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Journalism of Courage
As depleting groundwater pushes Punjab towards turning into a desert in the next 25 years, the ruling Congress government in the state is eager to push drip irrigation. But even a decade after drip and sprinkler irrigation system was introduced in Punjab in 2006-07, the state has not even managed to extend it to one per cent of its area under cultivation. Add to it the grip of wheat-paddy cropping cycle on the state’s agrarian economy.
What is the total area under Micro Irrigation (drip and Sprinkler irrigation system) in Punjab?
Around 83 per cent (nearly 42 lakh hectares) of the total 50,362 square km area of Punjab is under agricultural and horticultural crops cultivation. Currently, 33,711 hectares is covered under MI, which is just 0.7 per cent of the total cultivable land of the state.
What is the MI scheme?
The MI scheme is running in all the 22 districts of Punjab and is mainly adopted for vegetables (19119 hectares) and Citrus crops (8617 hectares) besides other fruits, Sugarcane, Cotton, Maize, pulses, sunflower, wheat fodder.
It was a scheme sponsored by the Centre and launched in 2006-07, with Centre and state sharing 60:40 ratio of total 80 per cent subsidy. In 2015-16, Centre launched ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY)’ and subsumed MI National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) under ‘Per Drop More Crop’ and also reduced its subsidy over the years. But Punjab Government made sure that the subsidy amount up to 80 per cent to general farmers and 90 per cent to small/marginal farmers and SC/Women for installation to MI system. The cost of installation is Rs 1.25 to 1.50 lakh per acre. The subsidy is 80 per cent of the cost, and the life of the MI is around 20 years with nominal maintenance charges.
Why has the scheme failed to show results?
Experts say that despite heavy subsidy, area under MI has remained low as farmers are getting 100 per cent ‘power subsidy’ and growing paddy crop on a huge area.
“Why would farmers would go for MI when free power is available to run their tube wells? They will adopt MI against flood irrigation only when they will have to pay power bills,” said an Agriculture officer, adding that instead of 100 per cent power subsidy, government should give 100 per cent subsidy on MI and also give support farmers financially if they get less price of their non-paddy crops, which have no fixed MSP like wheat and paddy.
Why does Punjab need drip irrigation?
According to Central Ground Water Board report Punjab’s water has gone down to 200 to 300 mts at several places and due to over exploitation of ground water in 109 out of total 138 Agricultural Blocks. The state will become a desert in coming 25 years. Punjab has failed to divert land away from paddy, which is grown on 25 lakh hectares out of total 30 lakh hectare under rice, to other crops in past two decades even by launching ‘contract farming’ in 2002 and “New Diversification’ policy in 2012-13. In such a scenario, drip irrigation, which irrigates crop ‘drop by drop’, is the best method against the traditional flood irrigation system. According to the Soil Conservation department of Punjab MI techniques can save 40 per cent to 80 per cent of water and ‘Water Use Efficiency’ (WUE) can be enhanced up to 100 per cent in a properly designed and managed MI system compared to 30-40 per cent under traditional methods.
Will MI work in Punjab given farmers’ reluctance in giving up paddy?
In Punjab, paddy (June to October) and wheat (November to April) are grown in on 30 and 35 lakh hectares during Khrif and Rabbi seasons, respectively. There is a negligible scope of adopting MI for growing paddy, which needs ‘flood irrigation’ from first day of sowing. But MI can be adopted successfully on the remaining land which is around 11 lakh hectares on which vegetables, fruits (around 3 lakh hectares), cotton (around 3-4 lakh hectares) , maize (around 1.3 lakh hectares), sugarcane (around 1 lakh hectares), oil seeds, pulses, and non-paddy crops are grown. Even wheat can be covered under MI as it needs 4-5 times less water than paddy, said Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) experts.
“This year in May 2019, a pilot project on cotton crop was adopted . As cotton is grown on 3 to 4 lakh hectares mainly in the 8 districts of south-western part of Punjab. Under the pilot project 150 acres land of of more than 50 farmers has been covered under MI during May 2019. Soil Conservation Department has planned to introduce similar pilot programmes for maize and sugarcane crop during coming months,” said Map Officer, Office of Chief Conservator of Soils, Punjab, Gurvinder Singh Dhillon. Sub Divisional Soil Conservation Officer, Jalandhar, Lupinder Kumar, said that MI has huge potential in Punjab and requires aggressive efforts to promote it.
