To make up for losses,farmers take to sowing

Punja Patel (63),a farmer from Rasulabad village near Ajwa reservoir in Vadodara district is ploughing his field again. He had sown cottonseeds in his eight bigha land more than a month ago,but the crop failed as there was no rainfall in the area for the last one month. Patel is dependent on rains for agriculture. He has now taken out cottonseeds and started ploughing land again to sow tuver dal.

“Roj raah joiye che. Aaj aavse kaale aavse…(We keep waiting for rains everyday) but,it’s too late for cotton now. That’s why I have removed cotton and am now planning tuver dal,” said Punja. Despite being near the Ajwa reservoir,some farmers are finding it difficult to save their crop. “If tuver dal also fails,we will be at a loss.”

Most of the farmers in the area are dependent either on the Narmada waters or on tube wells. But there are also farmers who are dependent on rain-fed agriculture. “Narmada water doesn’t reach us. It is only for the farmers who are located near the canal,” says Patel.

Pritendrasinh Patel,a farmer from Revasia village who has around 15 bighas of land,said: “The water in the tube well has also dried up and therefore even the drip irrigation in 5 bighas of land is not working properly. Paddy has been sown in another 10 bighas. However,it is turning yellow due to non-availability of water. We have already made a lot of investment in water and pesticides. Now we are unsure if we can spend on water too.”