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My name is Mathachan kaduthodil.I am doing farming cultured pearl intergrated
with rain water harvisting.Actually.... i am a Vanila cultivater intercropped with Coconut,Arecanut,Pepper,Coffee and Rubber
plantation.Vanila is my main crop.I am processing myself for sale.
Initially the garden was irrigated manually using a hose.A natural spring that yields water up to Desember and an open well
that provides water up to March were my water sources.The crop could not be irrigated during April and May due to lake of
water.I ntially itried to overcome the water shortage by extracting ground water by digging open wells and tube wells.Even
after this,Iwas unable to find out a sustainable source to fetch water for life saveing irrigation to my crops during summer
monthhs.
I
faced a severe crop loss during the drought period and it was estimated that about 1 quintal of green Vanilla beans had fallen
down due to severe water.The approximate loss calculated as per the local rates during that time was around Rs.1.5 lakhs
I constructed
a trapezoidal shaped storage thank of size 36.6 x18.3x3.7m, which can hold 1.76 million litres of water by excavatiing soil
and dumping the exavated soil at the four side of the thank.However,consideable amount of water was lost by deep percolation
and seepage and percolation losse by lining the thank using a 200 GSM UV resistant poly ethylene film commonly known as Silpolin.The
sheet is made into the shape of the pond by the process of thermal welding fencing and completely covered with fishing net/
shade net.T he total cost of the water harvesting structure was Rs.175 lakhs.
Now the I have a techically feasible irrigation water sourse.However,with the previling price of coconut and other compenent
crops,I was unable to make it economically viable.This situation proveked him to enhance the use efficiency of harvested water
by the following metheds.
Improving the water use efficency of coconut and component crops
I was irrigation coconut and the component crops using a hose pipe connected to a centrifugal pump driven by a diesel engine.Basin
irrigation using a hose pipe is a common methed of irrigation coconut and other compenent crops in this area.Though an efficient
irrigation menthed,basin irrigation requires more water and labour than drip irrigation.I adopted drip irrigation requires
thereby,according to him,saving around 40% of irrigation water in the case of coconut and arecanut.It is a generaly belief
that while providing irrigation,V anilla stem and leaves also should get wet and this will enhance the plant growth and yield.For
this the lateral of the drip irrigation sysyem was laid at a height of 2 m above ground level by tying it to the vanilla support.Irrigation
is given using micro jets attached to the lateral.The fine spray of water coming from the micro jets not only wet the leaves
and stem,but also creates a micro climate favorable to vanilla.Gravitational force is employed to direct water from the tank
throughout the garden Fresh Water Designed Cultured Pearl Oyster's Farming
I constructed seven more trapezoidal shaped water tank different sizes 25000, 20,000, 15,000, 15,000, 10,000, 7,500 and 5,000
liter capacity. This tank using for mother oyster culture hatchery production.
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