CHANDIGARH: Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) in Ludhiana has used the opportunity provided by its popular annual "Kisan Mela" to create an awareness about the situation which has developed in the State due to over-exploitation of groundwater. As many as 100 of the 114 blocks have already been categorised as `dark'.

Laying emphasis on the crisis, PAU made it the theme of the mela to launch its "Save water, save Punjab" campaign. The gravity of the situation can be gauged from the fact that water table is falling in 90 per cent of the State. The central districts, including Moga, Sangrur, Patiala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Kapurthala, are the worst hit as the area with the water table beyond 30 feet depth increased from 3 per cent in 1973 to 95 per cent in 2005.

As part of the campaign, farmers are being informed that while on an average across the State the water table receded at an annual rate of 54 cm, the central districts recorded a fall of 75 cm in 2004-05. It is predicted that by 2030, in about 66 per cent of the central districts the depth of water table would have receded to between 70 ft and 160 feet.

Recommending that sowing of paddy should not begin before June 15 this year, the PAU is of the opinion that the change in schedule was based on saving water. Scientists point out that if paddy was sown on May 1, the water table slumped by 70 cms. The depletion is successively arrested if the sowing is delayed as was evident when cultivation began after June 10, which restricted the depletion of water to around 10 cms.

PAU scientists and experts advised farmers to sow paddy nursery in second fortnight of May and transplant it in the second fortnight of June. They recommended the cultivation of Basmati varieties of rice, as they consumed lesser water.

Other departments of the university at the agro-industrial exhibition also focused on production-protection technologies with stress on efficient use and conservation of natural resources to ensure protection of environment. In the demonstration fields farmers were informed about new cropping systems to save water. The need for crop diversification was stressed which would wean away the farmers from paddy.

The farmers sought remunerative minimum support price (MSP) for `alternative' crops to break wheat-paddy cycle. Against 25-odd farm commodities covered under MSP, the actual administration of MSP was effective for wheat and paddy only. For any meaningful breakthrough in crop diversification or for making fragile contract farming sustainable the farmers stressed the need for assured market. Crops like bajra, pulses, maize, moong, soyabean, Basmati should be procured at prescribed MSP, as the present market price mechanism for these crops was either unavailable or non-remunerative.

The College for Home Science hosted an exhibition for the farm women who received tips on food and nutrition, clothing and textiles, child care, human development and home management. Models highlighting water-economy techniques at home were displayed.

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