Using Soil Moisture Sensors for
Conserving Water and Energy in India’s Punjab Region
Kamal Vatta
Centers for International Projects Trust (CIPT), New Delhi, India
[email protected]; [email protected],
Web: www.cipt.in
Punjab Agriculture: Basic Characteristics
• Food bowl of India
• Intensive cultivation and high input
use
• Rice-wheat monoculture
• Assured irrigation largely
dependent on groundwater
• The intensification has become
unsustainable
2
The Crisis of Punjab Agriculture
• Fast depleting groundwater
resources
• Increasing investments on welldeepening
• Smallholders losing access to
irrigation water
• Smallholders leaving farming under
distress
Water Table Depth (m)
• Rising power subsidies
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
Source: Central Ground Water
Board, Punjab
IDRC Project: Improving livelihood security through water-energyagriculture management
• To understand the waterenergy-agriculture nexus
Low-cost
technologies
• Assessing the vulnerability
• Economically and
politically feasible
adaptation options
Youth as
Change Agents
• Advocacy
Value
Chains
Communication
and Extension
Project
Strategy
Innovative
Insurance
Low-cost water saving technology: Tensiometer
• Scheduling irrigation in rice
• Cost US$6-7
• Water Saving potential: 37cm
(15-25%)
• Almost equal energy savings
Distribution of beneficiaries
No. of tensiometers installed
• No adverse impact on yields
small and
marginal
18%
large
7%
14881
13051
medium
35%
8825
6625
5125
4025
525
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
semimedium
40%
Adoption, water and energy savings from tensiometer
Adoption (%)
60
51
50
40
40
38
31
30
53
32
33
20
10
0
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Communication and Extension: Cooperatives and ICT
• Farmers’ Cooperatives as
partners
• Future Knowledge Hubs
• Web-portals and mobile
applications
http://www.cipt.in/kisan-corner/kisan-corner-panjab.html
Youth as Change Agents
• Agents of Change Program with
750 agriculture students
• Adopted 65 villages
• Targeting around 25000
farmers
• Two-way learning
Insurance: A tool to boost adoption process
Adoption rates
• Farmers feel reluctance to adopt
water saving technologies
Insured
80.0
Non-Insured
75.0
71.1
69.7
69.5
70.2
70.0
• Fear crop loss due to less water use
• Insurance can increase the rate of
adoption and extent of resource
savings
Adoption rate (%)
60.0
50.0
46.2
40.0
27.1
30.0
27.1
22.8
25.6
20.0
10.0
0.0
Marginal
Small
Medium
Large
Overall
Recent Developments
• Tensiometer to Sensors
• Moving to other areas