In Hill Areas... Rainwater harvesting for sustainable horticulture

Abstract

Horticulture is the main source of livelihood in hills. People in hills have small and scattered land holdings. In hills, there is less infiltration of rainwater into soil due to steep slopes and hence terraced fields do not get recharged during rainy season. Since spatial and temporal distribution of rain is erratic in hills, there is scarcity of water during most of the period in a year. Consequently, horticultural crops could not sustain due to shortage of irrigation water during cropping period. Further, adverse climatic conditions such as snowfall, hail, sleet and abrupt reduction in temperature act as barriers in growth of all crops. All these circumstances largely hamper the horticulture based economy of hilly regions. Therefore, harvesting of rainwater followed by storing in low-cost poly-tanks and precise use of this water through microirrigation system under protected environment is the ultimate and sustainable solution to hill horticulture.