FM favours drip, sprinkler irrigation

Union finance minister P Chidambaram said that agriultural produce could be increased manyfold in the country if farmers adopted drip and sprinkler irrigation methods.

On the sidelines of the inauguration of 'Hi-Tech Vegetable Cultivation Project' organised by the Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), he said that tested methods like these had yielded good results, especially in the cultivation of water-consuming crops like sugarcane asnd coconut.

"The yield of sugarcane doubles under the drip irigation as against in the conventional method. Besides consuming less water, this method has also resulted in higher productivity," he added.