Cast
your wheat upon the waters
To
retard the depletion of the natural resource levels in Punjab, IT-SAP
envisioned by TIFAC, is utilising information technology to grant
the 'granary of India' its original glory
Concern
has been expressed in the state and at the national level about the
health of the natural resource system in Punjab and its impact on
sustaining the present agricultural production levels. Taking advantage
of the state-ofart tools of data capture and analysis, Information
Technology for Sustainable Agriculture in Punjab (IT-SAP) is targeted
towards developing a spatial decision support model for evolving a
better understanding of the intrinsically complex issues related to
crop diversification, sustaining the income of farmers and restoring
the health of the natural resource system.
Application
of GIS (Geographic Information System) technology lies at the heart
of this multi-institutional effort, in which 15 institutions are implementing
45 subprojects. We highlight the current status of IT-SAP, shedding
light on some results of the studies on building spatial databases
at the micro level, mapping of soil fertility, modelling of soil water
budget, irrigation scheduling, upgradation of the meteorological network
and interfacing with farmers.
Punjab
comprises only about 1.5 per cent of the geographical area (5.04 million
hectares) of India. In terms of agricultural development, it is the
most advanced state.
The
total production of food grains (cereals and pulses) in the year 2001-02
was 24.9 million tonnes. The concepts of national food security and
self-sufficiency rest heavily on Punjab. Agriculture contributes nearly
39 per cent of the state’s GDP. The yields of wheat and rice seem
to have reached a plateau and there’s a notable fall in areas under
other crops.
AGRO-CLIMATIC
SETTING OF PUNJAB
The
average annual rainfall in Punjab is 580 mm. The amount of rainfall
in the state is not only small but is also ill distributed in time
and space. Whereas the total annual rainfall in the submountainous
northeast part exceeds 1000 mm, it is hardly 250 mm towards the extreme
southwestern parts. Punjab is divided into six agro-climatic regions,
which represent homogeneous units in terms of agricultural potential
and problems.
SUSTAINABILITY
OF THE AGRICULTURAL SYSTEM
The
unique success of the agriculture sector in Punjab since the seventies
is based on the development of high yielding varieties by agricultural
scientists, favourable policies of the Government to promote the cultivation
of rice and wheat, and the hard work put in by the farmers. However,
in this process agriculture has become increasingly input intensive.
A
major concern is caused by the excessive use of groundwater, causing
steep fall in groundwater levels, especially in the central part of
Punjab (Fig 1) A study by the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU)
estimates that there is an annual investment of about Rs 100 crore
by farmers in deepening the tube wells. There is a fixed investment
of about Rs 8000 crore in the farm machinery. With little or no increase
in the net returns from wheat and rice, the law of diminishing returns
has set in. A more diversified cropping pattern and integrated farming
is now being advocated.
THE
ROLE OF IT-SAP
Following
the recommendations of the Fact Finding Committee* set up by the Indian
Council of Agricultural Research on ‘Decline in crop productivity
in Haryana and Punjab: Myth or Reality’, the Department of Science
and Technology, Government of India and UNDP evolved a project on
‘Information Technology for Sustainable Agriculture in Punjab - IT-SAP’.
Initiated
in March 2001, the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment
Council (TIFAC) is implementing this project on behalf of the Government
of India. Five districts, namely Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala
and Muktsar have been identified for conducting the pilot studies.
These districts fall in the major agroclimatic regions of Punjab (Fig
2).
STATUS
CHECK
The
three major components of IT-SAP methodology are explained in Fig
3. Although not planned initially, primary generation of data evolved
into a major activity to fill gaps in critical data elements – soil
fertility, meteorological parameters and ground water quality. Spatial
resource profiles have been generated using remote sensing and conventional
data.
The
major themes on which thematic maps have been generated are administrative
boundaries, land use, cropping patterns, soil resources, soil fertility,
ground water quality, infrastructural facilities, demography and socio-economics,
and other development indicators.
The
top sheets of Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) on a 1:50,000 scale
were used as the base reference maps. The database with a village
as the unit has been ported at the district level node set up with
the required hardware, software and manpower facilities.
SOIL
FERTILITY
A
detailed mapping of the soil fertility status, including primary,
secondary and micronutrients, has been done. Also, the induction of
GPS technology has helped in adding a spatial tag to these measurements.
For example, only 10.7 per cent of the area in Patiala is found deficient
in zinc against the general impression in the district that at least
75 per cent of the area faces shortage of zinc.
On
the other hand, ....
contd...
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