Jameel is a native of Tauru block in Nuh district, Haryana. He has been practicing traditional agriculture in five acres of his land for more than two decades. Jameel cultivates mustard, millet, wheat, and vegetables.
He attended a farmer meeting in August 2021, organized under a CSR-supported project implemented by S M Sehgal Foundation. During this meeting, the farmers were told that the water level in their area is very low (150 to 300 feet) and is progressively decreasing, so flood irrigation is only possible for a limited number of hours. They were apprised about the benefits of drip irrigation, a system that uses less water, and the entire field gets irrigated in a shorter time span, making irrigation easier for the farmer. In addition it reduces the weed problem. The farmers were also informed that the government’s district horticulture department provided drip irrigation systems and mini sprinklers at subsidized rates.
In December 2021, the project team provided Jameel with a drip irrigation system for one acre of his land. In a half-acre of this field, he was also provided with tomato staking. These two interventions in Jameel’s field were used as demonstrations for all the farmers of the village. The interventions were so successful in his field that his tomato production increased by about 40 percent along with improvement in its quality. This amounted to a gain of approximately INR 25,000 at the rate of INR 25 per kg from a half-acre of land.
Jameel adopted these learnings and, in February 2022, he invested approximately INR 1,00,000 of his own money to install a drip irrigation system. He also used staking in an additional one acre of his farm, for bottle gourd cultivation.
Jameel says, “All the farmers of the village should grow more vegetable crops in their fields using drip irrigation system and thereby increase their income. Due to this project, more farmers have become inclined to do this.”
Authors: Satveer Saini and Saurav Sriwastva
(Satveer is field assistant and Saurav is project associate in Nuh)
Contact us 
Sign up for