‘Madhya Pradesh’ is the heart of India as it lies in the central region and derives its name from its geographical position. Jabalpur is the district in this state situated on the banks of the Narmada river. It is a significant administrative, industrial, and business center and is also known as the judicial capital of Madhya Pradesh. Also famous for its agrarian economy, Jabalpur boasts fertile alluvial soil that yields good sorghum, wheat, rice, and millet in the villages around Jabalpur. Therefore, the BISA research farm was strategically established in Jabalpur on the city’s outskirts. It comprises total land of 220 ha (541 acres) and is well connected through an underground irrigation pipeline (UGPL) with the provision of an outlet to each field of the farm. Half of the farm is well connected through world-class facility of wireless irrigation automation. The outlet can be operated using computer, and irrigation commands can be given based on time/ volume or/ sensors.

At this farm, the area under research trials (mainly wheat and wheat-based system) has been increasing gradually. For instance, wheat trials were conducted in 4 ha in 2016 compared to 10.8 ha in 2020-2021 and 7.5 ha in 2021-2022 crop season. Grain wheat yield at BISA Jabalpur has been highly satisfactory in the last several years.

An attempt was made by BISA Jabalpur to promote carbon sequestration in the soil through conservation agriculture (CA). Comparative studies were conducted on temporal changes in soil organic carbon which clearly revealed that CA has great potential to sequester carbon in soil. Not only this BISA with the support of GIZ has been organising capacity building trainings on Solar Powered Irrigation System (SPIS). By training AEWs and progressive farmers and encouraging the adoption of SPISs by farmers through information on subsidy, access, and benefits of SPISs, the rate of technology adoption will be increased.

Address

Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) Research Station, Lakhanwara Near village sonpur, Kundam road Khamaria, Jabalpur – MP 482005