A new model of minor irrigation through sub-surface porous vessels (SSPV) being developed here is set to benefit the farmers with small land holdings in the villages of the Thar desert. Experiments have indicated a higher yield of farm produce and improvement in the nutrient value of soil after the installation of frustum-shaped vessels at the mounds formed on land.
The initiative, supported by Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi's Rural Technology Action Group, was taken up earlier this year, after the COVID-19 lockdown was announced, to address the issues of non-availability of food material, malnutrition among children and the villagers’ inability to earn livelihood in the cities. The model has effectively modified watering by pitchers and competes with drip irrigation.
At the small Moklawas village in Jodhpur district, the vegetable farming through SSPV has started on the campus of ‘Arna Jharna’, which functions as the desert museum showcasing the arid landscape. The local villagers have created heaped piles of earth and are growing vegetables such as brinjal, tomato, spinach and lady’s fingers with the new model.
A SSPV is made of location-specific clay and sawdust, mixed in a proportion to suit the desert sand, press-formed to the frustum shape and baked at a temperature of 750-800 degree Celsius with the addition of a carbon layer in its structure. A team of local potters has been identified in Jodhpur for manufacturing the vessels in the open-hearth furnaces at their households.
Jodhpur-based Rupayan Sansthan, entrusted with the task of knowledge dissemination of the irrigation model, has obtained technical assistance from the experts of IIT-Jodhpur for manufacturing the vessels with the porosity required for different locations to suit the farming of vegetables and fruits. The SSPVs, with the storage of 8 to 9 litres of water, supplies it to a radius of land measuring 1.25 metres.
