Ludhiana, March 22
In a new research which is likely to relieve some pressure on underground water and power supply, scientists on the Punjab Agricultural University campus have, after a study, concluded that it would be sufficient to keep water standing in paddy fields for first two weeks only instead of the normal practice of three weeks.
Soil scientists at PAU have said that the paddy fields should be irrigated only after the water is fully absorbed by soil.
Dr Ajmer Singh Sidhu, Senior Soil Scientist at PAU, has said that after studying the effects of this type of irrigation, the university has advised farmers to go in for the same method as this would be a boon for underground water and would save electricity as well.
The farmers were also educated about the irrigation of paddy at a kisan mela, held at Bathinda yesterday.
The experts said that the new method, if adopted by farmers, can successfully help in conserving underground water level to some extent.
Scientists of the Department of Soil and Water had said that in some district, water table was falling by as much as 20 cm every year.
They had also said that if the area under cultivation of paddy was not reduced by one third of the total area, the state would face severe water shortage.
They had said that if the farmers were not made aware of the situation, it could be threatening for agriculture in the years to come.
They had also pointed out that due to the government’s policy of free power supply to the farming sector, the farmers were not thinking of conserving this natural resource.
Meanwhile, cotton experts at PAU have told the farmers not to go in for sowing the cotton after May 15.
Dr G.S. Chahal, a cotton expert, has advised the farmers to complete cotton sowing till May 15 and not delay it beyond this date, otherwise they should think of alternate crops.
To encourage the farmers to go in for diversification of crops, experts have told farmers to grow mentha and haldi instead of paddy. According to Dr K.K. Dhingra, Head, Department Agronomy, the farmers can get more income compared to paddy from these two crops.
He, however, cautioned the farmers to go in for these crops only after signing the contracts with sugar mills and mentha extraction plants.
