MP village shows the way to fight vagaries of monsoon

Karond Kala, MP, July 16 (UNI) Reeling under the perennial shortage of water to irrigate their land year after year,the progressive farmers of this tiny village in tribal Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh have learnt to deal with the vagaries of monsoon,managing with their own resources to build as many as 40 reservoirs of water in their own land for irrigation,thus serving as a model for the entire State to follow.

The farmers of the village,which falls under the Badnavar development block of Dhar district and has a population of 4200,have raised through contributions to built as many as 40 ponds in their own land to conserve water which earllier used to go waste in the rainy season.

A visiting group of journalists from Delhi was told by the local farmers that these ponds of the size of 50x50x3 meters serve as a small reservoirs which enable them to use the water at a time when there are no rains. The village, which used to suffer shortage of water in the kharif season from October onwards, now stocks through these ponds enough water to last till February to irrigate their farms in the kharif season.

The 40 ponds occupying an area of about 40 hectares of land are spread over about 300 hectares of land in the village.Each pond has been built at a cost of Rs 2 lakhs,which includes Rs 80,000 raised through contributions from local farmers and 20,000 as panchayat funds.

Mr Anandi Lal Dhakad,a farmer, told visiting journalists that the farmers get three fold advantages from the construction of these ponds.Firstly each pond has the capacity of irrigating upto 10 hectares of land to enable them to grow crops, mainly soyabean.

Secondly the water so collected in the ponds percolates down the ground making the tube wells earlier non-functioning due to low level of under ground water,to function.Thirdly, water conserved in these ponds serves as a buffer stock to fulfill their needs of water for irrigation in the kharif season when there is no rains thus saving their crops.

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