Drip, drip, drip, my green strip

The stories from the field are filled with tragedy and regret. A punishing summer has brought with it one of the worst droughts in recent ...

The stories from the field are filled with tragedy and regret. A punishing summer has brought with it one of the worst droughts in recent times. It is the farmer, of course, who has to bear the brunt of this situation. Already, reports are pouring in of agriculturalists in Andhra Pradesh forced into committing suicide because they had no other option. Would this story have been different if they had had the access and the money to set up the sophisticated irrigation systems for arid regions that nations like Israel have perfected, technologies that use one third of the water that more conventional irrigation facilities require?

It is to answer this question that The Indian Express visited a special demonstration farm, that is very economical with water, which Israeli agricultural technologists have been running on the campus of the Pusa Institute in Delhi. It is a project based on the latest irrigation technology and crop protection devices.

The project was the result of an MoU signed between Israel and India in 1996 on sharing knowledge on agricultural techniques. The Indian Institute of Agricultural Research and the department of International Cooperation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel, are jointly responsible for making the project a reality.

Though the drip irrigation system is being used in many parts of the country, especially in south India, the Israelis have refined it further. The entire irrigation system is connected to a computer. A fairly new technique called fertigation8217;, which entails the mixing of fertilisers in the irrigation water is an add-on to the drip irrigation system. The demonstration project spread over seven acres is the ultimate in farm technology.

8220;These are very simple systems and the cost can easily be recovered because of the high yield and use of less resources,8221; says Eitan Neubauer, the project manager from Israel.

Though the equipment looks intimidatingly hi-tech, the best part is the fact that the farmers do not have to buy everything at one go but can upgrade their facilities as and when they have the resources. To begin with, they can start by putting manual drip irrigation systems, which esentially means laying down a vast network of pipes leading to the roots of the plants.

These pipes have small holes through which the water passes, drop by drop, so that there is minimum wastage and the water reaches the roots directly. Because of low humidity, pests are also kept under control. Israeli experience has shown that the yield goes up at least three times by using this method.

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After a few years, the farmers are then in a better position to buy the more sophisticated add-ons to the system, such as computers. With a simple touch of a button, the quantity and the time of the water can be controlled through hydraulic commands. The computerised drip irrigation system costs nearly 2,000.

Once that is in place, tanks of fertilisers are fitted into the equipment which facilitate mixing of different fertilisers more effectively. This has the added advantage of ensuring that there is less dissipation of harmful chemicals in the atmosphere.

The state-of-the-art component in this entire system is the climate controlled greenhouse that can be heated and cooled, and protected from sunlight by computers. These computers receive readings from sensors in the greenhouse as well as from meteorological stations outside the greenhouse.In the greenhouse too, the farmers can keep upgrading their technologies, step-by-step. In Pusa, for instance, it is a delight to see a greenhouse with cucumber creepers more than 12 feet tall which produce organic cucumbers.

8220;The advantage with greenhouses is that we can prolong a season. The cucumbers can be picked even when the season for them in the open field is already over,8221; said Abner Chin, project manager.

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But all this begs the basic question where does the Indian farmer get the money to set up such sophisticated systems? Pat comes Chin8217;s response, 8220;Indian farmers get a lot of subsidy which is going waste. The government should utilise that money to buy the latest technology available which will save on the country8217;s resources.8221;

The project aims at not just showcasing the latest in irrigation, but also displaying the entire process from selecting the right seeds, the art of making better nurseries, planting and cultivating them, packaging and then marketing them. 8220;The entire success of the project depends on whether the farmer is able to market these in a proper manner which will pay for all the special effort and the cost that has gone into it. These products should be then sold at a premium,8221; says Chin.

According to him, these techniques are suitable for value-added vegetables, flowers and fruit. 8220;Contrary to popular belief, Indian farmers will buy whatever gives them better results. They do more complicated things than knowing how much fertiliser to be mixed by computer,8221; he observes.

In one of the agricultural fairs, the Israelis had displayed a technique of growing saplings which caught on with the farmers who visited the fair. It involved plastic trays with squarish holes, an inch wide, filled with cocopeat instead on soil for growing saplings. The result was healthier saplings, no wastage of seeds and economy of space.

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The two Israeli scientists who are part of the project marvel at the fact that Indian farmers are still using the same farming techniques that they were 30 years ago. As they put it,8220;It is time they moved on and now that the project has shown that it can be successful in India, they should adopt these techniques.8221;

The Pusa demonstration farm represents another world altogether from the one prevailing in the great Indian hinderland. It, nevertheless, provides a useful peek into future.