Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T1-01O-1003
Low-Cost Tube-well Recharge Technology for Enhancing Water
Availability
Navab Singh, P. P. Rohilla, S. K. Singh, and Dilip Matwa
ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone-II
CAZRI Campus, Jodhpur-342 005. Rajasthan. INDIA.
In India, climate vulnerabilities addressed are drought, flood, cyclone, heat waves, cold waves,
etc. which are likely to threaten the food security and livelihood of millions of people in urban,
peri-urban, and rural areas as well. Groundwater is clearly the preferred source for farmers.
This is one of the reasons why India has experienced explosive growth in groundwater demand
during recent decades (Pendke et al. 2017). The NICRA villages have become hubs of learning
on climate-resilient agriculture in a short span, opening up opportunities for horizontal and
vertical diffusion of successful interventions in other parts of the districts. Due to changes in
climatic conditions and rainfall, the climate changed in Rajasthan, since the last ten years
rainfall pattern has changed, the dry spell is more, and also an uneven distribution of rains. It
is therefore important to enhance the residence of the Indian agriculture production system to
climate variability and change. In this regard, Krishi Vigyan Kendra Bharatpur under NICRA
Project developed low-cost tube-well recharge technology to improve the groundwater quality
and availability as well.
Methodology
Water stress is being felt in different parts of the country owing to the increasing demand
resulting from the population explosion (CGWB 2007). Most of the farmers were unaware of
in-situ soil and water conservation techniques. A few farmers were recharging their tube wells
by using indigenous methods, viz., by the opening valve of the Kachcha tube well in the rainy
season to restore run-off water. But due to filtration problems silt is deposited in the pit and
needs frequent cleaning, which is a tiresome process and huge water losses. Based on the above
findings and the usefulness of recharging tube-well; KVK Bharatpur has developed indigenous
wisdom of farmers with scientific input to design a low-cost recharging structure of tube-well
(`10000/-only) using locally available cement pipes (perforated), brick wall in tube-well and
prepared a pit also for water filtration separately outside the tube-well.
Results
More than 125 tube-well recharging structures have been completed successfully in Sitara
village of Bharatpur district and farmers of Sahenti and Mukundpura nearby villages have also
adopted this low-cost technology. Major crops in the rabi season minimized 90% of the yield
losses due to recharged groundwater (8-10ft); due to which farmers cultivated wheat, barley,
6 | Page Resilience through land and water management interventions, water management and governance