Reducing loss of farm water through age-old technique
Hyderabad: Ensuring enough water for their crops is a challenge for farmers across the world. The situation of MS Subrahmanyam Raju, a farmer from Hyderabad, was not different, but the difference was that he refused to give up and turned to innovation.
Raju used a generations-old technique, which helped him reduce water evaporation losses from farm ponds.
“This technique has to be used only for farm ponds and not general pools. By arresting water loss, we can keep the project cost under control. Otherwise, we end up using more water and more energy,” he shared.
The technique that includes adding edible oils to water can reduce water evaporation losses up to 70 per cent, he said.
“The required material is any edible (cooking) oil. Edible oils are less dense than water. So, oil floats on water and does not dissolve easily. Also, edible oil’s evaporation point is far higher than water’s. The oil makes a thin film on water and reflects heat, so radiation is less, naturally evaporation is less,” he explained, adding that the process does not harm plants.
“Evaporation losses are more on sunny and windy days. We pour the edible oil on the water surface at multiple points. It distributes automatically.”
To test the technique, the farmer undertook two major experiments — one at Gingurthy village with Ekalavya Organic Polytechnique School and another one with the Krishi Vignan Kendra. Both the experiments were successful and farmers in the villages were able to save several gallons of water.
The technique is cost-effective.
“The cost of discarded edible oil is about Rs 50 per litre. We use 25 litres of oil initially, for a thousand square metre pond, which is then reduced to 13 litres per month. As per calculations, a farmer can save 10,000 litres of water per day, and about 18,00,000 litres in six months with an investment of just Rs 4,500,” explained Subrahmanyam Raju, who has also done many experiments in connection with soil reclamation in the past, and has many innovations to his name.
“I am planning to create more awareness on the issue through public seminars, social media and traditional media as a service to the farming community,” he added.
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