Farmers caught between climate change and faulty irrigation system

GUWAHATI: The farmers in Assam have been badly caught between scanty rainfall and almost no irrigation or faulty irrigation facilities. In most of the districts, the famers are not in a position to sow paddy seeds for the shali paddy or summer paddy on their nursery beds.

Rainfall has been on the decline in Assam for the past ten years due to climate change. Pre-monsoon rains were very common in the state from March to May. However, the state has not received such rains this year.

Most of the farmers in south Jorhat, north Jorhat, Jamugurihat, Nalbari, Kamrup, Golaghat, Sonitpur, Biswanath, and Lakhimpur fail to sow paddy seeds on their nursery beds due to the drought-like situation.

The farmers of Assam depend largely on rain. With the current implications of climate change in the state, the Irrigation Department had a vital role to play in giving the farmers and the economy of the state a respite. However, as always, the department has failed to do anything worthwhile to rescue the farmers from their pathetic plight.

The State has 26.99 lakh hectares of net sown area, and the target of the Irrigation Department is to irrigate 17 lakh hectares of arable land. However, due to various reasons, the gap between irrigation potential created and irrigation potential utilized is very wide. One of the reasons is that most of the irrigation schemes in the state are in shambles due to wear and tear and a lack of funds for their repair. Moreover, the schemes receive the wrath of floods and storms every year. Erratic power supply, damage to transformers and HT lines, theft of motors and pumps, change of course by rivers, etc., also add to the situation.

The lack of coordination between the Irrigation and Agriculture Departments deals a body blow to farmers, who have to bear the brunt through no fault of their own. The Irrigation Department takes schemes at its own whims and fancies, and so does the Agriculture Department, which provides shallow tube wells in a rampant way. It is high time the government merged these two departments for the welfare of farmers.

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