Only 17.7% of land irrigated in Assam

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The dry spell in Assam, together with the lack of irrigation facilities in the state, will have a cascading effect on the production of food grains, especially paddy, in the state this year.

Sources in the Department of Economics and Statistics sources say that around 26,99,467 hectares of the 30,76,909 hectares of arable land in the state are under cultivation. However, irrigation facilities cover only a minuscule – 5,47,481 hectares (17.7 per cent) – of the land under cultivation. Strangely enough, around 9,203 of the 13,238 small irrigation projects in the state are non-functional. Only 2,348 PM Krishi Irrigation Schemes, both solar and electric, are functioning, and 7,351 are non-functioning.

The farmers of the state largely depend on rainwater. However, the dry spell this year makes the farmers badly feel the necessity of irrigation facilities. There is every possibility of the production of food grains falling drastically in the state this year.

Farmers have set up irrigation facilities on their own in some districts. Such irrigation projects cover around 12,595 hectares of arable land.

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