SHIMLA: The initiative of constructing water ponds to store rain water for agricultural usage is changing lives of farmers at Rajgarh block of Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh. Earlier, agriculture in the block was dependent on rain and crops would often fail but with farmers getting access to stored water to irrigate their land, that is becoming a thing of the past. So far, 50 ponds have been constructed while100 more are in the pipeline.
Ashok Kumar, a farmer from Chogtali village of Rajgarh block used to earn Rs 80,000 per season from eight bighas of land. Absence of irrigation facility and heavy dependence on rain used to affect crop production. When feeding his family of six became a challenge for him, he decided to apply for the water pond scheme.
With financial assistance from the block development office, Rajgarh, he constructed a water pond on his land and today, earns around Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh per season. He says that storing water for irrigation in a pond has changed his life for the better.
Sandeep Kumar from Serjgaas village, who has a family of eight, found it difficult to make ends meet with his income of Rs 60,000 per season from six bighas of land. He also constructed a water pond to end his dependence on rain and now earns Rs 3 lakh annually.
Block development officer, Rajgarh, Arvind Singh Guleria said before starting this campaign, agriculture was mostly rainfed and farmers often had to face crop failure. Production of garlic, tomato and beans (cash crops) was below potential. He said after the construction of the individual farm pond, (Johar) production of cash crops has increased manifold and is now 10 to 12 quintals per bighas for garlic, besides other cash crops.
He said that besides economic impact, the campaign also has social and environmental conservation impact as many BPL and SC families have got benefit under this scheme. Ecologically, these farm ponds are helping in water conservation, ground water recharge and soil conservation.
He said that 50 such farms ponds has been developed under this campaign and 100 such applications have been received by the Rajgarh block office. According to the officer, they have set a target of 200 such ponds in Rajgarh block, as farmers have shown very keen interest in the campaign.
