Ways to conserve water for agriculture during monsoon ~ Ashok Mahajan, Sr. General Manager, Dhanuka Agritech Ltd.

India is facing perhaps the worst water crisis in recent times. India has only 4% of the world’s freshwater resources, and 69% of it is used in agriculture practices. Even though India receives adequate rainfall during the monsoon (around 1190mm), there is no encouragement to conserve it. Due to lack of rain water management this water goes into the sea as destructive flood taking along fertile agriculture land. It has now become imperative that we must change the farm water usage, aiming for minimum wastage and enough storage for future needs.

Dhanuka Agritech, a leading agrochemical company, lists some ways through which farmers can conserve water this monsoon for better yield:

Laser leveling of land

Laser leveling is a technology that is highly useful in conservation of water for irrigation. The beams created in the field helps in improvement of water efficiency of soil. It saves upto 20-25% of total water requirement in the field. It also helps with improved germination, stand and yield of crop.

Maintenance of equipment’s

Regular maintenance of irrigation equipment’s whether it is a tap, or its nostril, pipeline or water pumps helps a lot in improving its functionality and save water wastage. Keep changing the nozzles of the taps, restrict leakages on regular basis. Also avoid irrigation when the temperature is high, or it is stormy.

Storing water in barrels

Storing rain water in barrels is useful as the stored water can be utilized in the non-rainy season or during a drought. However, the barrels should be covered or screened at the top to prevent mosquitoes from breeding.

Making small Ponds

Rainwater is the natural source of water and should be used for irrigation. Make small ponds in the lower area of the field that can store water flowing down from the higher areas of the field. This will manage the water requirements in dry spell. These ponds can also be used for fishery, aquaculture for additional income.

Using less of stored water

Using less of regular water supply during monsoon and using of natural rain water these days can help you to have surplus stored water for non-monsoon days.

Drip Irrigation

If possible, invest on drip irrigation technique. It is the best form of irrigation and will hugely help in controlled use of water, reduction in weeds and pest population.

Rotate Crops

Different crops need different soil nutrients and water amounts. By rotating the types of crops, there’s usually a higher crop yield and less water requirement.

Cover land with organic materials

To conserve the moisture, soil may be covered by organic manure, dry fodder, grass, straw, bark etc.