Awareness of water conservation and constraints faced by farmers in adoption of drip irrigation in cotton crop in Haryana

Agriculture forms the backbone of the Indian society. Around 67 per cent of the population derives their subsistence from agriculture and allied activities. The crop diversification and the focus on the cash crops such as cotton have revitalized the entire scenario of Indian Agriculture. With added impetus coming from the novel technologies such as Drip Irrigation, the agriculture sector has truly looked beyond the horizon. The usage of drip irrigation technology has yielded incredible profits for the farmers at large. The current study was undertaken in the state of Haryana to gauge the intricacies involved in the implementation of drip irrigation system and the related constraints that come with it. Most of the respondents were aware of water conservation techniques such as drip irrigation systems (100.0%), laser levelling (91.7%), preventing leakage/wastage of water (85.0%), mulching (81.7%) and rainwater harvesting (80.0%). The constraints faced on the technical grounds such clogging, knowledge levels and administrative constraints on account of documentation, lack of coordination have crippled the impact of the drip irrigation at large. In addition to this, the economic and financial constraints also tend to be a shot in the leg for the farmers. High input cost coupled up with faulty credit facilities has made implementation of DIS a concern.