During summer, the field is ploughed and furrows (one foot depth) are made. When it rains the water stays back in each of the furrows and sinks into the soil. Fast changing climatic pattern, untimely rains and prolonged dry spells are creating problems for agriculture. “While not much change in the total annual rainfall is noticed across the country, the distribution becomes the problem, with more heavy rainy days and prolonged dry spells in several places. Rain water harvesting at the farm level is one of the best solutions today as crops need only soil moisture and not water for growth. An integrated approach for this will help rain-fed farmers to save their crops,” says Dr. G. V. Ramanjaneyulu, Executive Director, Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA) Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh. It would do well for other farmers across the country to try and replicate the rainwater harvesting model of a small farmer, Mr. Subash Sharma from Yavatmal district, Maharashtra. Mr. Sharma has integrated several approaches to harvest most of the rain received on his farm. One of them is increasing the soil organic matter. The crop residue is converted into a compost called ‘Ko sanjeevani.’ It is made using one tonne of cow dung, half a tonne of tank silt, 50 kg oil cake and 25 kg jaggery solution composted for a month. This can be applied for two hectares and can limit moisture evaporation to about 30 per cent.

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