Irrigated rice accounts for 28 percent of total irrigated area in the country. However due to the adoption of water exhaustive traditional methods of flood irrigation, paddy alone consume one third of the water required for agriculture. An ICRIER -NABARD Study estimates the Total Consumptive Water Use(TCWU) for rice production in India at 221 BCM per year. West Bengal's Irrigated rice accounts for 45 % of the total irrigated areas making it the fifth state in ranking after Odisha ( 91 %), Chattishgarh ( 81%), Andhra Pradesh ( 60%) and Tamil Nadu (50%). West Bengal is the largest producer of paddy in the country accounting for 14 % of all India production. Farmers in West Bengal grow 3 crops of paddy, Aus (Autumn season), Aman( Winter season) and Boro( Summer season). Rice occupies 57 % of the total cropped area thus making it the most important crop in the state.
West Bengal Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation Project (WBADMIP) was implemented in 2012 targeting water scarce rainfed areas which are predominantly single cropped and largely inhabited by small and marginal farmers. Paddy was the dominant crop occupying 90 % of the total cropped area. Traditionally, rice is a highly water intensive crop, typically grown under rainfed condition in wet season and irrigated condition in dry season. Even though crop diversification programs under irrigated condition initiated by the project has been able to increase non paddy crops significantly from 10 % to 55 % of the total cropped area, there are few districts where boro paddy still covers a large part of the irrigated areas.
. The traditional method of irrigation in paddy involves flooding the field from planting to harvest causing a huge consumption of water. Boro paddy cultivated during the dry season requires upto 2500 mm of water which is quite high compared to non paddy crops. With increase in population, demand for rice production has increased manifold, therefore, meeting future demand for rice while drastically reducing water usage, is a challenge for the scientist community that need to be addressed on priority basis.
Alternate Wetting and Drying(AWD) according to International Rice Research Institute, is a water saving technology that farmers can apply to reduce their irrigation water consumption in rice field without decreasing its yield. In AWD, Irrigation water is applied a few days after the disappearance of the ponded water. Hence, the field is alternatively flooded and non flooded. the number of days of non flooded soil between irrigation can vary from 1 to more than 10 days depending on the soil type, weather and crop growth.
Internet of Things(IOT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human to human or human to computer interactions.
IOT can be applied to a series of interconnected decision points for optimal efficiency gain.
World Bank with support from WBADMIP personnel carried out a pilot project on sensor based Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) method covering 25 farmers from 5 Water User Association in Paschim Medinipur and Hooghly District. The main objective of the pilot project was to design and implement a workable and scalable solution for demonstrating water use efficiency in boro paddy cultivation by introducing Alternate Wetting and Drying(AWD) method of crop field and by installing sensor assisted Internet of Things(IOT). The IOT based part consists of water level sensors, water scheduling algorithm, mobile based pump control system and a decision support system. All these systems are connected with a cloud based system.
Farmers were particularly excited to see how motor pumps are operated through a mobile phone and a large number of them participated during the field demonstrations. A per hectare average cost and return comparison between control plot and AWD plot shows that the gross return in the two plots differ by 6 % but reduced cost of cultivation gave a 37 % higher net return in the AWD plot. The pump operators reported that 20-25% of water can be saved during the dry season through AWD method. Water saving will be even more if DSR (Direct seeded rice) method is also adopted with AWD. Moreover, mobile phone operated pumping system also enables the pump operators to engage simultaneously in alternate source of livelihood.
Alternate Wetting and Drying(AWD) according to International Rice Research Institute, is a water saving technology that farmers can apply to reduce their irrigation water consumption in rice field without decreasing its yield. In AWD, Irrigation water is applied a few days after the disappearance of the ponded water. Hence, the field is alternatively flooded and non flooded. the number of days of non flooded soil between irrigation can vary from 1 to more than 10 days depending on the soil type, weather and crop growth.
Internet of Things(IOT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human to human or human to computer interactions.
IOT can be applied to a series of interconnected decision points for optimal efficiency gain.
World Bank with support from WBADMIP personnel carried out a pilot project on sensor based Alternate Wetting and Drying (AWD) method covering 25 farmers from 5 Water User Association in Paschim Medinipur and Hooghly District. The main objective of the pilot project was to design and implement a workable and scalable solution for demonstrating water use efficiency in boro paddy cultivation by introducing Alternate Wetting and Drying(AWD) method of crop field and by installing sensor assisted Internet of Things(IOT). The IOT based part consists of water level sensors, water scheduling algorithm, mobile based pump control system and a decision support system. All these systems are connected with a cloud based system.
Farmers were particularly excited to see how motor pumps are operated through a mobile phone and a large number of them participated during the field demonstrations. A per hectare average cost and return comparison between control plot and AWD plot shows that the gross return in the two plots differ by 6 % but reduced cost of cultivation gave a 37 % higher net return in the AWD plot. The pump operators reported that 20-25% of water can be saved during the dry season through AWD method. Water saving will be even more if DSR (Direct seeded rice) method is also adopted with AWD. Moreover, mobile phone operated pumping system also enables the pump operators to engage simultaneously in alternate source of livelihood.
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