-Scroll.in Suranga is a horizontal tunnel-like well excavated in a hillside. Even as Kerala reels under severe drought, Gangadhar Rao never misses a day to irrigate thousands of areca nut trees, coconut trees and pepper plants on his 30 acres of farmland. Rao is a farmer from Bedadka Panchayath in Kerala’s northernmost district of Kasaragod and depends on Suranga for all his water needs — irrigation and domestic — round the year. Suranga is...

-The New Indian Express BARGARH: Harvesting of sugarcane in Bargarh district has been delayed by over three months, leaving the farmers worried. While sugarcane grown in the last kharif season is yet to be harvested, the target area for the crop in the current rabi season has been increased by almost 300 hectares (ha). Harvesting has been stopped as the State-owned Bargarh Cooperative Sugar Mills that procures the entire sugarcane stock...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: Failure of monsoon and farmers' distress have forced the state government to scale down the target for foodgrains production for the next financial year to 100 lakh tonnes, a 32% fall from the initial target set for the current financial year. Announcing this while presenting the budget, finance minister D Jayakumar said a slew of measures was being taken to overcome the water shortage. Considering that...

-India Water Portal Crop patterns in India are changing without consideration for local agro-climatic conditions. This puts a burden on environment, incurring huge long-term losses. The past few months saw Karnataka and Tamil Nadu bickering over the sharing of the Cauvery water. It was the failure of the south-west monsoon that had put crops in Karnataka at risk, forcing the government to stop water supplies to Tamil Nadu. The arrival of...

-Deccan Herald Water in India has now become a contentious issue due to rise in demand, climate change and growing mismanagement. With erratic rainfall and recurring droughts in 2012, 2015 and 2016, “water saving” has become a high priority for the governments. As the agriculture sector consumes 80% of freshwater in the country, micro-irrigation –  drip and sprinkler irrigation – has been catapulted as a policy priority because drip and sprinkler irrigation...