FEATURES
Plastic Lining - A Boon For Farm Pond National Committee on Plasticulture Applications in Horticulture (NCPAH), Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, Delhi
T
he Indian agriculture is dependent on favorable monsoon. Agriculture continues to remain the major backbone of Indian economy and contributes nearly 14 % to Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Total net sown area is 140.8 mha out of which nearly 65.3 mha is irrigated by all sources of irrigation. The tank contributes nearly 4.6 % to the net irrigated area.
Due to the impact of climate change resulted into unfavorable monsoon, erratic rainfall, hail storm etc. affects productivity of crops in the country. Occurrence of drought & flood has always resulted in loss of crop & farm income affecting millions of farmers in the country. Govt. of India under national mission programmes have been promoting creation of water resources and use of plastic films as lining materials in such water bodies. Today with rapid industrialization, rise in population, reduced available operational land holdings etc. have created pressure on land & water resources. Govt. of India has already extended green revolution to eastern and north-east states and included drought and desert development regions of the country. Hence the importance of water management & its conservation has been getting attention both by the end users’ and policy planners. The common problem in earthen is the seepage losses. Nearly 1.21 to 10.54 cumec /million sqm in case of heavy clay loam soil to porous gravelly soils. To avoid such water losses plastics film lining has proved to be an effective tool against seepage in farm ponds and reservoirs / canals. It also avoids depletion of stored water used for irrigation purposes. It is also an effective and economic method to harvest rain-water for supplementary irrigation & other agri-allied activities. Farm ponds need to be designed based on cropping pattern and crop water requirements (CWR). Mostly farm ponds created are individual & community level to irrigate farms between 2 -10 ha. Considering different type of soil, texture, rainfall pattern, runoff etc. different type of wide width films have been used
in such farm ponds. Linkage of micro Irrigation system with these water bodies may bring more area under to achieve more crop per drop. Advantages of Plastic film lining in Farm pond: • Reduction in seepage losses to the maximum extent up to 100% and hence water availability over a longer period of time. • Provide supplemental irrigation to the standing crops at a critical growth stage. • Integration of these water bodies with micro irrigation system can bring more area under irrigation. • It is highly useful in porous soils where water retention in ponds and water harvesting tanks is minimal. • Eliminates water logging and prevents upward intrusion of salts into stored water. • It can also be used in the lining of saltpans for improving productivity as well as quality of salt. • Economical and effective method of storing water.
Indian Standard on Plastic Films: Looking at the technical requirements and field functionality, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has developed various standards on lining films that are given below:
Selection Criteria for plastic films: The selection of plastic films (single & multi layers) and thickness depends on soil type & condition, cubic capacity,
37 • August 2015 • Plastics News