Kamal of a farmer's daughter in Banaskantha: digging villages by taking time off from work, going from house to house to persuade farmers for water conservation, the campaign started by two farmers reached two thousand

Hiral Chaudhary took up the issue of water,Guided two thousand farmers in a four-year journey

Amidst the cry of water in Banaskantha district, farmers have now launched a water conservation campaign for water. Efforts have been made to bring the water flowing during the monsoon to the ground and raise the ground level. The water conservancy campaign was started by a female Talati employee. Currently, a large number of farmers have joined this water conservation campaign

The farmer’s daughter started the campaign

Hiral Chaudhary, a farmer’s daughter working as a Talati in Semodra village in Banaskantha, saw the plight of the farmers and decided that something should be done to alleviate the problem of irrigation water in the villages. Then four years ago today, Hiral Chaudhary took time out of his job and started digging villages. Hiral Chaudhary visited many taluka villages of the district and explained to the farmers about water conservation and he succeeded in doing so. It started with one or two farmers where arrangements were made to draw monsoon water from the old well.

It also benefited farmers under MGNREGA scheme

Starting with one or two farmers, Hiral’s passion grew and he continued his campaign. Hiral Chaudhary has been working on the campaign by contacting farmers in talukas including Vadgam, Palanpur, Dantiwada, Lakhni, Deesa and Amirgarh. Today, about two thousand farmers have joined the campaign. In it, farmers began pouring rainwater into their old wells and old borewells. In this campaign, Hiral Chaudhary has also given benefits to eligible farmers under MGNREGA scheme.

If this is the case now, what will happen next ?

In this regard, Hiral Chaudhary said that day by day we see that the water table goes very deep. About 80-90 per cent of the farmland that farmers own is fallow due to lack of water and only 10 per cent of the land is irrigated, causing losses to farmers. In many places water tankers have to be brought to the farms for animal husbandry. Many villages do not even have access to drinking water at present. If this is the case already

More than two thousand farmers joined the campaign

Hiral Chaudhary further said that many farmers have also agitated for water. Farmers in Semodra village of Banaskantha were in a lot of trouble. Seeing that, I started this campaign four years ago. I managed the job, home and family and went from village to village explaining to the farmers, providing them guidance on water conservation. Initially one or two farmers believed and then one after another farmers believed. Today, more than two thousand farmers are involved in this campaign.

Last year we recharged about 100 wells: Farmer

In this regard, farmer Mavjibhai Loh said that even in our area, there is only stone below one hundred and fifty feet. On the other hand, due to the constantly falling water level, water scarcity is created. Due to low rainfall, the water table goes deep, which causes a lot of problems in agriculture. The government has promised to fill Malana Lake rather than agitate. Hiralben, on the other hand, is touring the entire district and persuading farmers for water conservation. He has guided us so much. Hiralben has been instrumental in recharging about 100 wells last year, with about 30 young people in the village working 18 hours a day for 24 hours. Hiralben’s campaign is very good for the future, it will be of great benefit in the future.