The Kanchikudichcharu irrigation scheme in Thirukkovil, in the Ampara district, is intertwined with the lives of farmer families who irrigate their paddy lands with the waters of the tank in the Maha and Yala seasons.
However, due to three decades of conflict, the irrigation scheme was badly affected resulting in insufficient water for paddy production. Last year, with Rs. 61.7 million from the European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) improvement works of the Kanchikudichcharu tank was launched.
A ceremony to mark the completion of the improvement works was held at the Kanchikudichcharu Irrigation Scheme on Tuesday with the participation of the Head of Cooperation of the Delegation of the European Union to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Ms. Libuse Soukupova, Ampara District Secretary Thusitha P. Wanigasinghe, officials from the Provincial Department of Irrigation (Ampara) and members of farmer organizations.
The opening of the sluice gates by FAO Representative to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Ms. Nina Brandstrup, marked the symbolic handing over of the tank to the Provincial Department of Irrigation which will eventually benefit 1,130 farmer families.
By reconstructing productive infrastructure that have been damaged or destroyed by the conflict resulting in neglect or abandonment, the European Union Support to District Development Program (EU-SDDP) aims to support farmer families to restart their livelihoods and reintegrate them to the economy of the country in a post conflict era.
Ms. LibuseSoukupova said, “This tank is located in a place where the war affected the lives of people, where people could not lead their normal lives, and now to see that their lives are returning to normal is a great source of satisfaction.”
The improvement works of the Kanchikudichcharu irrigation scheme included increasing the height of the tank bund, strengthening the tank bund, increasing the height of the spillways and the sluices.
This has resulted in an increase in the water storage capacity of the tank from 6.29 million cubic meters to 8.26 million cubic metres. The increase in the storage capacity of the tank will meet the demand for water in the two cropping seasons for 1,700 acres, resulting in an increase in paddy production.
The improvement of the tank will also reduce the chances of flooding in the downstream. A reforestation program to plant 300 trees in the environs of the Kanchikudichcharu Irrigation Scheme was also conducted.
“Since the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka, FAO has undertaken rehabilitation of approximately 200 irrigation tanks with funding from the European Union,” said Ms. Nina Brandstrup.
The rehabilitation works are done in an environmental-friendly manner for productive and sustainable irrigated agriculture.
“We have seen how important the optimal management of water is, both in times of drought and in times of floods. The rehabilitation of tanks and irrigation systems is a crucial component of disaster risk reduction,”she said.
Under the EU-SDDP, FAO is rehabilitating 76 minor, medium and major irrigation tanks in Batticaloa, Ampara, Monaragala, Vavuniya, Mannar, Puttalam and Anuradhapura districts.