VANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF WATER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN SUGARCANE FOLLOWED BY CANAL COMMAND AREA FARMERS

Balasubramaniam, P. Vijayaraghavan, R and Ravichandran. V

Tamilnadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore-3

Introduction

            Sugarcane is the one of cash crop cultivated by majority of farmers inTamilnadu in the irrigated and canal command areas. The crop requires more water in growth period and in the present situation the water scarcity is predominant problem in the areas of irrigated and canal command. The farmers are urged to adopt the water management practices to conserve soil moisture and to increase the water holding capacity. Keeping this in mind, a study was conducted at Lower Bhavani canal command area of Erode District, Tamil Nadu to asses the adoption level, advantages and constraints in adoption of water management practices in the canal command area.

            Six water management practices were found to be adopted by the farmers.  The farmers were asked to express the advantages under each water management practice in sugarcane.  The details are presented in Table 1.

Findings and Discussion                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           (n = 150)

* Figure in parenthesis indicate percentage

Advantages of water management practices adopted in sugarcane.

1. Alternative furrow irrigation

            The advantages like runoff loss (76%), moisture conservation (67%) and water saving (62%) were expressed by the majority of the respondents due to the adoption of alternate furrow irrigation.

2. Skip furrow irrigation

            From the table 28, it could be observed 49 per cent of the respondents reported that reduction of runoff (49%) followed by water saving (48%) and moisture conservation (47%) as the advantages.

3. Trash mulching

            It is seen from the table 28 that there was moisture conservation in adoption of trash mulching expressed by (93%) of respondents followed by less cost (67%), nutrient fixation (60%) and reduction of evaporation less (47%). Increased soil microbial population due to the application of trash mulching was the advantage for 33% of respondents. Reduction of soil temperature was also reported by 22% of respondents.

4. Application of composted coir pith

            Regarding application of coir pith, nutrient fixation (93%) and moisture conservation (73%) were the advantages expressed by majority of the respondents followed by 7 per cent of the respondent reported that reduction of soil temperature as the other advantage.

5. Drip irrigation

            It could be seen from the table 28 that advantages viz., judicious use of water (96%), uninterrupted cultural operations (93%), reduced labour cost (91%), reduced weed growth (87%), improved quality of production (81), enhanced plant growth and yield (80%), water saving (73%) and reduction of evaporation loss (63%) were reported by majority of respondents. The other advantages like saving in land levelling expenses (35%), reduction of runoff loss (27%) and reduction of salinity (11%) were also reported.

6. Fertigation  

            The fertigation is another improved micro irrigation system, where the fertilizers and nutrients are sent through irrigation water. More than one third of respondents reported that application of fertilizers through irrigation water as main advantage. Water saving (33%) and less evapo-transpiration loss (33%) were the other advantages reported.

Table 2. Constraints in adoption of water management practices in sugarcane

* Figures in parentheses indicate percentages  

1. Alternate furrow irrigation and skip furrow irrigation

            Marginal yield reduction (49%) and more labour requirement (57%) were the constraints experienced in adoption of alternate and skip furrow irrigation reported by one third of the respondents.

2. Trash mulching and application of coir pith

            It could be observed from the table  that more than one third (42%) of respondents stated that difficulty in intercultural operations and possibility of pest and diseases (20%) were the constraints due to adoption of trash mulching and application of coir pith.

3. Drip irrigation

            It is evident from the table that constraints liker lack of adequate technical inputs (55%) damage due to rats / rodents (58%) and high cost of spare parts, (51%) were experienced by respondents as major constraints in adoption of drip irrigation. Further, more than one third of respondents expressed that high initial cost (41%), salt encrustation (39%), inadequate extension or promotional activities, difficulty in getting the loan (35%) and cracking and clogging of drippers (33%) as other constraints for them.

4. Fertigation

            Regarding fertigation, more than two-fifth of respondents reported high initial cost (27%), limited accuracy of application (25%) and expensive (22%) were the important constraints. More than 15 per cent of respondents mentioned that pressure loss in main irrigation line (19%), and non-suitability to small and marginal farmers (13%) as other constraints.

Conclusion

            With respect to sugarcane, judicious use of water, uninterrupted cultural operations, nutrient fixation, moisture conservation, reduced labour cost, improved quality of production, enhanced plant growth and yield, water saving and reduced weed growth were reported as major advantages by the most of the respondents.  From the agronomical point of view these are a series of functionally linked impact points in use of irrigation devices.  These important points would have impressed upon the farmers for their perception. 

            From the above results, majority of the farmers were found to be adopting the micro-irrigation system for water management in the study area. The constraints viz., marginal yield reduction, more labour requirement, lack of adequate technical inputs, damage due to rats and rodents, high cost of spare parts and high initial cost were experienced by the majority of the respondents.