Under the Supplementary Water Management Activity (SWMA), the agriculture department will give subsidy worth Rs 3.74 crore to 1,351 farmers to purchase infrastructure to set up water management systems on farms.
Under the initiative, Coimbatore district agriculture department will cater to growers who get subsidy for micro-irrigation schemes. The cultivators will be given 50 percent subsidy for purchasing motors, PVC pipes & constructing ground-level water storage structures.
To buy electric pumps, the department will give Rs 15,000 each to 433 beneficiaries, an official said. The official further told that “For purchasing PVC pipelines that will connect water source like bore wells or wells to the fields, 193 farmers would be provided Rs 10,000 each. Rs 40,000 will be given to 725 farmers for constructing ground-level water storage structures. Under the initiative, a total subsidy of Rs 3.74 crore would be given to 1,351 farmers in all the 12 blocks of Coimbatore district. We seek to end the scheme within March. So, we will distribute the subsidy in first-come-first-serve basis.”
The official said, earlier, the scheme was implemented under the Tamil Nadu Watershed Development Agency. He clarified that “While it has not been decided whether the scheme would be extended to the existing farmers under the micro-irrigation scheme, we would offer it to those who enroll for the scheme”.
For more information contact Agriculture department, Coimbatore.
