Agricultural scientists have urged farmers to adopt water saving techniques and use water efficiently.

At a three-day national congress on ‘New Challenges and Advances in Sustainable Micro Irrigation’ under way at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, the speakers reiterated that water is becoming a scarce commodity and there is need to adopt micro irrigation techniques.

AK Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Gwalior, emphasised that research priorities should be towards increasing water use efficiency.

“Despite facing severe droughts, farmers are still reluctant to use water efficient systems. Their reluctance is possibly due to lack of trust on the systems introduced. This has to be addressed,” he added.

Naresh Modi, Project Director, National Committee on Plasticulture Applications in Horticulture, observed that due to land fragmentation, adoption of farm implements for irrigation is becoming challenge. There is therefore a huge opportunity for the scientific fraternity to design appropriate technology suited to our land holdings.

S Bhaskar, Assistant Director-General (Agro Forestry), ICAR, New Delhi said that micro irrigation should be taken to the next level ‘tissue irrigation’, and this technology has already been tested in coconut and other trees.

K Ramasamy, Vice-Chancellor, TNAU, in his presidential address appealed to the government to invest in creating infrastructure for farmers.

“Farmers are not seeking subsidy; they expect us to supply quality seeds and ensure assured supply of water at least for three months. When it can lay fibre optic cables for telecom and pipelines for gas, why not water?” he asked.

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