting subsidy from the soil and water conservation department.
“Since the soil is sandy, I have no option but to use 7 acre land for cultivating cotton. Water consumption in arid soil is considerably high and the drip irrigation can be a solution to the problem. Depending upon the result on 1 acre land, I will cover more area under micro-irrigation the next season,” he said.
Gurditta Singh of Maan Kheda village in Mansa district said his first experience in the last kharif season was encouraging. His family had had spent ₹11,000 on the subsidised micro-irrigation system and they recovered the cost due to better yield in 1 acre.
“The cost on fertiliser and pesticide used in micro-irrigated fields was almost one third of that I incurred on 7 acres under conventional irrigation. I harvested about 15 quintal cotton from 1 acre while the per acre yield from the rest was 12 quintal,” he said.
Dharminder Sharma, chief conservator of soil and water conservation, said the department has intensified drip irrigation after a gap of eight years.
“Last year, farmers were motivated to test micro-irrigation to find solution to their chronic problem of low availability of water in the cotton-growing belt. This year, some farmers were motivated to try cultivating cotton in Jalandhar and Tarn Taran districts with drip irrigation,” said Sharma.
State agriculture secretary KS Pannu said drip irrigation is an established water conservation technology and it is encouraging that farmers are exploring to adopt available technology in an innovative manner.
Pannu said farmers in other areas will be motivated to adopt the technique.