Farmers dig small ponds, particularly in rainfed areas, to collect water from the rainy season and save it for the rabi season. Though it is quite common for farmers to use tarpaulin sheets in the pond beds to stop seepage, they still lose up to 2-4 inches per week of precious water due to evaporation, particularly during the March-June period when temperatures raise sharply.

One progressive farmer in Vikarabad district has developed a hack that can reduce water evaporation by up to 70 per cent. The technique involves pouring a few litres of edible oil on the water, which forms a sheet cover on the water as it is less dense.

The sheet of oil protects water from direct heat and also stops water molecules from escaping from the surface.

According to an estimation, farmers lose up to one-fourth inch to half-an-inch in water level a day in a farm pond during the summer.

“For a normal sized pool, you will lose 25,000 to 50,000 gallons of water a year,” MS Subrahmanyam Raju, a progressive farmer from Jingurthi village in Thandur mandal of Vikarabad district, told BusinessLine .

“This is not something new. In vogue in the past, the technique went into oblivion over a period of time,” he said.

He, however, cautioned that this technique should be used in farm ponds and not other ponds that are used to draw drinking water.

Also, there is no need to use fresh edible oil, which is currently priced at around ₹150 a litre. “They can use the oil that was used once and sold by hotels at about ₹50 a litre. The cost-benefit factor is in favour of the farmer,” Raju, General Secretary of Go Aadharitha Prakriti Vyavasayadarula Sangham (an association of farmers that practise farming using cow products), said.

He has experimented with this technique at two ponds and claims that the results are quite promising.

“You will require 25 litres of oil for a 1,000-sq m pond. You need to top it up with another 13 litres after a month,” he said.

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