When Nawazuddin Siddiqui visited Cannes this year, he befriended and got acquainted with few Frenchmen who own farms. He was later invited by them to visit as well. Before his foray into Bollywood, Siddiqui spent most of his time farming in his village, Budhana, till he graduated.
As per Times of India report, Nawazuddin Siddiqui told media on the irrigation techniques he learnt from Frenchmen that, "Almost every kind of crop in France was being irrigated using this cost-effective and water efficient technique called centre pivot irrigation.”
The novel idea raised Nawazuddin’s curiosity levels who got a sample model manufactured and shipped to his village to implement the same.
This ingenious irrigation method comprises of a transformer with wheels, and elevated pipes jutting out of the contraption with rotating nozzles fitted within a gap of a couple of feet from each other. Nawazuddin explained the technique, "Each pipe can irrigate an area of an acre and consumes less than half the quantity of water that we would otherwise use with conventional techniques of irrigation."
"The UP Government commissioned a research which marked Budhana in the’dark zone’ given its sinking water levels. When I worked in the fields, we would manage to find water 80 feet below the ground and until four years ago, borewells could pump water out of 110-120 feet. Today, in Budhana, water is found 220 feet under the ground. If we’re not cautious and water isn’t optimally utilised, it’s possible that in the coming five years we wouldn’t find water even 400 feet below the ground, " he added.
Farmers too responded to this idea positively but explaining the whole process to them was what was most challenging for Siddiqui. "Using this technique has a biological advantage. Research tells us that if you’re watering from the top, the grains are healthier. The best way to explain this technology to the farmers was to ask them which is the best way to irrigate land. Everyone agreed that natural rainfall was the best option and this technique recreates the sprinkle of rainfall. I told them, ’Agar hum barish karte hain, toh kaisa hoga’"