The Ramthal Drip Irrigation Project in Karnataka uses scarce water most efficiently. It is Asia’s largest community-based automated drip irrigation project initiated by the Karnataka government to benefit farmers in the drought-prone region of Bagalkot.
The Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigam Ltd awarded the project to MEIL, and the company executed this project along with Netafim, the drip irrigation company. The company successfully completed this project in 2017. The KBJNL allocated 1.34tmc ft of water from the Narayanpura reservoir on River Krishna near Marol village.
The company built a pump house, control rooms, a surge tank, and valve chambers and laid a 2,127.46-km pipeline network. The State government aims at irrigating 28,911 acres in 22 villages.
Of this, it has laid 48.54 km of GRP pipes for bulk water supply; 128.89 km of PVC pipes for the main feeder pipeline; and 1,950 km of PVC pipes for mains and sub-mains.