The Indian government can sharply reduce the water consumption of rice farmers in the state of Tamil Nadu without reducing the income of the farmers. This was the conclusion of the PhD thesis of Dr. Kalimuthu Senthilkumar. Poor farmers should be given a water quota, and wealthier farmers should be charged for the water.
Rice farmers now use 70% of the available water in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, but that water is becoming increasingly scarce. Trials at the farms have shown that the rice farmers can save 40% of their irrigation water without reducing the yield. To achieve these results, the farmers must use younger seedlings, flood fields with 2 cm instead of 5 cm of water, use a weeding machine instead of weeding by hand, and use green manures in addition to artificial fertilisers.
All four of the farm types that Senthilkumar studied in Tamil Nadu would benefit from these measures. in some cases, rice production can even increase with lower water consumption. But during experiments at 200 farms, it turned out that the rice farmers applied the recommendations only to a limited extent. They showed resistance to other cultivation techniques and the implementation of weeding machines that are intended to replace low-cost female labour. But even more important, according to Senthilkumar, is the fact that they are now irritating for free. There is no motivation for them to save water.
Therefore, the Indian government should begin to regulate rice farming by allocating a free water quota to poor farmers and charging the wealthier farmers for their water use. Focused publicity and education can result in the wealthier farmers compensating for the extra costs by implementing one or more of the proposed cultivation improvement measures on their farms. / Albert Sikkema
Kalimuthu Senthilkumar's PhD research was supervised by Prof. Ken Giller, Professor of Plant production systems.
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