Technical and economic feasibility of roof top rain water harvesting in rainfed agriculture

Abstract

A very large cultivated area in India is rainfed. Although annual rainfall is not less in most of the areas, but, due to non-uniform and erratic annual distribution, this water can not be used as per the agricultural needs. Hence, most of the rainfall goes waste as runoff. In this study, technical and economic feasibility of capsicum cultivation in a greenhouse through rainwater harvesting has been assessed. For this purpose, capsicum was grown under a 200 m² green house irrigated by the harvested rainwater falling on its roof. It has been found in the study that sufficient amount of water can be harvested from the rain falling on a 200 m² green house to fulfil the irrigation water requirement of capsicum grown under this green house. Thus, by roof top rainwater harvesting, rainwater may be utilized properly for increasing the agricultural production and thereby ensuring food security. This can also help in reducing the pressure on traditional water sources resulting from rapidly increasing population.