Depleting ground water and paddy crop in Bihar

We have the example of Punjab and other north Indian states where bore well deepening started in 1980s. Farmers started shifting from centrifugal motors to submersible motors to combat the effects of ground water depletion on paddy crops. Some of them also shifted towards alternative crops in the kharif season responding to the declining access to irrigation water.

We are witnessing abnormal/larger period of intense summer, and paddy not merely a crop but symbol of life since begining of civilization began to atrophy amidst climate change. If we want to save our future, paddy cultivation must be saved with water as paddy is not only a crop rather agglomeration of aesthetics and ritual

In Bihar, farmers have to face the situation in coming years that leads to a worrisome impact especially on the smallholders. Cropping pattern here shows that small holders have already started reducing the area under rice crop. Some farmers have shifted to maize cultivation as it demands lesser water than paddy crop. Farmers are opting sugarcane and fodder for other reasons but decline in the area of paddy is visible anywhere without any stat.

Utter Pradesh State wet land authority has decided to ban the cultivation of summer paddy that survives on the groundwater as the crop is transplanted in March for harvesting in June before the arrival of Monsoon. The irrigation of this crop contributes to rapid depletion in ground water. In Bihar not a single farmer cultivates summer paddy but new methods of farming have been adopted.

Traditionally here paddy cultivation depends on the monsoon and farmers are losing their interest in paddy cultivation because of a weak and lost momentum monsoon at the high time. But traditionally farmers were growing paddy crop with the help of surface water in rainy season with a maintained hedge height of minimum two feet and small plots of paddy were shallow reservoir too in case of adequate rainfall.

we have an example of Sitamarhi where post flood paddy crops of some areas are running out of water very swiftly and a drought like condition can be observed. Farmers are now managing to arrange water to irrigate through tube wells. If the hedge of the plots were a bit high, more water would have been stored and percolated.

Traditional weed management system was very helpful in maintaining ground water and a natural system of ground water recharge. Right from ploughing to destroy weed and remaining subtle of previous crop, farmers remove crust of the field which allows more pre monsoon rainfall to percolate down to the soil. After the transplantation of paddy farmers used manual weeding by hand using stump spade. It was an efficient method for weed control.

It was labour intensive and is not practical for large areas but majority are small holders here. They use the manual weeding twice in paddy cultivation using stump spade and weeding decrusts the fields twice in one rainy season which allows more and more water from that shallow reservoir to percolate down the ground. Now herbicides are being used to weed control which does not facilitate the ground to absorb more water downwards.

Traditional method of land preparation including hedge maintenance and weeding was very good for ground water management and recharge which was minimizing transpiration and runoff and maximizing the percolation down to the soil.