Poor efficiency of irrigation system which affects the agricultural outputs of farms stands as a major challenge before scientists and technocrats. The ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC) director , Pl Mishra said this while addressing officials from 11 districts of Odisha at a conclusion of a capacity building workshop at the institute.
Addressing the gathering at the valedictory session of the workshop on the weekend, the institute director said that Prime Minister Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) would be a powerful programme to alter subsistence farming into commercial farming if it is able to realise the expectations of the farmers. He said that enhancing the irrigation efficiency would save water and that would help bring a larger area under irrigation.
The advance irrigation methods like micro irrigation not only save precious water but also enhance productivity of crops. Integrated watershed management programme, one of the components of PMKSY, would play greater role in developing protective irrigation system in rainfed areas, added Mishra.
Expressing his views on the occasion, the institute’s head of human resource development and social science division, lakhan Singh stressed on the importance of public participation in resource conservation programmes in order to achieve the intended result. The success of the programme can be observed by visiting the model watersheds and the activities conducted through people’s participation.
The training course content included included integrated watershed management approach, map reading characterization and watershed delineation, watershed evaluation, use of remote sensing and GIS in watershed planning.
The five-day training course for senior level Agriculture Officers on Integrated Watershed Management was sponsored by Institute on Management of Agricultural Extension (IMAGE), Siripur, Bhubaneswar and funded by Directorate of Agriculture and Food Production, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Nineteen officers from 11 districts of Odhisa participated in the programme.