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Over the years, in countless monsoons, farmers in the Jhabua region of Madhya Pradesh looked up to the sky and rained. When they saw their crops failing, their fields dried up, and their families starved to death, many people left their villages to find daily jobs in the cities. Ramesh Bariya is also one of these farmers.

Ramesh is from Rotla village in the same district. The terrain is undulating, rain-fed agriculture, shallow soil degradation, poor and stagnant soil production, scattered and vacant land, low income from ancestral farming, Ramesh is also very depressed. Just like most farmers there.

All his agricultural efforts were hampered by the unpredictability of the weather and lack of water, forcing him to wander around Gujarat and Rajasthan as a daily wage worker.

"In any case, I need to feed my family, and the real estate is not helpful." So I have to do whatever work I can find to save my family from starvation," Ramesh said, due to lack of means of earning a living for several months. Later he had to go home.

Although this is an unpleasant story that has become very typical, what makes Ramesh unique is his solution to all problems: a unique DIY drip irrigation system that not only solves the problem of water shortage, but also recycles garbage. From almost nothing in the first year to a single harvest of 25,000 rupees, he quickly became a role model for the entire district.

His epic journey began with Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) in Jhabua.

In 2009, KVK launched the National Agricultural Innovation Subproject (NAIP) to help farmers in the region increase their income. The goal of their integrated farming method is to improve rural livelihoods in the undulating and rainfed areas of Jhabua and Dhar in MP.

Ramesh is one of the lucky farmers. With the help of NAIP-KVK scientists, he began to grow vegetables on 0.1 hectares of land. With their encouragement, he prepared the ground in 2012 and sowed the seeds of bitter gourd and loofah.

After earning early profits, delayed monsoons and severe water shortages pushed his farm to the brink of crop disaster.

"At the same time, we were forced to go to the farm in Balaram Patiddal. He is a famous papaya grower, surrounded by healthy trees, which is incredible. 

Amarjeet is a graduate, 32 years old, with 13 years of agricultural experience. She is a famous progressive female farmer...

He even urged us to pick and eat some fruits. When other farmers followed the KVK guide to the next location, I just stood there and was surprised. Then Balaramji approached me and asked me why I was so quiet. I explained to him my plight and how surprised I was to see the opposite on his farm. At that time he showed me his drip irrigation technique using matka or clay pots. Later, NAIP experts suggested that I use the creative method of saline bottle," Ramesh added.

However, Ramesh couldn't afford to buy so many clay pots for his farm at the time. Buying them in large quantities is fragile and expensive, so he switched to the method of recycling plastic glucose bottles by himself.

"If a bottle of glucose can help a dying patient in the hospital resuscitate, why can't the same bottle of glucose help restore my failed crops? This makes perfect sense, so I started asking and got 6 kg plastic glucose bottles (350 in total) each 20 rupees for a kilo," he said.

Dr. IS Tomar of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), near Rajgarh Naka in Jhabua, explained how Ramesh's technology became the first attempt at a cheap and successful replicable drip irrigation system.

"For farmers like Ramesh who cannot afford drip irrigation equipment, this is an innovative choice. The main problem is the hard work and a lot of patience," he added.

It is a technique to cut the bottom of the bottle with a sharp knife and then hang it upside down on the stake near the sapling. The bottom flat part now at the top is the entrance for water to enter the system.

Then put a plastic tube with a nozzle on the ground near the roots of the plant to control the release of water.

This technique does not immediately pour water on the crops or pass it through the fields, but keeps the water dripping constantly, always keeping the surface moist. This not only ensures that the roots are always moisturized, but also greatly reduces water waste.

"Almost the whole family got involved to help install and manage this system." In the morning, all the children in the family would line up near the field and start filling the bottles from the two buckets I had previously filled with well water or manual pumps. Pour water. We will do it again later in the evening. So each of my crops will get two liters of water a day," he said. His entire expenses, including the cost of drums, are about 500 rupees, and he managed to create a net profit of 25,000 rupees in a few years. A few months of crops .

According to a study by the Indian Agricultural Research Council (ICAR), this method can enable tribal farmers like Ramesh to earn 15 to 170 thousand rupees per hectare of vegetable production in a single season.

Dr. Tomar is pushing more farmers to adopt this practice, which is common in many countries in Africa. Many farmers in the area are now following his instructions and Ramesh’s success story to replicate this method.

On the other hand, Ramesh’s efforts were recognized by the Madhya Pradesh government district government and the Minister of Agriculture, and received an achievement award of 10,000 rupees. In the next few years, KVK also helped him install a mature drip irrigation system for free.

"I used to be a debt-laden person, earning almost less than 5 rupees a day." But today, I only make about 200,000 yuan a year through agriculture. Today, as the father of three naughty boys and a beautiful daughter, I am a happy person because I know that with this, I can aspire to provide them with a better future," he concluded.

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