Rainwater Harvesting and Its Efficient Use in Agriculture: Sustaining the Green Revolution

Water is a precious resource, and its scarcity poses significant challenges to agriculture, especially in regions with irregular rainfall patterns. However, one effective solution that has gained momentum is rainwater harvesting. By capturing and efficiently utilizing rainwater, farmers can mitigate the impact of water scarcity, reduce dependence on groundwater, and sustain agricultural productivity. In this blog, we explore the concept of rainwater harvesting and its efficient use in agriculture.

1. What is Rainwater Harvesting? Rainwater harvesting is the process of collecting and storing rainwater for future use. It involves capturing rainfall from rooftops, surface runoff, and other catchment areas, and directing it to storage tanks, ponds, or underground reservoirs. The collected rainwater can be used for various agricultural purposes, such as irrigation, livestock watering, and aquaculture.

2. Benefits of Rainwater Harvesting in Agriculture: 2.1. Mitigating Water Scarcity: Rainwater harvesting provides an additional water source, reducing the strain on traditional sources like rivers and groundwater. It helps overcome water shortages during dry spells and droughts, ensuring a consistent water supply for agricultural activities.

2.2. Cost-Effective Solution: Compared to constructing dams or drilling deep wells, rainwater harvesting systems are relatively inexpensive to set up and maintain. This makes it an accessible solution for small-scale farmers and resource-constrained regions.

2.3. Sustainable Water Management: By capturing rainwater, farmers can reduce the strain on natural water sources and minimize the environmental impact associated with excessive groundwater pumping. It promotes sustainable water management practices and helps preserve ecosystems.

2.4. Improved Crop Yield and Quality: Properly harvested and utilized rainwater can ensure adequate irrigation, leading to better crop growth, higher yields, and improved crop quality. Watering crops with rainwater can also reduce salinity and mineral buildup in the soil, enhancing long-term soil health.

3. Efficient Use of Rainwater in Agriculture: 3.1. Rainwater Storage: Implementing efficient rainwater storage systems is crucial for optimizing its use in agriculture. Farmers can use storage methods such as underground tanks, ponds, or check dams to collect and retain rainwater. It is essential to ensure the storage infrastructure is well-maintained, clean, and properly covered to prevent evaporation and contamination.

3.2. Irrigation Techniques: Drip irrigation and sprinkler systems are highly efficient methods for utilizing harvested rainwater. These techniques deliver water directly to the roots of plants, minimizing wastage and maximizing water-use efficiency. Farmers can design irrigation systems that integrate rainwater with existing water sources for optimal water distribution.

3.3. Watershed Management: Adopting watershed management practices, such as contour plowing, terracing, and afforestation, helps improve rainwater infiltration and reduces soil erosion. By preserving the natural landscape, farmers can enhance rainwater absorption into the soil, replenish groundwater, and maintain water availability in the long run.

3.4. Crop Selection and Timing: Choosing crop varieties that are well-suited to the local climate and rainfall patterns is essential for efficient rainwater use. Additionally, farmers can adjust their planting and harvesting schedules to align with periods of higher rainfall, maximizing the benefits of rainwater irrigation.

Conclusion: Rainwater harvesting offers immense potential for sustainable agriculture. By capturing and efficiently using rainwater, farmers can reduce their reliance on unpredictable water sources, improve crop productivity, and mitigate the impact of water scarcity. Governments, agricultural organizations, and communities should collaborate to promote and support the adoption of rainwater harvesting systems, providing training, incentives, and technical assistance to farmers. With effective rainwater management practices, we can sustain the green revolution and build resilient agricultural systems for a more food-secure future.

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PADDY WATCH- App to monitor rice fields

World's first real time digital platform to monitor rice fields. It will give information about the quantity of rice planted and the harvest achieved. Researchers of University of Sydney in collaboration with others partners have been developing an app : PADDY WATCH.

• The project has been undertaken in collaboration with Google Earth and the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).
  

In India, this app is being developed by IARI (Indian Agricultural Research Institute). India, China, and Indonesia are the world's largest producers of rice and together account for about 60% of the total world production.

The real time land use data will be generated using Google Earth and Cloud Computing Technology and will be verified by field operators in India, China, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. This will allow the agricultural scientists to monitor and ensure their accuracy worldwide. These 5 countries hold the position of largest rice producing countries across the globe.

This mobile app will allow farmers and scientists to

• determine the extent of arable land under rice cropping in near real-time
• estimate potential yields
• manage water use and water security;
• account for greenhouse gas emissions (paddy rice releases methane)
• develop policies for education, economic growth, gender equity, and reducing social inequality.

Paddy Watch is being developed in partnership with Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture- Malaysia. The Institute of Soil Science at Chinese Academy of Sciences. University Malaysia Terengganu. The Indonesian Center of Agricultural Land Resources Research and Development in the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture. IADA Ketara, and RIICE remote sensing, Vietnam.

This type of technology would enhance the world's confidence to feed the population in a sustainable way.

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FARMER'S HIGH HOPES FOR A GOOD MONSOON

Monsoon arrives over the West Bengal state on June 10 and takes around 3-4 days to cover the entire state. As of June 11, the southwest monsoon has advanced into parts of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka after its onset over Kerala on June 1, according to the IMD. It has also covered parts of west central, east central, north west and north east Bay of Bengal.

IMD predicts that the monsoon winds will progress further into Goa, the remaining parts of Tamil Nadu and the north eastern states. It will also cover the central Arabian Sea and northern Bay of Bengal. After that, the monsoon will move into Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal and Sikkim by tomorrow, June 12.

Rains bring a lot in their way.While they bring hope to the farmer, a question mark hangs. Would it rain through the season, and rain enough and rain just in time for the sowing, to promote good crop growth and later a good harvest?

The monsoon forecast is critical to India's food production and GDP growth - deficient rains could adversely impact farmer incomes and thereby drag down rural demand and consumption. This could hurt overall economic growth, especially at a time when agriculture is expected to be the only bright spot for India in 2020-21. While manufacturing is expected to be hit partially because of Covid-19 and the lockdown, the services sector- aviation, travel and tourism - is not expected to recover at least in the first half of 2020-21.

India is the world's biggest producer of sugar, cotton and pulses, the second largest producer of wheat and rice. The success of these crops is largely determined by the June-September southwest monsoon, which delivers about 70% of the country's annual rainfall.

Our farmers face difficulties every season like bad weather, crop failure, locust attack and many more but now these factors all come at a single time. The pandemic has certainly taken a toll on agriculture with farmers being unable to sell their crops due to lockdown. The locust attacks deemed to be one of the worst in years and cyclones Amphan have addede to the woes as the next crop cycle approaches.

Today, the IMD issued a forecast of thunderstorms at 30-40 kmph in isolated areas of West Bengal, Odisha on the last day of the last week. According to the forecast, heavy rains have started in the south bengal districts of West Bengal since this morning. According to meteorological sources, heavy to very heavy rains are likely in various parts of India in the next 48 hours, by June 13.

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CONSERVATION OF MANGROVE

The SUNDARBAN, largest mangrove ecosystem in the world. Limited scientific knowledge on the spatial ecology of the mangroves in this world heritage ecosystem has been a major impediment to conservation efforts. In West Bengal, Sundarban extend over 4260 square km. across the south and north 24 parganas. A large part of the sundarbans, was severely battered due to cyclone Amphan on May 20.

Since 1927, the Indian Forest Act has been applied to the mangrove forest of Sundarbans, which has been declared as a reserved area. The Environment (protection) Act, 1986 has had a crucial role in the conservation and management of mangrove ecosystem. Discovery India have partnered with Govt. of West Bengal to save the world's only mangrove tiger habitat. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the state govt. will plant 5crore mangrove trees in Amphan-hit Sundarbans region within one month.

Reasons to protect mangrove forest for the future:

• Carbon sinks

Mangroves absorb carbon at a rate two to four times greater than mature tropical forest and store three to five times more carbon per equivalent area than tropical forest. Research shows that coastal mangroves outperform most other forest in their capacity to store carbon.

• Water quality

Mangroves are essential to maintaining water quality with their dense network of roots and surrounding vegetation, they filter and trap sediments, heavy metals, and other pollutants. This ability to retain sediments flowing from upstream prevents contamination of downstream waterways.

• Sustainable development

Mangrove forest in Sundarbans have an untapped potential for sustainable revenue generating initiatives including ecotourism, fishing and other recreational activities.

• Biodiversity

Sundarbans is known for its wide range of fauna including 300 bird species, 250 fishes, 350 species of vascular plants and the Bengal tiger and other threatened species such as estuatine crocodile and the indian python.

• Coastal defence

The sturdy root systems of mangrove trees help form a natural barrier against violent storm surges and floods. River and land sediments is trapped by the roots, which protects coastline areas and slows erosion. This filtering process also prevents harmful sediment reaching coral reefs.

Sundarbans mangrove forest is extremely productive ecosystem, providing critical services that benefit all of us. Protecting natural ecosystems like mangrove forests not only helps preserve biodiversity, it also helps preserve a vital resource for local communities.

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PRECISION INJECTION SYSTEM FOR PLANTS

While the human world is reeling from one pandemic, there are several ongoing epidemics that affect crops and put global food production at risk. Bananas, oranges are already under threat in many areas due to disease that affect plans circulatory system and that cannot be treated by applying pesticides.

A new method developed by engineers may offer a starting point for delivering life saving treatments to plants ravaged by diseases.

Diseases which are difficult to detect early and to treat, given the lack of precision tools to access plant vascularature to treat pathogens and to sample biomarkers. The team decided to take some of principles involved in precision medicine for humans and adapt them to develop plant-specific bio-materials and drug delivery devices.

This method uses an array of microneedles made of silk-based biomaterial to deliver nutrients, drugs or other molecules to specific parts of the plant.

One of the microneedle patches, applied to the citrus tree

The microneedles which is the researchers call phytoinjectors, can be made in a variety of sizes and shapes, and can deliver material specifically to a plant's roots, stems, or leaves, or into its xylem (the vascular tissue involved in water transportation from roots to canopy) or phloem (the vascular tissue that circulates metabolites throughout the plant). In lab tests, the team used tomato and tobacco plants, but the system could be adopted to almost any crop. The microneedles can not only deliver targeted payloads of molecules into the plant, but they can also be used to take samples from the plans for lab analysis.

The work started in response for U.S.D.A to address the citrus greening crisis. The disease infects the phloem of the whole plant, including roots, which are very difficult to reach with any conventional treatment. Most pesticides are simply sprayed or painted onto a plant's leaves or stems, and little if any penetrates to the root system. Such treatments may appear to work for a short while, but then bacteria bounce back and do their damage. So, its needed something that can target the phloem circulating through a plant's tissues, which could carry an antibacterial compound down into the roots. Thats just what some version of the new microneedles could potentially accomplish.

Microneedle patch has been trailed on tomato plant

They used biotechnology tools to increase silk's hydrophilicity (making it attract water), while keeping the material strong enough to penetrate the plant's epidermis and degradable enough to then get out of the way.

They tested the material on their lab tomato and tobacco plants, and were able to observe injected materials, in this case fluorescent molecules, moving all the way through plant, from roots to leaves. In their experiment with tobacco plants, they were able to inject an organism called Agrobacterium to alter the plant's DNA- a typical bioengineering tool, but delivered in a new and precise way. The team continues to work on adapting the system to the varied needs and conditions of different kinds of plants and their tissues.

Source- Massachusetts institute of technology

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INTEGRATED LOCUST MANAGEMENT

On receiving the message of Locust swarm invasion, farmers may take following preventive measures

1. Farmers should go to their cropped field and make loud sound by beating empty tins/metal plates, drum or radio or through other electronic sound system to prevent locust swarm landing in the crop.

2. Spray Neem based formulation (0.15% EC) @ 45 ml/15 liter water on standing crop as feeding deterrent.

3. Dust the crop with Quinalphos 1.5 % DP or chloropyriphos 1.5% DP or Methyl Parathion 2% DP@ 25 kg/ha on standing crop.

4. Dig a trench 2 feet deep and 2 feet wide in front of marching hopper band and then apply Quinalphos 1.5% DP or chloropyriphos 1.5% DP or Methyl Parathion 2% DP dust in the trench or if water is available, pour water in the trench.

ULV sprayer

5. If the hopper band is roosting, either go for dusting Quinalphos 1.5% DP or chloropyriphos 1.5% DP or Methyl Parathion 2% DP dust @ 25 kg/ha or spray malathion 96% ULV @1.0 lit./ha or fenitrothion 96% ULV @ 1.0lit./ha with the help of ULV sprayer directly on the hopper band.

6. If the adult locust swarm has settled on the ground in uncultivated field, either go for dusting Quialphos 1.5% DP or chloropyriphos 1.5% DP or Methyl Parathion 2% DP dust @25kg/ha or spray malathion 96 % ULV @ 1.0 lit./ha or fenitrothion 96% ULV 2 1.0 lit./ha with the help of ULV sprayer directly on the hopper band provided it is in small area.

7. If it is on large uncultivated land, apply same dust of ULV formulation using vehicle mounted dusters/ULV sprayers as the case may be.

8. If a locust swarm is spotted invading a cropped area, the State Agriculture Department should arrange Aerial spraying of ULV formulation of insecticides like malathion 96% ULV @ 1.0 lit./ha of fenitrothion 96% ULV @1.0 lit/ha with the help of ULV nozzles fitted on a Helicopter.

9. If the Locust swarm is spotted settled in non schedule cropped or non-cropped area, the State Agriculture Department should arrange Aerial spraying of ULV formulation of insecticide like malathion 96% ULV @1.0 lit./ha or fenitrothion 96% ULV @ 0.5 lit./ha with the help of ULV nozzles fitted on a Helicopter.

10. Mix 500ml DDVP 76 EC 50 ml water in 100kg dry sand/Fine Soil and sprinkle in standing crop to kill adult locust.

Locusts are generally knocked down within short time after sprinkling the mixture.

CAUTION:

Apply during cool hours : 7 - 10 am or 5-7 pm.

Wear protective clothing/face mask/, hand gloves/googles/head cap while applying this mixture and leave the field as early as possible.

The crop should not be harvested for seven days after this treatment.

Some Other Details About Locust

Important Species of Locust in India

Desert Locust

Matured Adult Locust

Life Stages of Desert Locust

Stages: Egg - Hopper - Adult

Duration: Egg                      - 10-65 days

                 Hopper                - 24-95 days

                 Adult                    - 2.5-5 months

                 Laying-fledging  - 40-50 days

                 Adult maturation- 3weeks- 9 months

                 Total                    - 2-6 months

Larval moults: 5-6 (solitarious, 5 (gregarious)solitarious, transiens, gregarious

Phases Affected area:  Recession area-16 million km2.- Invasion area: 29 million km2

Locust Damage

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GROW PLANTS WITHOUT SOIL

Why Plants really need Soil ?

Soil provides nutrients and support to the plants. It gives water and oxygen to plants. So, soil just acts as a medium to provide plants support, water, and nutrients. Soil can be replaced until plants get their nutrient, support and water. By choosing not to use soil, we are also protecting our plants from common diseases, and pests.

Techniques to Grow Plants without Soil

1. Aquaponics

It is an innovative method in which plants absorb the fish waste as nutrients and recycle the water for the fishes. It creates a symbiotic relationship in which fish provide nutrients to plants and water is conserved as we don't need to change the water for fish.

2. Aeroponics

Aeroponics is an advanced type of hydroponics. In this technique plants grows in a mist or air evironment without any aggregate medium or soil.

3. Aquascaping

It is a method to grow aquatic plants generally for the purpose of decorating the aquarium and arranging them with rocks, stones, in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

4. Hydroponics

Hydroponics is a type of hydroculture to growing terrestrial plants without soil by dissolving nutrients in a water solvent. The inert medium like gravel or perlite support the plants with only roots submerged to the nutrients solution.

Raising plants without soil allows farmers to grow more food in less space. It is especially important in our country, where many people go hungry.

Once word got around, people were growing plants in baskets, on patios and on rooftops using only water and a little plant food.

NASA researcher checking hydroponic plants 

Best Plants to grow in a Hydroponic System

Vegetables

• Lettuces
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Spinaches

Herbs

• Mint
• Basil

Fruits

• Strawberries
• Peppers

How to Start a Hydroponic Garden

• Choose a container

There are many types of containers that we can use including fiberglass tank, glass jar, cement trough and metal containers. The container should be leak proof.

• Pick a Plant

Spread newspapers over work area and then carefully remove the plant from its pot. Tap the bottom of the pot while gently easing the plant out.

Then gently brush all the soil from the roots.

• Making Solution

We can make hydroponic solution in two ways. One way is to buy the premixed nutrients. Another way is to mix nutrients. Buy the nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous, calcium etc from market to make base of out solution. These are in the form of salt. Mix this salts with water to make a solution. The salts will breakdown and provide nutrients to the plants. The quantities we should use :

2 tsp of ammonium phosphate

4 tsp of magnesium sulfate

4 tsp of potassium nitrate

4.5 tsp of calcium nitrate

Calcium and magnesium carbonates are also common ingredients.

• Supporting the Plant with Solution

Plants can be supported in pure water culture. In water culture, plants grows with immersed in nutrient solution without any aggregate medium. Carefully thread the plant stem. Place the roots into the glass container filled with water.

• Add Light

Move plant to a sunny location and watch it grow!

After about a week, pour out the water and refill. Change the water and the plant food solution about once a month.

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