‘Suka Suka ke Paani’: From excessive flooded fields to smart irrigation: A new hope for Punjab’s Farmers:

This method, known as Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD), changed the way he looked at water management. The method is simple but effective, said he.

“Earlier, we used water every second day. With AWD, now we need water after a week or sometimes after 4 to 5 irrigations. I saved 20%—sometimes even 35 to 40%—of our water. As there were incessant rains for days in Punjab in July end and August months but paddy is such crop which needs water every other day in the first three months and despite rains we need to irrigate crop if there is no rain for 5-6 days and with this method we saved huge amount of ground water. And the best part? It was all done free of cost as an organisation has provided us these pipes.”
Darbara isn’t alone in this shift. Harpreet Singh, another progressive farmer from Moga district’s village Puranewal, experimented with AWD on 2 acres last year. Encouraged by the results, he extended it to 5 acres this year on his 30-acre farm.

“We gave water after 4 days, and sometimes only once a week depending on the temperatures,” Harpreet shared. “We had 4-5 less irrigations than usual in the 5-acre fields where we have installed these and saved a lot on power and groundwater. Next year, I plan to increase the area under AWD as it costs us nothing.”

Harpreet uses it on both long and short duration paddy varieties, as paddy typically requires significant water and emits more methane. He believes AWD is an effective way to cut both inputs and emissions.

Mandeep Singh, another farmer from village Dhatonda in district Fatehgarh Sahib, has installed AWD pipes in nine acres of paddy.

“I saw that at least 3-4 less waterings were given as it also saved the crop from several diseases like patta lapet (leaf folder) and sheath blight and other fungus, as excess water led to such diseases, as well as water saving. If there is no disease no pesticide spray which means saving of both environment and soil,” said Mandeep.

“In my village several farmers have installed it, and next time I will get covered my entire village. I am also a Kisan Mitra (farmer friend). I got covered 25-30 farmers from five other villages, and if every farmer saves 3-4 waterings, how big amount of water we can save with this,” he said, adding, “Why to waste water and power a lot and not to save the environment when this simple method is availabel?

Baldev Singh, a farmer from Littran village in Jalandhar, Manpreet Singh from Malerkotla, and Jasvir Singh of Littran village in Jalandhar are also seeing the benefits of AWD, thanks to a broader initiative being implemented in the region.

The practice that Darbara, Harpreet, and Baldev are using—AWD—is gaining strong traction across Punjab. Locally referred to as “Suka Suka ke Paani Laun di Vidhi” (watering after allowing the field to dry), this method ensures that water is only applied when needed, instead of keeping fields perpetually flooded.

The result: considerable water savings without any compromise on crop yield. And in Punjab, hundreds of farmers are embracing this quiet but unique method in rice cultivation—one that promises not just better water management but also a more sustainable future for agriculture in the region.

This not only saves water but also reduces methane emissions, a major greenhouse gas associated with traditional flooded paddy farming.

This method is being adopted on a large scale under the PRANA (Promoting Regenerative And No-burn Agriculture) Project, implemented by Manav Vikas Sansthan (MVS) with technical support from The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

So far, more than 75,000 acres (30,364 hectares) of paddy fields in Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Malerkotla, Sangrur, and Patiala have embraced AWD, claimed PRANA officials.

“As we have distributed over 30,000 pipes in Punjab this year as we were doing some trials in the state on small area for the past two years but this year we have done it on the considerable area,” said Dhananjay Kumar, the Project manager.

“Beyond the traditional AWD pipes, newer sensor-based AWD pipes are also being introduced, enabling farmers to monitor water levels in real time and make more informed irrigation decisions. To strengthen awareness and encourage adoption, Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and demonstration plots have been established across participating districts. Here, farmers receive hands-on training on AWD and other sustainable practices. Peer-to-peer learning has become a powerful driver, with early adopters like Mandeep and Darbara turning into community role models,” said Harleen Kaur, Ludhiana Coordinator of the project adding that we have distributed 6,000 pipes in Ludhiana itself this year and our goal is to see more and more farmers adopting this technique and to make this system more advance so that farmers get all the information about water requirement in paddy field at their mobile phone even without visiting the fields daily to check the water level.”

With Punjab grappling with growing water scarcity and rapidly depleting groundwater levels, the ever-expanding area under paddy cultivation has added to the strain. This year, the state witnessed a record-high paddy coverage of 32.49 lakh hectares, of which around 2 lakh hectares—primarily paddy fields—were inundated due to floods. In this context, the success of water-saving techniques like Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) offers a glimmer of hope for a more sustainable future. For farmers, it’s not just about conserving water—it’s about safeguarding their livelihoods amid rising input costs and the mounting challenges of climate change.

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