Smart technology benefits farmers

Devchuli, Dec. 20: Ganga BahadurThakuri, a farmer of Kuleni of Devchuli Municipality-17, Nawalparasiis producing more food using less fertilisers and seeds.

He has adopted zero tillage to plow and readythe field, and a zab planter to sow seeds, which have drastically reduced the use of seeds and fertilisers as well as the time required for plantation.

Shiva Puri, another farmer from the village, uses drip irrigation to water the vegetable plants on his farm.

“The village doesn’t receive much rain and has faced prolonged droughts in the recent years, therefore, drip irrigation has enabled us to use water economically,” he said. Purihas alsoadopted a zap planter.

Thakuri and Puri are among the manyfarmers in Kuleni, who have adopted modern farming methods following the implementation of the Climate Smart Agriculture under the Climate Smart Village (CSV) initiative in the village about seven years ago.

Thakuri and other villagers at the solar panel.

“With the introduction of a zab planter,the use of maize seeds has gone down by as much as half a kg per kathha from 4 kg. The machine has reduced both the time and cost of plantation and has helped in getting increased yield,” Purisaid.

In addition tothe economic use of seeds, the farmers can use weeding tools, which was not possible with the traditional technology.

The planter machine sows the seeds in a line and maintains precise distance while dropping it, therefore it is easy to use a weeder machine where sowing has been done by the zab planter.

Adoption of technology has facilitated the farmers of Kuleni to increase paddy production by 34 kg per katha while using about 300-400 grams of seeds while they were using about 3 kg of seeds to sow paddy on the same area.

The CSV is being implemented in the village with support from the Ministry of Agricultural Development, Local Initiative for Bio-diversity Research and Development (LI-BIRD),and other stakeholders.

Two solar plants have been installed in the village with support from Arizona State University (ASU), LI-BIRD and District Agricultural Office (DAO), which are supporting 35 households to irrigate about 15-20 hectares of land. 

The local farmers have formed a group, ‘Kuleni Mixed Farmers Group’, to put the CSV efforts into practice. Likewise, sub-groups have been created to look after sectoral development such as the Solar Energy Unit.

“Our aim is to create a CSV with the adoption of technology, food security, production enhancement and capacity building of farmers,” said Thakuri, who leads the farmers’ group, which was registered in the District Administration Office Nawalparasi seven years ago.

According to AsthaBhusal, Programme Officer of LI-BIRD, farmers also have been provided weather and market-related information service via SMS alert, and orientation programmes about crop and livestock insurance have been organised.

Likewise, vegetable production orientation, seasonal/off-seasonal vegetable seed support, technical support, nutrient management and wheat trial are practiced in the village.

According to LI-BIRD, CSA is an agricultural system that simultaneously improves farm production leading to food security, adaptation to climate change, and climate change mitigation. It combines policies on climate change adaptation, mitigation and food security to help increase crop production, returns, resource use efficiency and reduction in emissions wherever possible. 

Published in The Rising Nepal, December 21, 2017.