​

Smita Bhattacharyya
 
Jorhat, Dec. 11: Farmers here have given the thumbs-up to a drip irrigation system widely used in Israel to combat the scarcity of water. This method is being used for the first time in Assam.

Dependent on deep tubewells and pumps to water plants in their kitchen gardens, especially in winter, the new method has been found to be one-tenth of the earlier cost, and has reduced work to a large extent.

It also saves the precious natural resource in the process.

Samir Ranjan Bordoloi, the district programme manager of Farm 2 Food Foundation, an NGO which works with farmers to promote organic farming, said two farmers - Montu Borah and Parag Mahanta - in Parbatiya village in north-west Jorhat had been given a set each.

In Majuli, three sets had been given to community gardens by another NGO, Amar Majuli, which had helped to procure the sets.

"We would like to develop Parbatiya as a model organic village and the drip irrigation sets were given to us free of cost by Netasim, a company in Israel. The system will enable farmers to develop and garner more income by planting vegetables or flowers in their kitchen gardens, which most of the time remain uncultivated, especially in winter, when water is scarce," he said.

"We are at present concentrating on the bari in houses as the small plots can add to the farmers' income through the planting of vegetables or flowers, which have a huge market in the state and abroad," he said.

By the drip irrigation process, the farmer does not have to spend hours watering the plants over two or three katha of land.

In this method, from a 500 litre or 1,000-litre water tank, a pipe is attached to a tap.

At intervals of one or two feet, nozzles are attached to a pipe, which runs the length of the plot.
To each nozzle are attached thin long pipes, which are pierced at intervals through which the water leaks through in drops over the whole plot in which the seeds are planted.

The tank can be filled by water harvesting and at the most 200 litres are required per one kathaplot as there is no run-off.

"All one has to do is open and shut the tap. Moreover, the whole thing costs between Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000 depending on how big your water tank is. Installing a deep tubewell and pump costs more than Rs 1 lakh, something which a poor farmer cannot afford," Bordoloi said.

Montu Borah, who was given a set, said this year he had planted marigold for the first time on a part of the plot in front of his house.

On the other side, he plans to plant vegetables of different kinds in the 20-odd rows, which have already been laid and furrowed.

"My wife helps out by doing this small task especially as this does not entail carrying water from a nearby waterbody," he said.

Bordoloi said when Nerisim was contacted regarding the sets, they had given six sets as samples. They had also said anyone wanting to procure the sets and then assemble them over here could do so. Nerisim would also allow them to use their brand name.

The cost of each set is only $60.