Agriculture is the mainstay of the developing countries world over, which provides food, fibre and raw material to the industry and avenues for employment. Water and sunlight are essential inputs for sustaining agriculture on land resources. The well being of a nation could be attributed to those who have either been blessed with abundance of these resources or have made positive efforts in harvesting them for enhancing products on a sustained manner. Agriculture in India has passed through critical phases in the past few decades and has achieved self sufficiency in food grain production. Despite the fact that the country supports nearly 16% world population with 2.4% land resources and 4% water resources, the achievement in the agriculture sector is laudable.
Many parts of the world including India is facing severe stress on natural resources, particularly land and water. Meeting the food and raw material demands in the face of increasing population and shrinking resource base is going to be a challenge in the immediate future.
Achieving food security is a high priority in many countries including India, and agriculture must not only provide food for rising population, but also save critical inputs for agriculture and their better management.
Sustainability of food production increasingly depends on sound and efficient crop management and conservation practices consisting primarily of irrigation development and management with respect to agriculture and other allied areas.
The plastics which are most widely used in agriculture, water management & related applications are – LDPE, HDPE, PP, PE and PVC. The range of plastics raw materials are being constantly upgraded to offer cost economy and technical advantages – unheard of in earlier days – which constantly upgrades the plasticulture product scenario to work in favour of the farmer.
Plasticulture applications such as protected cover cultivation and controlled environment agriculture, helps in better utilization of land and raising crops in extreme climatic conditions. The use of advanced irrigation techniques such as micro and sprinkler irrigation technologies have enabled the raising of crops on undulating terrains, saline soils, areas with brackish water besides attaining saving of water and other inputs as fertilizer, increase in productivity and improvement in quality of produce.