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RWH technique provides protective shield to farmers to cope with drought and flood
Water is always the focal point in farming. Majority of the times across the country farmers and researchers will be worried and working on extremes that are either the drought or floods. What is needed is the solution that helps farmers to sail through all the odds! Mr. Biplab Ketan Paul, Director, Naireeta Services has developed a unique rainwater harvesting (RWH) technique that stores the excess rainwater underground to be used for irrigation. "My technique is innovative as it is based on injection principle of excess water. We have named it as 'Bhungroo' (in Gujarati it means hollow pipe). It safeguards the farmlands from water logging and standing water issues and at the same time same water is retained underground to help in irrigation during drought/summers. My main aim behind developing Bhungroo is to judiciously utilize whatever quantity of water Mother Nature gives in form of rains," he asserts.
Explaining the injection principle, Mr. Biplab says, "We install a specialized pipe in the field in a way to direct the rainwater flow through it and get collected within subsoil conformable strata at various depths. The pipe can have varied diameter from 5-20 inches and special care is taken to get the impurities left out. Farmers can pump the water for irrigation through the same pipe as required. In this way farmer becomes independent of buying water during the cropping season and is always prepared to tackle the water extremities." Through this method approximately 0.4 to 4 million liters of excess water can be managed and stored. The stored water can be used for nine months.
When asked how to construct Bhungroo he responds, "There are many layers in the underground soil. One needs to find the appropriate layer that has the potential for absorption of water. It varies in every farmland therefore Bhungroo needs customization. In all, there are 17 designs varying from one another based on subsoil and agro climatic zones. It needs to be re-designed as per the need of the local community."
Mr. Biplab and their social enterprise Naireeta Services deliver Bhungroo within Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of Antodaya that is serving the last person in the queue in the best possible way. Thus they have charted a progress path of Gram-Swaraj, where each village has to be self-sufficient; hence they have created Women Climate Leaders (WCL) in every village. WCLs are selected from Bhungroo ownership groups. There are five women small holders in each Bhungroo ownership groups. These women are trained to identify the land submergence duration, water volume etc. They are given guidance on subsoil layer that has the potential to stores the excess water during rains and give water during droughts. "We train them to understand the geophysical and geohydrological principles to find out the right site for farmland that is suitable for installing Bhungroo," he explains. "These five women in each Bhungroo ownership groups come together to agree to share their labour and knowledge for each others’ benefits. Once the agreement arrives as well as subsoil detail is confirmed they organize local driller to drill the Bhugnroo along with required filtration system through which the water flows to subsoil. The substrata retains the injected water and allows to get lifted within stipulated time period. Along with retaining of the excess water monsoon atmospheric moisture helps in crop growth on the land surface." Each Bhungroo has community ownership of 5-7 women farmers and their families.
Bhungroo does not solely attain the water issues but also ensures the land rights to poor women small holders through participating in the process. "These women are not compelled to migrate, they can live in their own village with dignity, do farming and have a comfortable life with their family," he avers. The concept started in Gujarat state and now it is replicated in many parts of the country as well as in other Asian & African nations. It has fetched many national and international awards for bringing a positive change in the life for Indians living in the countryside.
Mr. Biplab concludes, "It took 17 years to modify this technology to make it apt for the betterment of women small holders. It is much beyond the commercialization because we strongly feel if the technology is not available to those who need it to the core then it is waste developing it! So far majority of my life has been spent in the villages, I have observed their real struggles hence conceived and developed the solution to bring the change. And today Bhungroo is bringing smiles on their faces – what else do we need to call it successful in true sense!!"
Contact details:
Naireeta Services (Bhungroo)
B7 Aditya Flats, Opp Rusabh Society, Fatehpura, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380007, Gujarat, India
Phone: 91 9825506900
Email: biplab@naireetaservices.com
Web: http://www.naireetaservices.com/, https://www.facebook.com/bhungroo/
Water is always the focal point in farming. Majority of the times across the country farmers and researchers will be worried and working on extremes that are either the drought or floods. What is needed is the solution that helps farmers to sail through all the odds! Mr. Biplab Ketan Paul, Director, Naireeta Services has developed a unique rainwater harvesting (RWH) technique that stores the excess rainwater underground to be used for irrigation. "My technique is innovative as it is based on injection principle of excess water. We have named it as 'Bhungroo' (in Gujarati it means hollow pipe). It safeguards the farmlands from water logging and standing water issues and at the same time same water is retained underground to help in irrigation during drought/summers. My main aim behind developing Bhungroo is to judiciously utilize whatever quantity of water Mother Nature gives in form of rains," he asserts.
Explaining the injection principle, Mr. Biplab says, "We install a specialized pipe in the field in a way to direct the rainwater flow through it and get collected within subsoil conformable strata at various depths. The pipe can have varied diameter from 5-20 inches and special care is taken to get the impurities left out. Farmers can pump the water for irrigation through the same pipe as required. In this way farmer becomes independent of buying water during the cropping season and is always prepared to tackle the water extremities." Through this method approximately 0.4 to 4 million liters of excess water can be managed and stored. The stored water can be used for nine months.
When asked how to construct Bhungroo he responds, "There are many layers in the underground soil. One needs to find the appropriate layer that has the potential for absorption of water. It varies in every farmland therefore Bhungroo needs customization. In all, there are 17 designs varying from one another based on subsoil and agro climatic zones. It needs to be re-designed as per the need of the local community."
Mr. Biplab and their social enterprise Naireeta Services deliver Bhungroo within Mahatma Gandhi’s principle of Antodaya that is serving the last person in the queue in the best possible way. Thus they have charted a progress path of Gram-Swaraj, where each village has to be self-sufficient; hence they have created Women Climate Leaders (WCL) in every village. WCLs are selected from Bhungroo ownership groups. There are five women small holders in each Bhungroo ownership groups. These women are trained to identify the land submergence duration, water volume etc. They are given guidance on subsoil layer that has the potential to stores the excess water during rains and give water during droughts. "We train them to understand the geophysical and geohydrological principles to find out the right site for farmland that is suitable for installing Bhungroo," he explains. "These five women in each Bhungroo ownership groups come together to agree to share their labour and knowledge for each others’ benefits. Once the agreement arrives as well as subsoil detail is confirmed they organize local driller to drill the Bhugnroo along with required filtration system through which the water flows to subsoil. The substrata retains the injected water and allows to get lifted within stipulated time period. Along with retaining of the excess water monsoon atmospheric moisture helps in crop growth on the land surface." Each Bhungroo has community ownership of 5-7 women farmers and their families.
Bhungroo does not solely attain the water issues but also ensures the land rights to poor women small holders through participating in the process. "These women are not compelled to migrate, they can live in their own village with dignity, do farming and have a comfortable life with their family," he avers. The concept started in Gujarat state and now it is replicated in many parts of the country as well as in other Asian & African nations. It has fetched many national and international awards for bringing a positive change in the life for Indians living in the countryside.
Mr. Biplab concludes, "It took 17 years to modify this technology to make it apt for the betterment of women small holders. It is much beyond the commercialization because we strongly feel if the technology is not available to those who need it to the core then it is waste developing it! So far majority of my life has been spent in the villages, I have observed their real struggles hence conceived and developed the solution to bring the change. And today Bhungroo is bringing smiles on their faces – what else do we need to call it successful in true sense!!"
Contact details:
Naireeta Services (Bhungroo)
B7 Aditya Flats, Opp Rusabh Society, Fatehpura, Paldi, Ahmedabad 380007, Gujarat, India
Phone: 91 9825506900
Email: biplab@naireetaservices.com
Web: http://www.naireetaservices.com/, https://www.facebook.com/bhungroo/
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