News @ Jains - JAIN-INCID KRISHI SINCHAI VIKAS PURASKAR of year 2010 awarded to Shri Rajesh Vijay for record cultivation of paddy using drip irrigation.

Highlights :

• Awards honour contribution in practicing modern/ micro irrigation and water management techniques
• JAIN- INCID award selection committee comprises of Chairman INCID/CWC, Dy. Director General, Natural Resource Management (ICAR), Director (WALMI), Vice-Chancellor of an Agricultural University
• Nominations received from many Agriculture Universities, State Govt, WALMI’s, individual farmers, organizations.

New Delhi , 23 March, 2011 - JAIN-INCID KRISHI SINCHAI VIKAS PURASKAR is co-awarded annually by Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd, Jalgaon, Global leader in micro irrigation and Indian National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage (INCID). Instituted in 2000-01, it encourages water conservation through drip irrigation, development of innovative farming and originality of contribution for development of irrigation technique which is accepted by farming community.

The winner is selected after careful scrutiny on aspects like, water conservation in agriculture progressing towards sustainability, control of water logging and salinity, Innovation in design of drip irrigation components like emitting devices, dripper line, drip tape, filtration systems, nozzles; prevention of losses in water conveyance, waste land development through use of modern irrigation methods, automation of irrigation systems and Innovative agronomic and/or Engineering practices.

This year’s awardee Mr. Rajesh Vijay, a farmer and a graduate in agriculture sciences decided to go back to his farming roots 25 years back. Rajesh Vijay has a 10 ha farm in Kota Bundi area in KOTA district of Rajasthan, which is famous for Basmati rice cultivation. He grows paddy, pea, castor, wheat, mustard, garlic etc. In 2009 he started facing shortage of water due to reduced flow in his only borewell in the farm. He then decided to adopt water saving technique and installed drip irrigation system on 6 ha of his farm through subsidy from the Horticulture Department. As a rotation crop to garlic he started irrigating paddy crop with drip irrigation.

The results of this adventure were exciting, according to him. He usually cannot cultivate all the 6 ha with the borewell water. So he cultivates only 3-4 ha of rice. But now with the drip system he could cultivate the entire 6 ha successfully. He also harvested 4.4 t/ha basmati rice (Variety Pusa-4) under drip. This is 600 kg/ha more than what he used to get under conventional irrigation method. Another straight factor that he noticed is the lower electricity bill he received at the end of the season. Under conventional irrigation his bill used to be 1200-1500 INR for 4 ha of paddy. With drip irrigation for all 6 ha, his bill came to only 800 INR.

Moreover the quality of paddy at his farm with drip irrigation was superior and with grain size of 7 mm and uniform golden colour due to uniformity in grain maturity he got additional price of Rs 1250 per ton. Under conventional irrigation rice grains at maturity use to be a mix of green and golden, lack of uniform quality.

Earlier with flooding method his fields remained water logged but with drip irrigation he could plant garlic soon after harvest of rice and got excellent crop of garlic. Bulb size of garlic with drip irrigation was large therefore he got high yield and very remunerative prices in the market. Inspired by his success, his neighbour farmer also installed drip irrigation system on 4 ha and got grew an excellent crop of onions.

“We are happy that a farmer has been awarded for his record growth of paddy with drip irrigation. This reiterates water intensive crops can also be grown with drip irrigation with minimal use of water. We expect this to add to the growth of our business significantly” said Mr. Atul Jain, Director – Marketing, Jain Irrigation Systems Ltd.

Jain INCID Krishi Sinchai Puraskar 2010 was given to Mr. Rajesh Vijay at World Water Day Function organized by Central Ground Water Board on March 22, 2011 at NASC Complex, Pusa, New Delhi.

The award was handed over by Shri Salman Khurshid, Union Minister for Water Resources & Minority Affairs and Mr. Vincent H Pala, Minister of State for Water Resources. Shri P. K. Gupta, Dy. Director, Horticulture was also present.

About Jain Irrigation -
Jain Irrigation is a diversified Company with a market capitalization of Rs. 7000 crores. Jain’s product portfolio includes Irrigation Products, Piping Products, Plastic Sheets, Dehydrated Foods, Fruit Puree and Juice concentrates. Jain Irrigation has pioneered drip irrigation for small farmers in India and has a lion’s share in India, which is one of the fastest growing micro irrigation markets. Jain has a growing presence in the renewable energy segment and is the largest player in applications of solar energy in agriculture and rural areas. Solar Pumps, Water heating systems and various PV appliances have made big inroads in the market. The company’s focus will grow in this sector.

JAIN have 22 manufacturing plants in 4 continents, 94 sales offices and 52 depots in 120 countries. 7068 components are manufactured at their own plants. They are the only integrated irrigation-solution provider in the world. They have a workforce of over 7000 people. Out of these, more than 1500 are engineers, agronomists and field officers, working closely with the farmers.