Narne Mallesh, a farmer in his 40s, has bought a filter and fixed it at his farm in Erravalli village of Markook mandal for the drip system being supplied by the sub-zone committee, to arrest any dust particles in the flow of water. He has previous experience of handling drip system at his field located at another place from the village, in about two-and-half acres.
Mallesh is among the 1,200 farmers from Erravalli and Narsannapet villages in Markook mandal benefiting from the drip system being provided by the authorities free of cost. These two villages adopted by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao are located in Gajwel constituency represented by him. The government has sanctioned about ₹ 48 crore as grant to implement the project on a pilot basis and it is aimed at inculcating the habit of adopting drip irrigation and reaping the benefits.
The entire 2,733 acres in these two villages were divided into 14 zones, each zone comprising about 200 acres. The zones were again divided into four sub-zones. Each sub-zone has a chairman to monitor the drip water system. They have established a structure in each zone, from where the supply of water for each farm is automated and can be operated through computer system.
“This is Israeli technology, the most advanced one, and for the first time is being used by the government. The valves of the drip irrigation in each field are connected to the system at the zone office. Water can be released to a particular filed after request by a farmer, from the control room. We can also supply fertigation water soluble to the fields,” J Nagender Reddy, Agriculture Officer, Markook, told The Hindu .
A team of agriculture and horticulture officers have been campaigning in these two villages for the past few weeks and trying to convince farmers to go for drip system, stating that they can cultivate fields with less water. They are also being encouraged to go for vegetables and crops like keera and tomato. “There will be lot of advantage due to the drip system. We can provide irrigation and fertilizer at the root of the plant. My experience is good,” said Mr Mallesh.
