– Omprakash Mishra
Ranchi : Solar Pump Mounted Cycle Units are ensuring the facility of irrigation in remote areas of Jharkhand. Bahlen of Sangor village in Karra of Khunti is now able to easily reach water to her fields. Here 33 women are cultivating vegetables under high value agriculture. The difficult task of providing irrigation facilities to the fields of small and marginal farmers in Jharkhand has been made easy with the help of solar pump mounted cycles.
The farms where it was difficult to get water from ordinary pumps, today through the Johar project, women of the producer group are providing irrigation facilities to small farms with cycle based solar pumps. Cycle based solar pump is such a modern system of irrigation, with the help of which farmers easily carry solar plates and pumps like cycles to their fields and nearby water bodies. Bahlen explains, through this solar pump, farmers are able to irrigate their fields easily. Earlier, diesel pumps had to be used for patwan, which increased the cost of farming. With the help of cycle based solar pump, farmers are able to do seven hours of Patwan a day without any cost.
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Farmers getting direct benefits
Mobile solar pumps and 650 solar lift irrigation equipment have been provided to 988 producer groups in the state, through which about 19,650 farmers are getting direct benefits. Solar powered pumps can be taken even on inaccessible roads of villages and farms. This is helping the farmers to irrigate the Rabi crops etc. The plan is to increase the total number of lift units to 1310 in the next 6 months. In lieu of this, 1200 units have been approved after registration and site inspection. At the same time, a target has been set to increase the total irrigated land to 20 thousand hectares in the next 6 months.
Johar project came as a boon
46 women farmers of the producer group of Kolomda village, adjacent to Panchghagh waterfall located in Murhu block of Khunti, are leading farmers, but despite having cultivable land, the yield could not be high. Radhika Devi, a member of the producer group, says that we have been dependent on agriculture for years. We all have been doing farming in the traditional way. Due to the problem of irrigation, they were not able to do multi-crop farming. But, in October 2020, the Johar project came as a boon for us. Community based lift irrigation unit has been started, change is now visible through this irrigation unit. With the introduction of lift irrigation, we are able to get three crops easily. In this way, the Johar project is proving to be a milestone in increasing the productivity in agriculture and increasing the income of the farmers. The farmers of the state are being connected with the facility of solar based irrigation to increase the crop production capacity and income by connecting the farmers to the irrigation facility. The specialty of this initiative is that along with irrigation, environmental protection, irrigation facilities are restored through nearby surface water sources by not using irrigation units to drain the ground water, so that the ground water level remains intact.
Solar lift irrigation facility is being provided to about 1950 farmers.
Work is being done towards doubling the income of rural women under the Johar project, in this series women farmers belonging to the producer group are also being linked to high value agriculture, so that their income through good yield and large market system. be able to increase. Irrigation facility is also being made available under the project so that farmers can do farming throughout the year. Solar lift irrigation has been provided to the farmers belonging to the producer group at 90 percent subsidy. So far 650 units are being successfully operated through the Water User Group across the state. A total of 8745 hectares (approximately 21,600 acres) of farmland is being provided year-round water for irrigation through about 650 units.
Under the Johar project, irrigation facilities are being provided in water-stressed areas by forming water user groups of women through producer groups. Solar based lift irrigation unit and cycle mounted solar pump have been provided to the water user group of rural women. Irrigation facility has been provided to about 20 thousand farmer families of the state through this initiative.