Kopernik

Farmers in Kechla, Orissa are ready for drip irrigation.  They are raising their hands at farmers meetings, ready to invest 5-10% of their modest annual incomes in drip irrigation.  Up to now, some farmers have had to coax small streams into furrows in their gardens in laborsome flood irrigation.  In other areas of the Kechla village cluster, they simply haven’t been able to cultivate high value crops in the dry season.  That will all change with Driptech’s affordable high-quality drip irrigation systems provided through a Kopernik project scheme.  

 
Driptech, Inc. is a micro-irrigation company which manufactures and sells drip irrigation systems designed specifically for small plot farmers in developing countries.  The benefits of drip irrigation include tremendous savings of increasingly scarce water resources, reduced labor costs when compared to traditional irrigation, and higher crop yields bolstering on-farm income.  Used for decades on large and commercial farms, drip irrigation is demanded by small plot farmers too.  Driptech’s products meet this demand.
 

 
The Kechla drip irrigation project will support the livelihoods of nearly 70 marginalized farmers.  This area of rural Orissa, an eastern state of India, is part of both the so-called ‘tribal belt’ and the ‘poverty triangle’ of the country.  In this remote and hilly landscape, people travel by foot between villages and by boat to the district hub of Koraput.  Many of the villages in the Kechla cluster were displaced about 25 years ago when the government flooded the area for a hydroelectric dam.  Symbolic of their marginalization, these communities remain disconnected from the national power grid.  Annual income is approximately $340 USD and earned through farming, fishing, wood-cutting, and menial labour for the construction of minor roads and a school.
 
By using water efficiently and allowing for dry season cultivation, drip irrigation can make a big difference in the incomes and food security of these farmers.  Kopernik’s platform brings together Driptech as a technology provider, Ahimsa as a donor, and a local Orissa NGO, Auro-Mira Service Society, as the community implementer, to make the Kechla drip irrigation project happen.
 
During a pilot study earlier this year, two demonstration plots of Driptech irrigation were installed in high visibility locations in the Kechla area and a series of farmers meetings were conducted in the local Oriya language.  The response from Kechla farmers was overwhelmingly positive; dozens more farmers registered their interest the drip systems than the project supports.