Kuldeep Singh, a farmer in Uttar Pradesh’s Tilhar area of Shahjahanpur, faced many troubles ranging from a shortage of labour to transportation of fertilizer during the Covid-19-induced lockdown. But the 52-year old now feels that the lockdown had been like a blessing in disguise for farmers with small land holdings in the tarai belt. That’s because lockdown restrictions reduced the cultivation of Saatha rice, mainly carried out by well-off farmers to increase their profits.
Though more than 70 percent of farmers grow this type of rice to make extra profit, locals said farmers with smaller land holdings suffered the consequences as the farming of this water-intensive crop would make groundwater levels dip sharply, making things difficult for small and marginal farmers.
This year, however, Singh didn’t face any problem in irrigating his crops during summers as the water levels hadn’t depleted as much. Groundwater shortage is caused by many factors but Saatha rice cultivation contributes to it in a big way, said locals.
“Saatha rice variety that is grown here is sown in April and harvested in June. Farmers depend only on groundwater for irrigation of this variety of crop which severely impacts the underground water level,” explained Navjot Singh, a farmer from Tilhar who has been demanding a ban on Saatha rice farming.
“Only farmers with big farms can afford to pump out underground water, those with smaller land holdings can’t,” Navjot added.
Covid-19 lockdown, however, changed things on the ground.
“Lockdown meant restrictions and only 10 percent of farmers could cultivate Saatha rice. The rest planted vegetables or other crops that do not require much water. This has helped replenish the underground water level in the region,” said Singh. Recent underground water level survey reports by the district administration confirm the same.
“In the past few years, the water levels in 85 percent blocks where Saatha is grown used to drop below 150 ft during the cultivation period. This time, such a drop has been limited to only 28 percent of theses blocks,” said Praveen Singh, the local irrigation officer.
“This year, the markedly lower level of dip in underground water levels indicates that farmers are moving away from crops that need large amounts of water. The district administration will continue to support such moves. We plan to organise awareness campaign in the region to tell people about the harms of growing water-intensive crops and suggest alternatives too,” said Jagannath Prasad Tripathi, district magistrate of Shahjahanpur.
