63 proposals received for more crop and income per drop of water

New Delhi, Jul 2 (UNI) The Project Screening Committee of the Ministry of Water Resources has shortlisted 63 proposals for evaulation and formulate guidelines to operationalise the programme -- 'More Crop and Income per Drop of Water'.

The proposals for conducting demonstrations and seeking funds was received by the Water Resources Ministry by International Crops Research Institue for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad, to be implemented by the four states -- Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

The committee, chaired by noted agricultural scientist M S Swaminathan, conducted 5000 demonstrations by 60 institutes and Physical monitoring of the programme was done by the regional offices of CWC and Central Ground Water Board.

Over 2000 villages in 300 districts and 25 states are covered under this programme with an expected participation of 10,600 farmers. Seventeen of the 21 institutes, which got the funds, have completed 1,072 demonstrations, an official release said.

Dr Swaminathan panel, in its recommendation, had suggested to initiate 5000 Farmers Participatory Action Research Programme (FPARP) throughout the country with the help of Agricultural Universities, ICAR institutes, Engineering colleges, WALMIs, among others. It is for demonstrating the technologies available on shelf to the farmers for increasing the productivity and profitability of agriculture through generating synergy among water, crop, agronomic practices, soil nutrients, crop variety and implements.

The programme is for two-three crop seasons and the number of seasons will depend upon the type of crop and the technology used.

The Ministry is organising a 'National Ground Water Congress' in September 2008, in which an inclusive session will be held on FPARP.

UNI MCN GL NS1255