Prepaid Irrigation system — MadhyaPradesh

There are many ways to help farmers, especially small farmers. Madhya Pradesh state Govt has launched an innovative pre-paid irrigation scheme. Through this scheme the farmers will be issued with a prepaid identity card having an id number, photo, name and other details.
When a farmer needs to irrigate his field, he goes to the respective pump house and inserts his card in the meter slot and selects the amount of water required, and zap pump starts water is released to the field. Money is deducted from the card. The card could be recharged from the local office just like mobiles are done, but tax free.

Under this project the underground water lines are being laid, the project has is already in its first phase in Indore and Ujjain districts.

This system has numerous advantages, it would not only ensure farmers pay for the amount of water they use, but also prevents farmers from the exploitation of local operators who would often over charge them. It is very much helpful for the small farmers and marginal farmers who don’t have enough money to get a tube well based irrigation system. It avoids wastage of water too.

The project is definitely worth emulating across the nation.