WALMI educating farmers on land and water management

Dharwad: On the one hand, unbridled urbanisation has led agricultural land shrinking, in addition to depleting the fertility of the soil, while climatic aberrations such as flash floods and droughts have compounded the woes of the agrarian community on the other. In such a situation, the Water And Land Management Institute (WALMI) in Dharwad is spearheading, albeit unobtrusively, a revolution geared towards ensuring optimal utilisation of water resources, in addition to educating people about the need to conserve bodies of water.
The growing perception of agriculture becoming an unviable enterprise is triggering waves upon waves of migration from the villages, choking urban centres across the country. Set up three decades ago to empower farmers, and educate them in irrigation and use of land, WALMI is continuing to lend a hand to those engaged in agriculture overcome ever newer challenges. WALMI, with even more resources at its disposal today, is continuously engaging with farmers to help improve their fortunes.
WALMI is working round-the-clock with ‘Knowledge is Power’ as its mantra, organising workshops for farmers and public alike, in addition to engineers and personnel in the departments of minor irrigation, water resources, and rural development and panchayat raj. Helmed by Rajendra Poddar, WALMI has organised 12,000 capacity-building workshops by roping in experts from across the country. At a time when digital is the new buzzword, WALMI has been offering satellite programmes to reach the masses.
Since the WALMI centre is in Dharwad, farmers from the southern districts in Karnataka find it difficult to attend the workshops in person, necessitating satellite training programmes, said Poddar. “More than 3,000 stakeholders can attend these virtual workshops,” said the WALMI chief.
Pointing to the abundance of agricultural land, water resources, irrigation technology and a climate conducive for growing a variety of crops in North Karnataka, Poddar said, “Despite the ready availability of resources, farmers in the region, crippled by lack of information on water and soil management, are unable to reap a good harvest. This is what prompted us to initiate programmes to educate farmers. As part of the programmes to help farmers double their income, we have started training them in dairy farming.”
He said that there was a plan to host a convention for representatives of all the 15 WALMI centres across the country in 2023.
Sprawling campus in Dharwad
Set up in 1985, the Water And Land Management Institute (WALMI) , which is spread across 40 acres in Dharwad, was set up with financial aid procured from the World Bank. The primary objective of WALMI was to impart training to personnel of the water resources departments, command area development authorities, in addition to offering technical assistance to the government on water management.