Around 11,800 farmers in the entire State are on the path of entrepreneurship by earning more than good production due to micro drip irrigation and other facilities. So far, about 23000 farmers have been registered to join Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) run drip irrigation project. This project is being implemented in 30 blocks of 9 districts of the State.
Among the priorities of the State Government is to equip the farmers with facilities, so that they do not face any kind of problem, including irrigation, even in the difficult geographical conditions of Jharkhand. In this episode, training and facilities are being provided to the farmers of the State to grow better crops in less water through drip irrigation. The aim of which is to enable the framers of the State to register an increase in vegetable production through sustainable and eco-friendly agriculture. The Government is also succeeding in its objective, due to which thousands of farmers, who were earlier dependent on one crop in the year, are now earning well by cultivating three to four crops in a year.
Sunita Devi, a woman farmer from Ormanjhi, Ranchi, who has always been doing traditional farming, did not think that changing the method of irrigation would make a lot of difference in production and there would be no problem of water. Sunita has set an example for other farmers by removing the difficulty of irrigation with drip irrigation.
Today Sunita is making good income by starting drip irrigation farming by joining Jharkhand Horticulture Intensification Drip Irrigation Project under JSLPS under Rural Development Department. Sunita says that the drip irrigation scheme has changed her life a lot. “We only had a well for irrigation, which often dried up. Due to which we were completely dependent on rain for irrigation. But, now with the introduction of drip, farming has become much easier. Today, by cultivating many types of crops simultaneously, I earn up to Rs 1.5 lakhs annually,” she added.
Like Sunita, Jharkhand Horticulture Intensification Drip Irrigation Project has written a new story of change in the lives of thousands of women farmers of the state. A resident of Chirchi village of Tantnagar block of West Singhbhum used to earn Rs 20000-Rs 25000 annually by farming in traditional way, now she is earning Rs 80000-Rs 90000 annually by joining drip irrigation project.