Chandigarh: The state government has proposed to start micro irrigation for sugarcane crops instead of flood irrigation as around 42% of villages in the state are facing a water crisis, reports The Times of India.
Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar who is also finance minister said in his budget speech that the government is planning to cover two lakh acres of the area under cane cultivation with a micro irrigation system in the next three years. The priority will be given to the cane cultivated in micro-irrigated fields for harvesting, he said.
“Use of micro-irrigation system helps in increasing sugar recovery rate by up to 1%,” he said.
The responsibility to promote and develop water conservation infrastructure for use of available water has been given to the Micro Irrigation Command Area Development Authority (MICADA).
The government has proposed to construct 4,000 on-farm water tanks in the 2023-24 budget.
