Srinagar: On the eve of ‘World Water Day’, an event was organised by the department of Agriculture at Lalmandi Srinagar.

On the occasion, Director Agriculture Kashmir, Syed Altaf Aijaz Andrabi, said that amid unusual winter season, long dry spell and fluctuating weather conditions one of the most critical issues for the farming community is the availability of water, therefore, effective strategies are to be devised in order to overcome all these challenges and to be relevant on the changing national and international Agriculture arena.

He said that the “UN World Water Development report 2018” stresses on the nature-based solutions to sustainably and economically manage water resources. He said efforts are to be put in to encourage farmers to take-up steps like Drip Irrigation, Water Harvesting etc. Director Agriculture said there are many examples of optimizing the use of water in agriculture activities and micro irrigation has proven to be a technology, which has the potential to change the face of agriculture in Kashmir. “To achieve the target of mass adoption of smart irrigation solutions an aggressive awareness campaign is to be taken up by the department for farmers,” he said. Director Agriculture described adoption of smart irrigation solutions momentous and inevitable under present circumstances.

Andrabi said that the drip irrigation and rain water harvesting technologies are some of the most effective forms used by the farmers in many developed nations to reduce water wastage. He said that time has come to seriously identify the problems of water resource management and everybody has to share to responsibility to address the issues and sensitize farmers at all the levels.

Guest