Sugar units told to promote drip irrigation

Addressing reporters in Bangalore on Thursday, Agriculture Minister Umesh V Katti said managing directors of 58 sugar factories had participated in a review meeting chaired by him, where he had instructed them to promote drip irrigation among sugarcane growers.

According to Katti, sugarcane is grown in an area of 3.5 lakh hectares in Karnataka, where the farmers are using the flood irrigation method. He said that this form of irrigation was resulting in almost 50 per cent of water being wasted, and the same quantum of water could have been used to irrigate 10 lakh hectares.

Traditional practice

He said scientists and experts had advised his department against flood irrigation in sugarcane growing areas. To discourage this traditional practice and motivate farmers to adopt drip or sprinkler irrigation, sugarcane factories, which have a direct connect with the farmers have been roped in, said Katti. The National Mission of Micro Irrigation, Karnataka, which has set aside Rs 40 crore for providing subsidy for drip irrigation projects, has received Rs 27 crore from the Centre this year.

Three months’ time

“The sugar factories have been directed to interact with the farmers over a period of three months and convince them to shift to drip irrigation. If all of them are successful, close to 12,000 hectares of sugarcane growing lands will come under drip irrigation,” he said, adding that the subsidy would be directly remitted to the farmer’s account.