Lagatar24 Desk
Ranchi, Oct.25: With farmers at the centre of the development process, the Bokaro district administration has brought 500 acres of land under the solar lift irrigation facility, thereby benefitting approximately 480 farming households in the district.
Apart from employment at a local steel plant as a daily wage labourer, a substantial part of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. A major part of farmland is used only during the rains for paddy crops. To find a sustainable irrigation solution, the administration has installed many solar lift irrigation pumps in the district, therefore, ensuring the year-round availability of water for irrigation.
48 units of pumps to be installed to cover 500 acres of land
Each pump unit has a capacity of 5HP with a 5KW solar panel installed at a Pump House which covers 300 meters of an irrigation channel with the coverage of 10-12 acres of land. A total of 48 such units will be installed in the district which will cover an area of almost 500 acres of land while helping more than 300 farming families. Apart from this, to ensure the safety of the pump house, each pump unit has been insured against natural hazards and thievery.
Poor irrigation facility won’t become a barrier, work in progress for the implementation of Solar based mobile irrigation units: DC Bokaro
Deputy Commissioner, Bokaro Kuldeep Chowdhary said, “as per the vision of Chief Minister Hemant Soren, we are working on supporting our farmers and increasing their income. Bokaro is a mineral-rich and one of the most industrialized districts of Jharkhand. But, a substantial part of the population is also dependent on agriculture and due to the unavailability of modern irrigation facilities, farmers can yield only one crop a year.”
“We have aimed at promoting multi-crop farming in the district. Towards the same, we are installing more than 48 solar pump units in the district for lift irrigation facility which will cover over 500 acres of land. Out of this, more than 20 units are functional and work for the remaining part will be done in due course. Slowly we are working on installing more pump units in the district to benefit a maximum number of farmers. We have sought irrigation facility report from different blocks where there is an acute shortage of irrigation water during the non-rainy season.”
“Also, we are working on the implementation of Solar based mobile irrigation units across different parts of the district. This will help marginal farmers, farmers who work in small clusters or hilly terrain. Apart from this, we are also working on the utilisation of abandoned mines for irrigation purposes through DMFT.”
More than 600 Solar lift irrigation units installed in Latehar & Simdega
In the past, Latehar and Simdega districts have also adopted the same technique to benefit farmers and promote multi-harvest. In Latehar more than 1000 acres of land have been covered under solar lift irrigation facility while installing almost 100 units whereas over 105 solar-based lift irrigation systems have been installed in Simdega while benefitting almost 5000 families across the district.
