Why sustainable agriculture and water sanitization?

The Anuradhapura District has nearly 3,000 main, medium, and small-scale tanks and irrigation work coming from ancient Sri Lankan time from the lead of King Pandukabhaya. During this period, Anuradhapura was considered the most important era in the irrigation civilization in Sri Lanka. Irrigation systems of ancient Sri Lanka consisted of a large number of village tanks to huge reservoirs and an inherent network of water canals linking these tanks whilst supplying water to farming lands.

Rice is the staple food of the inhabitants of Sri Lanka. Nowadays the total land dedicated for paddy is assessed to be about 708,000 hectares including a large area of land in Anuradhapura. Mainly there are two cultivation seasons such as Maha and Yala which are identical with two monsoons. However, nowadays the total area dedicated to paddy is not being cultivated due to a number of reasons such as shortage of water during the seasons, and use of chemical fertilizer for agriculture activities.
Therefore, it can be identified as the main issue which the country is unable to produce essential foods within the country including rice and other agricultural products. Around 1,500 tanks in the Anuradhapura district are disrepair and filled with sediment, resulting in water capacity being declined. As a result, the people in the district suffered from a severe shortage of both drinking and irrigational water during the last two years.

Project "WEW DIYAWARA ASWADDANNATA" is an initiative by the Rotaract Club of Uva Wellassa University Badulla in which successful steps were taken to overcome these problems. It accentuated the importance of providing clean, adequate water for drinking and irrigation facilities for agricultural activities in the Anuradhapura, Katumulugama area by cleaning tanks and reducing pollution. Accordingly, farmers were able to arrange themselves the new irrigation systems with facilities for irrigation management for crop diversification. In addition, it increases agricultural production with a long-time economic mainstay and that is a significant source of foreign exchange. 

Also, the project focused on minimizing the release of risky chemicals and materials while educating farmers with a solid understanding of how to produce and use organic fertilizer using the traditional processes and analysing the effectiveness of the organic fertilizer generated with the focus of their economic growth through agriculture. Accordingly, the country’s export earnings tend to increase with agricultural exports comprising other sectors including the established plantation segment, producing mainly paddy, coconut and rubber, and a less-established food crop production segment, which produces fruits, vegetables, and other crops.

Specially through this initiative, it provides an opportunity for villagers to consume clean water for their daily functions and allowing to maintain good sanitation practices. Predominantly plantation is for domestic consumption. This Project develops a strategy with the residents and resource persons to produce organic fertilizers according to standardized methods using water hyacinth collected from the Thalgaswewa tank. Farmers realized the importance of cultivating rice and non-rice crops effectively to obtain the best returns from the resources such as land and water.

Irrigation is bound to be part of the solution for feeding the growing world population. It is used to supply a plant with water so that the plant may flourish. Therefore, it’s our responsibility to assist them in improving both their growth including quantity and quality.

By : Thamarasi Edirisinghe