About the ‘Sahi Fasal’ campaign
Launch: ‘Sahi Fasal’ campaign was launched by National Water Mission in 2019 to nudge farmers in the water stressed areas to grow crops which are not water intensive, but use water very efficiently; and are economically remunerative; are healthy and nutritious; suited to the agro-climatic-hydro characteristics of the area; and are environmentally friendly.
Key elements of the campaign
- Creating awareness among farmers on appropriate crops, micro-irrigation, soil moisture conservation etc
- Weaning them away from water intensive crops like paddy, sugarcane etc to crops like corn, maize etc which require less water
- Assisting policy makers to frame policies that make effective pricing of inputs (water and electricity)
- Improve procurement and market for these alternate crops; create appropriate storage them etc ultimately leading to increase in the income of farmers
Do you know?
In India, 85-89% of water usage is for agricultural purposes and about 5% usage is for drinking and domestic purposes. Hence, even a small percentage saving of water in agricultural usage will have a significant impact in water availability for drinking and domestic purposes.
What is a water stressed region?
A region is said to be under ‘water stress’ when the demand for water there exceeds the available volume or when poor quality restricts use.
Water stressed areas in India
- India placed thirteenth among the world’s 17 ‘extremely water-stressed’ countries, according to the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas released by the World Resources Institute (WRI)
- In India, nine states and union territories (UTs) have been categorised as regions of “extremely high” water stress. Chandigarh tops the list that also includes Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.
