prevention of drought
Answers
Food security in India is getting more and more dependent on annual monsoons. In a year of low rainfall, a large section of the people, especially those below the poverty line, have to depend on subsidised government food rations. If this situation continues, the country will be stressed for resources to provide food for the people.
Coping with water shortage from failed monsoons is somewhat similar to coping with an economic crisis by a family where the breadwinners are laid off work. A family that practises saving money for a ‘rainy day’ can coast over the bad times better than one without any savings as a safety net.
India is blessed with better rainfall than many other countries. However, over 95 per cent of water received from rainfall is lost through run-off. The chief obstacle against harnessing rainwater from run-off and to recharge the depleting water table for future agriculture use is the sub-surface hardpan that prevents water percolation down the soil profile. This hardpan is formed due to ages of primitive farming practices involving shallow ploughing of land for farming. If this obstructive hardpan can be broken up mechanically, water will freely percolate down the soil profile to be stored for use during periods of water shortage.
Method used in breaking up hardpan
Because they are centuries old, the hardpans in India are stone hard and will require mechanical tools to break them up. In developed countries, a tool named ‘chisel’ was developed more than half a century ago. This tool can be easily adapted for use in India, and its effectiveness is already demonstrated in several regions of the country.
Chisels of various lengths from 18” to 48” are commonly used in the west to loosen ground to the various depths required for various crops. The chief advantages of chiselling are:
(a) It enables rainwater to percolate deep into the soil profile, recharging the water table, thus storing water underground for future use by humans and crops.