Water Storage Ponds Keep Farmers at Ease During Droughts

Unpredictable rainfall due to climate change has made growing crops in Palpa, Nepal increasingly difficult. But the government is encouraging farmers to install water storage ponds – to not have to worry about water shortage again.

“Rainfall patterns have become erratic, resulting in a very heavy rainfall at one time and drought conditions at the other,” says Ashok Kumar Shahi, mayor of Tansen, Palpa’s main municipality. “Water harvesting can be a crucial technology for farmers at such times.”

The plastic-lined storage ponds catch water on rainy days to keep it from draining away, so that farmers need not worry about the dry periods. The government is also promoting the construction of these ponds under a 10-year program, where farmers can get plastic sheeting with an 85% subsidy through a government irrigation project.

Ram Parsad Pandey, senior agriculture officer with the Prime Minister Agriculture Modernization Project, says that water harvesting has been very beneficial to farmers and their crops, adding, “One of the major benefits … is a switch from cereal crops to high value vegetables.”