India is a nation of farmers, and farming is still a majority of people's primary source of income. However, most of the areas in India suffer from low rainfall, and age-old farming techniques that haven't kept pace with time.??
Many farmers have experienced tremendous losses due to the lack of the availability of proper water and irrigation facilities paramount to the farming of certain kinds of pulses and vegetables. Something similar was experienced in the tribal-dominated district of Jhabua, Madhya Pradesh.?
The undulating topography relying on rainfed farming combined with shallow and eroded soils resulted in stagnant crop productivity that wasn¡¯t yielding well for the farmers. One farmer -- Ramesh Bariya -- was frustrated by this and wanted a resolution to farm with better yields amidst these challenges.?
He got in touch with NAIP (National Agricultural Innovation Project)-KVK scientists in the year 2009-2010 and under their guidance, he started vegetable cultivation in a small patch of land during the winter and rainy season -- fit for the kind of land he owned.?
Here he started growing bitter gourd, sponge gourd. Soon he even set up a small nursery. However, during the early growth stage, he experienced an acute shortage of water due to delay in monsoon.
Worrying that his crops might die, Bariya sought the help of NAIP again, where experts suggested he adopt an irrigation technique with the help of waste glucose water bottles. He bought used glucose plastic bottles for Rs 20 per kilograms and cut the upper half to create an inlet for water.?
Next, he hung these near plants. Using the regulator that¡¯s normally used for I.V. in these saline bottles or glucose bottles, he maintained a steady flow of water, drip by drip. He asked his kids to refill the bottle each morning on their way to school and that was it.?
As the season ended he managed to earn a profit of Rs 15,200 from a 0.1-hectare land. Not only was this technique capable enough to save his plants from drought, but it also avoided wastage of water, and all this occurred in a cost-effective way.?
Moreover, this put the waste glucose bottle plastic to use that would have otherwise taken forever to decompose in a garbage dump of saline bottles of medical waste.?
This was soon adopted by other farmers in the village. For adopting the novel makeshift irrigation method, Ramesh Bariya was also awarded a certificate of appreciation from the District Administration and Minister of Agriculture of the Madhya Pradesh government.?
This only goes to show that tech-heavy systems aren¡¯t all to save the day. Sometimes, all you need is a simple DIY hacks to make things work on a budget.?