Patna: Agriculture minister Ram Kripal Yadav on Tuesday appealed to people, including farmers, to focus on water conservation, warning that water scarcity is likely to emerge as a major crisis in the future. He also said the agriculture department has aligned its foodgrain production activities with this vision under the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali (JJH) programme launched by the CM Nitish Kumar seven years ago.“Human and organic life cannot be imagined without water. But today, due to increase in population, uncontrolled urbanisation, deforestation and imbalance in water use, underground water is depleting fast and the water table has been going down. Environmental degradation has also become a major problem,” Yadav said, adding, “If conservation does not become popular, then the next war would be fought for water.”Yadav was addressing a function organised at the auditorium of Krishi Bhawan to celebrate the success of the JJH programme being implemented by the agriculture department. Against the backdrop of the emerging crisis, he said the programme was launched on Oct 2, 2019, following broad consultation with the state’s lawmakers.He said renovation of ponds, tanks, wells, rivers and drainage systems, including ‘aahar’ and ‘paeen’, has been undertaken on a large scale. Efforts are also being made to free ponds from encroachment, while check dams are being constructed in hilly areas to store water. The agriculture department, he added, is promoting sapling plantation and rainwater conservation.Besides, a major push is being given to organic farming and vegetable production in districts on both sides of the river Ganga, which have been declared an organic corridor. The production of climate-resilient crops has also been introduced, with cultivation of bajra, madua, cheena and koni being promoted.Agriculture director Saurabh Suman Yadav said scientific methods of irrigation are being adopted by farmers, while climate-resilient farming activities are being carried out in 190 villages as models, to which 1,710 other villages have been linked. He added that 2.5 acres of land under each Krishi Vigyan Kendra have been allotted for 50 years for this purpose.
