An occupant farmer B. Potharaju, observed better days of lush green fields growing water-intensive paddy like his fellow farmers in Pelluru village of Andhra Pradesh. However, this was when the village was getting munificent rains both during South-west and North-east monsoons for decades.
All Thanks to the climate change and repetitive failure of monsoons, the village tank now has gone completely dry as Prakasam district is in the grip of drought for the fifth year in sequence.
But B. Potharaju was forced into a desperate position, with no means to install micro irrigation system has taken to growing vegetables during Rabi without wasting even a drop of water using a network of pipes by drawing water from a drum where water gets collected from a borewell.
A simple contraption consisting two drums in disuse and ₹ 2,800 for the pipes is his low-cost option. In addition to this, a local plumber charging ₹1,000, laid a network of pipes connected from the bore well to ensure precious water to each and every plant close to their roots. His adversity-born ingenuity waters close to 6,000 plants in a three-acre plot.
As per B. Potharaju, Prolonged dry spell had paid to the hopes of peasants to grow at least rain-fed crops like Bengal gram and tobacco leave alone water-intensive crops. The farmers here are also hoping that at least the North-east monsoon will bring enough rains as the South-west monsoon has played shirker.
In keeping up with the new trend, B. Potharaju has also been using only neem-based bio-pesticides, showing the way to fellow farmers.
Talking about his future plans, B. Potharaju stated that he will convince his landlord to install micro irrigation system during next year.
While the drip irrigation system costs a whopping ₹1 lakh per hectare, with Government bearing the rest, each farmer has to chip in just ₹10,000.
Image Credit: YouTube
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