The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Vijayawada News : Ryots ready to ride micro-irrigation wave

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 27, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada

Ryots ready to ride micro-irrigation wave

By G.V. Ramana Rao

VIJAYAWADA, JUNE 26. Farmers who do not cultivate paddy are being encouraged to opt for micro-irrigation systems for the conservation of groundwater and saving expenditure in the form of power bills to the State exchequer. Horticulture, sugarcane and sericulture farmers are showing great interest in micro-irrigation particularly in the light of subsidies being given for them by the Central and the State Governments.

The District Water Management Agency (DWMA) which is coordinating the implementation of the Andhra Pradesh Micro Irrigation Project (APMIP) as part of which subsidy is being extended has received an overwhelming response from farmers in the district.

The DWMA project director, Shaik Salam, said 5,120 farmers applied for micro-irrigation systems under APMIP, but the district administration could extend the benefit to only 300 of them under the new project. He said there was however no need to be disappointed because the Central Government had recently increased the allocation to micro-irrigation. The subsidy had been increased to 90 per cent as against the earlier 50 per cent.

The scope of APMIP in its present form which was extended for over five years was grossly insufficient to meet the requirements of the farmers. The action plan target of the project in the district was 8,178 hectares, covering 66 sugarcane farmers cultivating 4,000 hectares, 138 fruit growers with gardens in 3,000 hectares, 93 farmers raising various crops that could be cultivated using either drip or sprinkler irrigation systems in 1,088 hectares.

Interestingly, farmers in both upland and delta mandals are using micro-irrigation systems for their crops. While 22 upland mandals were being covered by APMIP about 200 micro-irrigation system have been installed in 20 mandals. The implementation of the project appeared slow in the delta mandals. Only 37 systems had been installed in nine out of the 22 delta mandals in which the project was being implemented.

Eight banks were extending farmers the finance they needed to install the micro-irrigation systems.

The progress in the implementation of the five-year project appeared slow. Only 8.27 per cent of the action plant target had been achieved till now. Mr. Salam said farmers were waiting for the revised scheme in which the subsidy component had been increased to 90 per cent of the expenditure.

Government struggles to keep up with demand

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