80- 90% subsidies on drip irrigation projects are being offered to farmers of Punjab. This is an effort made by the Punjab government to bring Sustainable agricultural practices to the forefront. This is due to the Depleting groundwater levels in the state known as India’s Breadbasket.
Punjab produces 17% of India’s wheat making it the second-largest producer of wheat in the Indian subcontinent it’s also responsible for 12% of Indian rice production and 5% of India’s milk.
It’s a state that houses around 1.09 million farming households and is based on very fertile plains is touted to also be the Granary of India, however, crops need water and the Groundwater aren’t getting recharged fast enough leading to the government’s proposal to adopt more sustainable farming practices like Drip irrigation.
According to S.S. Johl, a prominent agronomic expert and former vice-chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), “The water table in Punjab is falling 25-30 cm per year. Drinkable water is now found at a depth of 350 feet. Punjab is heading toward desertification in one or two decades,”
Under the Micro Irrigation scheme, farmers will be eligible to get subsidies on a first-come, first-serve basis. Farmers from Scheduled Castes and marginalised groups, as well as women farmers, would receive up to 90 per cent subsidy, while others will receive up to 80 per cent.
Drip irrigation, according to the Punjab minister for soil conservation and water resources Rana Gurjeet Singh, not only conserved 40 to 60 per cent of water in the agriculture industry but also allowed pesticides to be delivered straight to the root zone of crops.
This not only increases the amount of water absorbed by the roots of the plants but also leads to decreased water precipitation which helps the plants retain more water and keep the plants healthy and decrease the amount of water wasted while irrigating the crops.
On Friday while attending a meeting in the Barnala district administration, the minister from Kapurthala Assembly Constituency who also holds technical education and industrial training, for employment generation and land conservation gave his advice on the ongoing developmental projects in the district by saying that they should be sustainable and in accordance to the need of the public in that specific district.
