Dr.Banarsi Lal, Dr.Shahid Ahamad
Water is an important natural resource which plays an important role in agriculture production. It is an essential component to sustain life for humans, plants and animals. Our country is blessed with vast water resources but they are not distributed properly. Many hilly regions and cold deserts of Jammu and Kashmir pass through unpredictable rainfall, periodic droughts and sometimes depleting water resources. Low crop yields are mainly due to unpredictable rainfall as sometimes the crops are damaged due to heavy rainfall and sometimes they are damaged by the droughts. The share of water for agriculture has been reduced from present level of 84 to 69 per cent. The demand for water for agricultural purposes is expected to increase from 470 billion cubic meters in 1985 to 740 billion cubic meters in 2025. Keeping the need of water for agricultural purposes, the conservation of water is of utmost importance. In hilly areas water continues to be the scarce commodity not only for agricultural purpose but also for drinking and other domestic purposes. Due to heavy biotic pressure the existing natural resources are depleting and there is no proper management of these natural resources. In hilly areas most of the agricultural crops are sown under rainfed conditions and there is a need to manage the water for the dry periods of the year. Most of the rainfall occurs only in monsoon period i.e. June to September. Most of the rainfall water is wasted and it goes in the rivers and streams carrying fertile soil and nutrients. Rainwater can be harvested in the farm ponds on individual or community basis which can be utilised for the agricultural crops in water scarce seasons. This water can give the maximum returns to the farmer. In upper hilly regions the major source of drinking and irrigation water is snowmelt. There are different techniques for water harvesting in the Upper Himalayan regions. The rainfall water, dew and fog, roof water, snowmelt water etc. can be stored by different techniques.
In hilly areas there is limited scope for boring tube wells, lift irrigation and even for canals. These kinds of water facilities can be easily made available for the plain areas. Most common source for irrigation can be made by constructing small irrigation channels (Nallas). In cold desert places water for irrigation is made available by perennial torrents. Local water channels (Nallas) are mainly used for irrigation purposes. After melting snow the water in Nallas is used for irrigation water purposes. In hilly areas the water channels (Nallas) are built for maintaining proper gravity of water. It is one of the commonest ways of bringing the water for agricultural crops. If the river has steep gradient then water is diverted into canal some distance upstream and leads along a contour so that it can flow in the field by gravity. In hilly areas wooden water channels can be made by making notches at the natural water resources and water can be diverted to the agricultural fields by terraces using the natural gravitational flow of water. As the hilly area are slopy and rocky so wooden water channels can be used at many places. Such types of water channels can be built by the villagers without assistance from any other agency. Even bamboo pipes can also be utilised for the irrigation purposes. In hilly areas irrigation channels can be diverted from the river tributaries by making use of natural gradients. In some of the hilly areas the channels can be dug in the ground to regulate the flow of water. The wooden channels can be made by making a deep grove in the tree trunk or a thick branch of a tree.
In cold deserts participatory management is employed for water distribution among the people. The water disputes are solved amicably by the people. The water channels in hilly areas are not run regularly due to scanty rainfall during the winter season. The most of the villages which are on the plateaus on the sides of main river get water from the streams which trickle down from the cliffs overhanging the plateaus. These villages hardly get the water in the year of scanty snowfall as the streams dry up in the beginning of winter season. Much snowfall in the winter season results in less water in natural springs during the winter season and less snowfall in winter results in the reduction of level in natural springs during summer and thus Kharif crop suffers. In cold deserts crop cultivation without irrigation is not feasible as precipitation occurs in the form of snowfall. The water management in a particular field is regulated by apportioning into different compartments. The first compartment is closed to start the water for second compartment. Due to this the height of channel is raised in front of first compartment than the channel in front of second compartment.
In cold deserts water is brought in channels from glacial melts for irrigation purpose. The glacial water is generally below 2 degree centigrade which protects the crop from different kinds of plant diseases. In some of the hilly areas pitcher water is used as a source of irrigation especially for fruit plants. The pitcher is kept in soil and the new plant is planted close to it. The pitcher is filled with water in April-June and stone lid is placed over it. The plant roots absorb the water from the pitcher by which the plant health is maintained. The filled pitcher gives at least two weeks water to the plant and it is again filled with water when it becomes empty. Another method of supplying water to crops especially vegetable crops is by buckets but this method is too laborious. Soil moisture can also be conserved by the mulching method. The grass and tree leaves can be used to conserve moisture in the soil. Mulching helps to maintain the soil moisture and also helps to moderate the soil temperature.
(The author is Dr.Banarsi Lal, Asstt. Professor and Dr.Shahid Ahamad, Assoc. Professor, KVK Reasi (Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Jammu).
