1.41L ha covered by micro irrigation in 2018

According to officials of state Agriculture Department, “Government had set a target to bring 2.28 lakh hectares of irrigated land in all the villages under micro irrigation scheme in 2019-20 and Rs 1,245 crore had been earmarked for the project. As continuation of the project, government had set 2025 as deadline to bring the entire irrigated land in the state under micro irrigation.”

Tamil Nadu government officially adopted micro irrigation project in 2007-08, but it was merged with Prathan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) in 2015-16. The project envisages rational use of water to increase productivity and income for the farmers.

Micro irrigation in the state is carried out mainly using three methods namely drip irrigation, sprinklers and rain gun. While flowers, plantations crop and pulses such as black and green gram, oil seeds and ground nuts are irrigated using sprinklers and rain gun, major vegetable and fruits are watered by drip irrigation.

Officials said that in the state, the net sown area is 48.19 lakh hectares and among the sown area, 28.33 lakh hectares are irrigated, which counts for 58 percentage. Among the irrigated farm lands, 17.2 lakh hectares, approximately 60 per cent of area, are irrigated using open wells and bore wells. “The government is targeting only the 17.2 lakh hectares as this section of land falls under intense use of water and so government is planning to bring this land under micro irrigation.

So far, approximately 4 lakh hectares of land, irrigated under open and bore wells, are brought under micro irrigation and the remaining land would be covered by 2025,” said officials. The officials also said that farmers have understood the importance of micro irrigation and are switching over to the scheme at a rapid pace. From 2007-08 to 2017-18, only 2.59 lakh hectares of land had been brought under drip irrigation, but in 2018-19, 1.41 lakh hectares had been brought under micro irrigation.

“The land brought under micro irrigation last year is the highest achievement made ever since micro irrigation was implemented,” said the officials.