The State Government has provided administrative approval to Rs 83.40 crore irrigation project to be established in Podi-Uproda Development Block of Korba district.
The project when completed would help irrigate 2,000 hectares of land in the region. The farmers would be able to irrigate 1,700 hectares of land in Kharif season and 304 hectares of land in Rabi season.
Chhattisgarh Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said that micro irrigation projects have been fulfilling irrigation needs of far-flung areas of the State.
He urged the Centre to provide funds for big, medium and micro irrigation projects.
Agrawal was addressing the four-day long India water week at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
He said that over 1.5 lakh hectares of land could get irrigation facility through micro irrigation projects in Chhattisgarh and demanded Rs 800 crore from the Centre for development of micro irrigation projects.
The Minister further said that budget in Chhattisgarh has been increased from 23 per cent to 34.76 per cent for ensuring development of water resources in the State.
Notably, Chhattisgarh is among 13 states which had been mentioned in the Economic Survey report 2015-16 as a success story on use of drip irrigation by farmers on their lands.
The results from an impact evaluation of National Mission on Micro Irrigation of the Union Ministry of Agriculture conducted in 64 districts of 13 states mainly — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand – are revealing on the benefits of drip irrigation, according to the survey report.
There were substantial reductions in irrigation costs and savings on electricity and fertilisers .This is because water is efficiently supplied and hence pumps are used for a limited time. Moreover, water soluble fertilisers are supplied directly to the root of the plant and hence there is less wastage, it stated.
Yields of crops also went upto 45 per cent in wheat, 20 per cent in gram and 40 per cent in soybean, the report stated.
The resulting improvement in net farm incomes is substantial. Until now micro-irrigation techniques, owing to high fixed costs of adoption, have mostly been used for high value crops. However, recent research has shown its feasibility even in wheat and rice, the report stated.
Notably in February last year, the Chhattisgarh government decided to follow the Gujarat model of 'Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation' practices in the State.
It is worth mentioning here that many villages in Gujarat have adopted 100 per cent Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation systems to water crops. In June 2009, more than 93,000 farmers in Gujarat have adopted Drip Irrigation for their total 1.51 lakh hectare land.
Drip Irrigation system and inter-linking of 21 rivers of Gujarat for conservation of water has made it possible for record Sugarcane cultivation in that State.