NeerChetna

Transforming Animal Waste into ‘GOLD’-Case Study on Vermicompost

2014-02-28T12:09:00.000+05:30

Environmental degradation is a major threat confronting the world, and the rampant use of chemical fertilizers contributes largely to the deterioration of the environment through depletion of fossil fuels, generation of carbon dioxide (CO2) and contamination of water resources. It leads to loss of soil fertility due to imbalanced use of fertilizers that has adversely impacted agricultural productivity and causes soil degradation. Now there is a growing realization that the adoption of ecological and sustainable farming practices can only reverse the declining trend in the global productivity and environment protection. On one hand tropical soils are deficient in all necessary plant nutrients and on the other hand large quantities of such nutrients contained in domestic wastes and agricultural by products are wasted. It is estimated that in cities and rural areas of India nearly 700 million ton organic wastes is generated annually which is either burned or land filled. Such large quantities of organic wastes generate also pose a problem for safe disposal. Most of these organic residues are burned currently or used as land fillings. In nature’s laboratory there are a number of organisms (micro and macro) that have the ability to convert organic waste into valuable resources containing plant nutrients and organic matter, which are critical for maintaining soil productivity. Microorganisms and earthworms are important biological organisms helping nature to maintain nutrient flows from one system to another and also minimize environmental degradation. The earthworm population is about 8–10 times higher in uncultivated area. This clearly indicates that earthworm population decreases with soil degradation and thus can be used as a sensitive indicator of soil degradation. In this report a simple biotechnological process, which could provide a ‘win-win’ solution to tackle the problem of safe disposal of waste as well as the most needed plant nutrients for sustainable productivity is described.

Background of Sabarkantha District

Nearly 80% of the population of Sabarkantha District, Gujarat, resides in rural areas and earns their living through agriculture based activities, animal husbandry and dairying. These livelihood options result in the accumulation of large amount of recyclable organic wastes in the form of cow dung, agricultural crop residues etc. However the lack of waste segregation practices among villagers results in discarding of such organic and recyclable waste along with non-organic toxic waste. As a result, essential raw materials that can be used for preparing nutrient-rich natural manure for farming are lost and farmers are compelled to use chemical fertilizers that result in environmental degradation, are more expensive and increase artificial chemical levels in plants. Furthermore, the absence of a dedicated waste segregation and collection effort also results in the piling up of such waste near rural houses inviting growth of harmful insects and bacteria that affect human health.

Integrated Watershed Management Programme at Sabarkantha District

Recognizing these opportunity in rural waste management practices of Sabarkantha, the District Watershed Development Unit (DWDU) has taken as a livelihood activity in various project of Batch I,II & III as (Individual or group SHG) for recycling agriculture and animal husbandry waste into nutritional organic manure through the method of vermi-composting.

Fig. 1 : Vermicompost Unit

Fig. 2 : Vermi compost unit with side net

Vermi-compost:

Vermi-composting is a simple biotechnological process of composting, in which certain species of earthworms are used to enhance the process of waste conversion and produce a better end product. Vermi-composting differs from composting in several ways. It is a mesophilic process, utilizing microorganisms and earthworms that are active at 10–32°C (not ambient temperature but temperature within the pile of moist organic material). The process is faster than composting; because the material passes through the earthworm gut, a significant but not yet fully understood transformation takes place, whereby the resulting earthworm castings (worm manure) are rich in microbial activity and plant growth regulators, and fortified with pest repellence attributes as well! In short, earthworms, through a type of biological alchemy, are capable of transforming “animal wastes” into ‘gold’.

Improved soil physical, chemical and biological properties

Studies on vermin-compost indicate that it increases macrospore space ranging from 50 to 500µm, resulting in improved air-water relationship in the soil which favourably affect plant growth. The application of organic matter including vermin-compost favourably affects soil pH, microbial population and soil enzyme activities. It also reduces the proportion of water-soluble chemical species, which cause possible environmental contamination.

Process:

Individuals/SHG beneficiaries has given HDPE bed for vermi-composting, organic waste is collected at a place and treated with adequate moisture. After this treatment, earthworms are mixed with the waste in order to allow them to feed on the matter. Over a short period of time (45 days) the worms break down the organic matter in the vermi-compost unit, and leave behind nutrient rich substance which provides many benefits, for the soil condition of sabarkantha districts which varies from Hilly area hard stony soil to black cotton soil, silty loam to morrhum soil from Khedbrahma to Prantij and Himmatnagar to Bayad.

Fig. 3 : Collection of vermicompost

Fig. 4 : Screening of compost

Intervention:

There are 9 talukas and 23 IWMP projects are being implemented in Sabarkantha district. The vermi-compost units have been taken in all 23 IWMP projects. In Batch I & II projects production of vermicompost has started and utilised by the beneficiaries in their own field. Various trainings were conducted in coordination with KVK Khedbrahma and Maize Research centre Bhiloda to generate awareness among farmers.

Table No. 1 Details of Vermi-compost production in all Batches

Sr.No	Name of Batch	Unit Installed (Individual or SHG groups)	Production of Vermi-Compost Unit from Installed (Individual or SHG groups)	Total Production of Vermi- Compost (in Kg) for 1 cycles	Selling of Vermi-Compost in local market and village	Remark
1	Batch I	286	209	109934	0	All framers has used in own agricultural land
2	Batch II	180	118	69502	0	All are use the in own field
3	Batch III	57	0	0	0	Production not received
	Total	523	327	179436	0

Total production from vermi-compost bed is 179436 kg from batch I & II batch and from batch III production is not yet received. Considering Rs 2 per kg market price of vermicompost, the total implicit income is Rs 3.5 lakh approximately.

Table No. 2 Details Crop Production

Sr.No	Batch	Name of Crop	Nos. of beneficiaries	Total Area cropping (ha)	Approx. Production (kg/ha)
1	Batch- I & II	Maize	50	22	1180
2	Batch- I & II	Vegetables	34	14	845
		Total/average	84	36	1012

The use of vermicompost has increased soil fertility and reduces the cost of cultivation by substituting chemical fertilisers. With this intervention 84 farmers cultivated 36 ha of land using vermicompost.

Challenges:

The production cycle increased from estimated 45 days to 60 days and in some cases it increased to 90 days.
Less awareness among the community for small activities like sprinkling of water timely, turning of compost upside down to speed up the process of production.
The package of practices given to the members required closer monitoring and identification of training needs.
Less sensitivity towards practicing the package of practices in production during the first cycle resulting into to breakage of cycle, increased cycle period.
Proper use of the vermi-compost and still used the chemical fertilizer along with it.

Conclusion:

Earthworm serves as “nature’s ploughman” and form nature’s gift to produce good humus, which is the most precious material to fulfil the nutritional needs of crops. The utilization of vermicompost results in several benefits to farmers, industries, environment and overall national economy.

To farmers:

Less reliance on purchased inputs of nutrients leading to lower cost of production.
Increased soil productivity through improved soil quality.
Better quantity and quality of crops There is huge scope of promotion of vermicompost in this District.

DWDU is actively participating for promotion of this green technology and farmers are also gradually interested to convert their farming processes.

Contributors: Sidharth Sing Bisen (Technical Expert); Sunil Patel (MDT Agri)

Promoting Tissue culture in Navsari through IWMP

2014-02-27T12:18:00.003+05:30

Knowing Tissue Culture:

Tissue culture is a process that involves exposing plant tissue to a specific regimen of nutrients, hormones, and lights under sterile, in vitro conditions to produce many new plants, each a clone of the original mother plant, over a very short period of time. Tissue culture plants are characterised by disease free growth, a more fibrous, healthier root system, a bushier branching habit, and a higher survival rate.

There are three main steps to the tissue culture process:

STAGE I is the initiation phase. It concerns the establishment of plant tissue in vitro by sterilising the material and initiating it into culture.
STAGE II is the multiplication phase. At this stage, the in vitro plant material is re-divided and placed in a medium with plant growth regulators that induce the proliferation of multiple shoots. This process is repeated many times until the number of plants desired is reached.
STAGE III is the root formation phase. It involves the introduction of hormones to induce rooting and the formation of complete plantlets.

Project Background:

Kandha Project is located in Vansda Block, Navsari district of Gujarat State which has been sanctioned in the year of 2010-11 by Government of India. The project is a cluster of six micro-watersheds. The total project area of the watershed is about 6725.40 ha, of which 4000 ha has been undertaken to be treated under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). The watershed Programme has covered seven villages namely Kandha, Bartad, Bedmal, Kamalzari, Anklachh, Khanpur and Satimal. Tribal communities are the primary inhabitants of the village.

Fig. 1 : Discussion with farmer

Before intervention:

Devjeebhai Jhuliabhai Deshmukh who is the beneficiary of Banana Demo Plot belongs to Bedmaal Village(Dungri Faliya). Earlier he was dependent on growing traditional crops like Paddy, Nagli, Pulses, Pigeon Pea using traditional methods. He also used to grow the traditional variety of Banana (Lokhandi variety) from which he was getting an income of Rs.30,000 to Rs.40,000 per annum. The production from one acre (o.4 ha) was nearly 4500-5000 kg. Due to non-uniform bunch formation the market price was nearly Rs 150 per mann (20kg). As a traditional banana farmer he is having a sound knowledge of banana cultivation. To make proper comparison between traditional and tissue culture farming Jhuliabhai was selected for demonstration plot.

IWMP intervention:

A plot of 0.4 Ha. (one acre) was undertaken and then ploughing and levelling was done. Organic fertilizers were bought from Government Co-operative Society to increase soil fertility. Along with organic manure, chemical fertilizers were also used. The variety of Banana- Grane 9 has been planted. The cost of each plant including transportation cost is Rs.15. Thus a total of 750 Plants were bought from Gandevi Market at a total cost of Rs.11,250. These plants were planted in the month of Feb 2013. Drip Irrigation has also been installed in his field by converging with GGRC Department. The total cost of Drip was Rs.54296 out of which the contribution of Rs.19,864 was from IWMP and Rs.34,432 from GGRC respectively.

Monitoring on continuous basis was done by the project team and DWDU. MDT Agri and WDT Agri gave information on regular basis about the adoption of time to time practices. For proper cultivation of banana through tissue culture extreme care must be taken for initial three months of planting regarding timely irrigation and pesticides sprays, otherwise yield will be affected. The soils pH was also checked timely as pH more than 7.5 are not suitable for tissue culture.

Benefits of growing bananas through Tissue Culture Method to the Beneficiary:

Plants are absolutely free from diseases and pests, so there is less field mortality.
Early maturity of crop- maximum land use is possible in low land holding areas.
Increase in yield ( nearly 2 MT per acre)
Produces are more uniform in shape and size, thus easily marketable with better price realisation

Flow chart of processes involved:

After Watershed’s Intervention:

After 9-10 months 325 mann (1 mann = 20 kg) of bananas were produced which were sold at a rate of Rs. 230 per mann. Thus after selling 325 mann he has received Rs. 74,750 as total revenue. Hence there is an increase of revenue of Rs.20000 to 25000 per acre for the farmer.

According to Devjeebhai Jhuliabhai Deshmukh, “growing bananas through tissue culture method had allowed efficient use of land and resources, realizing higher yield and net profit, easy practices, improvement in fruit quality, easy and good harvest which have ultimately lead to an increase in income”.

Fig. 2 : Distribution of sapling

Fig. 3 : Planting of sapling

Fig. 4 : Growth stage of banana

Fig. 5 : Before harvesting

Way Forward:

A tie-up with KVK Navsari is made to do some research on the stem part of banana for the purpose of making thread. Hence the plot is under direct supervision of KVK. With this successful intervention DWDU is now promoting tissue culture in other project areas. Various training are also being planned to generate awareness about tissue culture among the banana growers. There is a huge scope of tissue culture in near future and DWDU is acting as a dynamic partner for its promotion.

Contributors: Rashmi Sinku (Technical Expert); Rahul Vekariya (MDT Agri); Hardik Desai (MDT Agri); Rashik Ganvit (WDT Agri)

WEAVING DREAMS -A case of Shree Khodiyar Bachat Mandal, Jamnagar

2014-02-24T12:05:00.002+05:30

Agriculture contributes nearly 14.5 % of India’s GDP but more than 60% of workforce is workforce depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Hence agriculture is considered as the backbone of India. Being home to more than 17% of world’s population and due to constant increase in population at an alarming rate the pressure on agricultural land is being increasing constantly. On the contrary agricultural land is reducing due to industrialization and growing number of cities, thus creating job opportunities for skilled and unskilled labors. Due to all these reasons and changing life style migration is a major challenge for the rural economy. Although there are different opinions about positive and negative effect of migration, but in long term migration is not a solution. So there is an urgent need to generate alternative employment within the villages to stop migration.

Jamnagar is known as Halar in Saurashtra region. It is situated at the sea coast of Gujarat. Natural calamities like uneven rainfall, drought, and earth quake affect the farmers. Kharachia village of Jodiya block is situated near the sea coast. Total population of the village is 1860 comprising of major communities like Patel, Rajput, Bharwad, Koli and Harijan. Rainfed agriculture is the major source of livelihood in this village. Fadsar, Kharachia, Utbet sampar and Zinzuda are the 4 villages selected under IWMP-10 (Integrated Watershed Management Programme- Fadsar cluster). According to village survey conducted before preparation of Detailed Project Report, after the monsoon season due to lack of work agriculture and casual labors migrates to nearby cities and women were confined to stay back at home without any work. Women could not go for work as per the socially imposed structure. During survey and focus group discussion with the villagers it was elicited that women want to do home based works without hindering their daily household works.

After providing various concepts building training for SHGs, Shree Khodiyar Bachat Mandal was formed with 10 members in May 2012 with monthly small savings of Rs. 300 (@ Rs. 30 per member at Dena Bank, Aamran branch. Before finalizing livelihood activity under IWMP, various group level and village level meeting were conducted by the watershed development team. As there is a predominant demand of the sewing work for the local market and according to the requirement of the group for home based work, sewing activity was selected for this group.

In November 2013 a memorandum of understanding was signed between VWC and SHG to start the activity. Ten sewing machines were purchased at the cost of Rs 6200/- each and Rs. 30000/- for purchasing procuring raw materials from nearby market at Dhrol, Aamran and Morbi.

One month training and workshop programme on sewing activity was arranged by the Project Implementing Agency (DWDU) for imparting necessary skills to the SHG. Other trainings were also conducted in coordination with Vikas charitable trust as per demand of SHG members with support of VWC and WDT members.

Fig. 1 : Training on sewing of Shri Khodiyar Saving Mandal

After implementing the activity there is remarkable growth of their business. Now after 3 months the group is able to earn Rs3000 (approx) per month. The work orders of items like stitching uniform (150 rs/piece), blouse (120 rs/piece), fall (30 rs/item), dress material (100 rs/piece) from nearby blocks has been increasing constantly. The group has also started to make cushion cover (80 rs/piece) and carry bag (30 rs/piece) to sell in their own village and nearby villages.

Fig. 2 : Sewing activity of Shri Khodiyar Saving Mandal

According to the president Jyotiba Parakramsinh Jadeja of Shree Khodiyar Bachat Mandal : “All of us are women residing in Kharachia village belong to other backward caste (OBC). Our literacy level is very low and our family is totally dependent on our husbands, who were the sole breadwinners of our families. Thus, managing the household expenses was always a major problem and we had to slowly cut down our food expenses in order to meet the children’s education expenditure. Now after starting sewing business our economic status has increased as we have started contributing to our family”

This small initiative has brought a great economical and social change in their lives. With the extra source of income the women are not only contributing to their family income but also started lending to other members. The group members have started to participate in the decision making process inside their houses. Even in social gathering and Gram Sabha’s the group has started their participating actively. Considering the escalating demand of the products the group is now planning to expand their business. This micro entrepreneurship is not only helping this village to reduce migration but also acting as a role model for women empowerment.

Contributors: Smit Hingrajiya (Technical Expert), WDT Team (IWMP-10), DWDU Jamnagar

Anusuya Ben- A Budding Entrepreneur from Adivada

2014-02-17T11:41:00.000+05:30

Luhar Anusuya Ben, a female resident of remote village Adivada which is a part of Becharaji taluka, belongs to a deeply conservative family where she is the head of the family. The idea of women leaving their homes to earn livelihood is inconceivable in this strata of the society. Over the last few years, the economic situation of her family had gradually declined to an eventual standstill as they are doing labour work to survive. Anusuya ben ultimately decided to explore alternative means of income generation to provide her children a better living standard.

The total project area of the Adivada (IWMP-4) village is about 793.5 Ha of which 393.5 Ha is proposed to be treated under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). The nearest town is Bechraji which is about 10 to 20 Km from watershed area, which is well connected by pucca road. The project area lies in nearest boundary of patan district. Patel, Thakor, Rabai, Harijan, Darbar community resides in the village.

As Anusuya ben had the skills of making handicraft items, she was chosen as the livelihood beneficiary of the IWMP project. She had been given the training through Chuvad Gram Vikas Trust for making the handicraft items for one week. She had found the training useful for adding values to her skills of making handicraft and marketing with business representatives of different locale. As per Anusuya Ben “ The training took me a step ahead involved in making handicrafts of decorative items, how to improve upon their quality and how to meet the demand.”

Fig. 1 : Displaying Handicraft Items during National conference team visit (Rajasthan team) at Mehsana

For initiating the work she had been given a financial support of Rs. 10,000 under IWMP Project during Aug 2013. From that money she purchased the raw materials required for making handicraft items from Mahesana & Ahmedabad at wholesale price. She prepared the handicraft items at home like decorative wall hangings, door hangings, pearl anklets, bangles etc. She sells her handicrafts items at the neighboring villages of Adivada and also manages to bring order from the customer easily.

Her business has been doing well and she would like to continue developing it by streamlining the goods and products that are high in demand. Anusuya Ben business generates Rs. 50/- to Rs 70/- on per item. Every month she sells around 50 handicraft products which fetches her Rs. 2500/- to Rs. 3500/- per month respectively. A portion of her income is invested in the business while the rest contributes to the household expenses.

According to Anusuya ben : “Life has been good. I get enough money to sustain my family and I get to meet people and organize my Store of handicraft items on project occasions at Adivada Village. It has made me more responsible and improved the financial situation of my family.”

Fig. 2 : Display of items in front of Anusuya Ben's home

Although it is a very small step taken for livelihood augmentation but it has bring a remarkable positive impact in her life. For future prospect of her business DWDU Mehsana is continuously involved for capacity building and scaling up the business.

Contributor: Bhatt Rajal Ben (WDT CM), Choudhary Balwant Bhai (WDT Agri), Deepali Solanki (Technical Expert), Arun Adhikari (Technical Expert)

Cultivating the Difference - A Case of Crop Demonstration in Suraj Village

2014-02-17T11:12:00.000+05:30

Basic village information: Suraj village is located in Becharaji taluka of Mehsana district of Gujarat. The total geographical area of the village is 1195.90 Ha. Generally the region experiences irregular rainfall with an average of 400 mm. The topography of the land is flat with medium black soil.

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) had started its interventions in the village in 2009-10 (i.e. Batch I Projects). In IWMP 2 (Becharaji Project), there are 6 villages in which Suraj village is one of them. The total geographical area of the watershed is 5681.70 Ha out of which 5000 Ha was proposed for treatment under IWMP.

Cash crops such as cotton and castor are cultivated approximately in an area of 80 Ha of the village. Here, the average yield of cotton is 500 kg./Ha against the average district production of 640 kg/Ha (source: agri.gujarat.gov.in as on 2009-10). Cotton yield had been declining in this village despite increasing dose of NPK fertilizers every year.

In absence of sufficient knowledge, farmers here were used to practice their own way of farming, which includes

Insufficient FYM (Farm Yard Manure) application
Single tillage
High rate of seed application (with the mindset of perceiving higher yields)
Irregular sowing & fertilizer application (high basal dose)

In order to address this issue, an on-farm-trial was taken up in IWMP DPR to demonstrate the benefits of scientific farming of cotton. The agriculture staff of the Multi disciplinary team had organised several Gram Sabhas to motivate villagers to come forward for taking up the on-field-trial of cotton on his farm. The villagers then suggested the name of enthusiastic Shri Nadoda Jagmaal Bhai Juva bhai. He is a progressive farmer of this village having 1.06 Ha of agricultural land. Earlier Jagmaal bhai used to advocate heavy doses of fertilizers and pesticides to enhance crop productivity but did not achieve the required production.

Out of 1.06 Ha, 0.47 Ha of his agricultural land was used for crop demonstration of cotton on his field while leaving the other part for his regular farming. This was done to show the clear difference between the newly adopted scientific farming and the traditional one. He attended all the meetings and trainings related to scientific agriculture practices coordinated with the help of Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Kherva.

Initially the KVK gave the farmers a detail account about crop demonstration technique and sowing measures. The highlights of training are as follows

During kharif season, deep tillage should be done
6 to 8 tractors of FYM to be applied on the fields
After applying FYM, once again tillage should be done
Sowing should be done at suitable time

The methodology of crop demonstration goes as follows: “Soil testing was done for major macro and micronutrients. Based on soil testing results fertilizer schedule was prepared (120:90:45 for demo plot & farmer applied 128: 92:45). With the help of a rotavator, crop residues were incorporated into the soil. Sowing was done in the 1st week of June 2012 with a spacing of 5 feet between the rows and 2.5 between plants and the seed rate was 0.3 kg/ha (therefore 0.6kg applied in 0.47 Ha). A basal dose of DAP was then applied to the demo plot (4.5:11.5:0) and farmers plot (36:92:0). The cost of fertilizer for demo plot accounted for Rs 8000/- ( FYM = Rs 6000/- & vermi compost = Rs 2000/-) whereas for farmer plot it was Rs 4000/- which accounts solely for FYM. The source of irrigation was kept same in both the plots.”

Fig. 1 : Shri Nadoda Jagmaal Bhai Juva bhai in front of demo plot

The post harvest comparison is mentioned below:

S. No	Particulars	Demonstration Plot (0.47 Ha)	Farmer’s Plot (0.59 Ha)
1	Quantity of Seeds (gm)	600	900
1	Crop duration (in days)	180	180
2	Cotton Balls (No.)	156	73
3	Average weight per cotton ball (gm)	7.17	6.23
4	Cost of cultivation (Rs)	22,010/-	20,670/-
	Seed	1240/-	1860
	FYM	6000/-	4000/-
	Vermi Compost	2000/-	0
	Fertillizer	1570/-	2210/-
	Irrigation	11,200/-	12,600/-
5	Yield (Kg)	1962	1185
6	Gross return (Rs.) (Market Price Rs 63.5/kg)	104967/-	63398/-
7	Net Return (Rs.)	82957/-	42727/-
Comparing Net Return per ha. (Rs.)		176504/-	72419/-

The crop demonstration plot, although less area than its counterpart, not only gave better yield but also provide higher remunerative returns (almost more than double). Having witnessed the results, more and more farmers are coming forward to adopt scientific farming method. The increasing number of farmers query and participation in training also depict the indirect impact of crop demonstration. As of now approximately 25 farmers have shown their interest to adopt scientific farming in their own fields. Further training plan has been made in coordination with the KVK to provide technical input to the interested farmers.

It can be said that crop demonstration under IWMP project in the village has surely made some difference in the cropping practices of the farmers and will continue to inspire in the near future.

Contributors: Desai Iswarbhai (WDT- Agri), Pankaj Raval (WDT-CM), Shri Nadoda Jagmaal Bhai Juva bhai (Beneficiary Farmer), Deepali Solanki (Technical Expert)

Abject Poverty to Agricultural Prosperity in Navapura of Surendranagar

2014-02-15T14:20:00.002+05:30

Area Profile

Surendranagar is a Saurashtra region district with 10,489 square kilometers of area. Surendranagar is also known as the "Entrance gate of the Saurashtra region”. 8.63% of the total population of the district belongs to the Scheduled Tribes and 12% belongs to the scheduled Castes.

Navapura Village falls under the Dasada Taluka of the district. Navapura is around 71 Km away from the district town. There are total 54 households in the village and are mainly agriculturists and also have animal husbandry as there secondary occupation.

Scarcity of the lifeline

The entire water requirement of the village from irrigation to drinking water for Human and animals is mainly supplied from the village pond. Due to the siltation and depreciation of the pond bund the storage capacity of the pond is reduced resulting into huge scarcity of the water available for the villagers. In arrival of the situation irrigation support from the pond water has been stopped and thus the farmers practices rainfed agriculture mainly. With this less availability of green fodder for the livestock of the village had affected the milk production of the village. Due to this single crop a year and with less milk production the economical situation of the villagers was also striking the bell slowly.

Intervention

DWDU Surendranagar has been implementing Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) in the district and was acting as a district agency for the programme. Sanctioned in the year 2009-10 Navapura village was taken up as project village under IWMP-8 and Wild Ass Sanctuary, Dhrangadhra was appointed as the Project Implementation Agecy (PIA) for the project. IWMP has been working for Soil and Water conservation in a watershed area. As a part of participatory planning De-siltation of the village pond was taken on urgent basis under Entry Point Activity (EPA) head.

Outcome

9193 CM de-siltation was done with in an expenditure of Rs. 3.56 lakhs from IWMP cost and the storage capacity of the village pond was increased to and the bund was strengthened with the excavation. Due to this the availability of water has irrigated near about 80 ha has increased and the total production of cumin were sought highest as near about 600 Qt. from the area the average productivity of the cumin is about 750 Kg/ha which is four times higher than average productivity of the village before the intervention. Out of total household 54 households practicing agriculture in the village and among them 26 farmer are getting irrigation water from the village pond. Before completion of the intervention the average income was near about Rs. 34,000/ ha. from cotton crop and after the availability of irrigation it went up to Rs. 43,500 and cropping pattern of the area has been changed due to availability of irrigation water. It also increased the milk production. Now the availability of fodder for the animal has gone up and it has been observed in increasing of milk production of the village. As per the villages survey, over three – forth of the farmers are found to be benefiting from this De-siltation of the village pond.

Conclusion

In these two years the project has changed the whole of Navapura from one of abject poverty and underdevelopment to prosperity and on the development path. Today, Navapura is a success story and inspirational model for water conservation measures. These activities have had a major impact on the area; and have changed the face Navapura village. The lost flora and fauna are returning and even the villagers are reaping its benefit. The impact of this project has been manifolds. It has checked soil erosion and has helped the soil to retain its moisture. Also, Fodder and Fuel wood is available a plenty. In fact with each year the prodution has grown and so has the distribution.

“Assessment: The community participation has been the key to the success of Watershed Development Project in the Area. It was ensured all through the implementation of the project that the people’s enthusiasm and interest does not wane away after the initial euphoria. Most importantly, the project functionaries’ from the beginning was a distant spectator, only providing the technical inputs while actual nuisances of design, execution and management was left to the users committee. This micro-level planning has provided people with an opportunity of earning of managing the scheme and also given them the confidence that they can now do the government support. This project has truly been the project of the people, for the people and managed by the people. The project wasteland development project has raised hopes that wasteland can be made fertile and bring about prosperity to the area.”

Contributor: DWDU Surendranagar, Hariom Nirala (Technical Expert)

Women Empowerment and Self-sustainability through Watershed Project in LILIYA Taluka

2014-02-13T16:36:00.002+05:30

Introduction

Watershed management has emerged as an important intervention for supporting natural resource based livelihood mean in different agro-climatic regions in India and Gujarat. This case study is discussing the high level of community participation in watershed management. This programme is being implemented by the District Watershed development Unit, Amreli under the Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). This intervention created an awareness and participation among women residing in the rural pockets of Amreli, which had empowered them to play a positive role in holistic development of themselves and the society. The user groups and self-help groups were also closely associated with economical issues, thus directly contributing to the economic and social development of Sanaliya village under Liliya Taluka, Dist. Amreli.

Role of Women

Women have played an ‘invisible’ role for a long period of time in the economic development of rural areas, as they have been perceived as helpmates, wives and mothers, and as generally subservient to the dominant economic work of men, both in farming and outside it. The Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in micro watersheds have received much attention from the policy makers and others for their perceived ability to contribute significantly to the economic growth and poverty alleviation. These groups are homogenous groups having common interest who are dependent on the watershed area such as: landless laborers, agricultural laborers, rural women, shepherds, scheduled castes/tribes etc. Around 50 per cent of villagers who are directly or indirectly dependent on watersheds should generally be enrolled as members in the SHGs. Evidences show that the SHGs are formed mostly for Women-oriented activities.

Fig.2 : STUDY AREA: IWMP 7 (Batch II) Sanaliya Village, Liliya Taluka, District Amreli

District Watershed Development Unit,(DWDU),Amreli in its endeavor had facilitated the SHG “Shree Jee Self Help Group” in Sanaliya village lies under Kutana Cluster in IWMP-8 (Batch 2) in Liliya Taluka.

Name of SHG: Shree Jee Self Help Group
Number of Members: 14 (ALL WOMEN)
Date of Formation: 26/07/2011
Status of Participants: APL Mission: To enhance and strengthen economical status of members.

Introductory Level

At the very first stage of planning process of the cluster, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), was done with the help of the villagers and the Watershed Committee, in which a special meeting was held only Women in which information regarding SHG was put forward, and its members were decided duly on democratic pattern, after that SHG nomenclature was done, and the name of SHG "Shree Jee Self Help Group" was coined.

Activities Chosen

After the formation of the SHG a meeting was carried out to choose the activity(s) under the supervision of WDT-CME and Nodal of PIA and in this meeting the members were asked to interact with each other and to discuss what activity(s) to be carried out in the SHG. The thing which came out of the discussion was that to make different kinds of Home decoration handicraft as it was a tradition over here to gift it in marriages and other auspicious events. The members also said that there is a vast opportunity of selling these items as there is an availability of local market demand for these items.

Pre Activity Work

Before starting the Handicraft Activities a proper well structured training session was needed. The SHG members of Shree Jee SHG decided had undergone a comprehensive training in the nearby village of Godavadar. A local trainer is employed for the purpose. The SHG members went on to training in the day time and practiced the same at night. The training was organized for a month to enable them to gain expertise. The trainees of the SHG were certified by DWDU Amreli.

Fig.3 : Training to SHG

Fig.4 : SHG Members Practicing at Common Place

Fig.5 : Training and Practicing session of Handicraft Making by SHG Members

Fig.6 : Training Certificate Distribution

Fig.7 : Training Certificate Distribution

Post Activity

After the training and practicing session for one month the SHG members were now quiet familiar as well as well expertise with SHG activities as well as Handicraft making. Later on they started selling the handicraft items on small scale. Later with the increased familiarity and demand they went on to join hands with the "Ramapir SHG Group" functioning in "Bhurakhiya Village" under IWMP-10,Chhabhadiya Cluster to open a Handicraft selling shop near the famous "Bhurakhiya Hanuman Temple" which use to sell the handicraft items from different villages. It sells the products on Commission basis. The shop was opened on 11/02/2013.

Fig.8 : Handicraft Selling Shop at Bhurakhiya Hanuman Temple, Bhurakhiya Village, Lathi Taluka

Handicraft Store

“The SHG’s participated in Gram Haat organized at Ahmedabad on 28/02/13 to 02/03/2013 and they sold items worth Rs.6000.Taking together of items sold at Amreli and Ahmedabad it constitutes of Rs.17000.”

Conclusion

The whole program not only made the women of Sanaliya village economically established but also boosts up Self Confidence and now they can achieve a greater responsibility in Society. The most pivotal thing to be marked here is the Decision Making role of them, in their socio-economic life. Indeed their success can be summarized as a role model for other Watershed intervene Livelihood activities.

Contributors: DWDU Amreli, Nischal Chudasama (Technical Expert)

Facilitating Post-Harvest Technology of Paddy- Story of Keshbandh village (Dangs)

2014-01-21T15:50:00.002+05:30

Preface:-

The agriculture in India was, so far, largely dependent on farmers who were using the conventional methods of agriculture. But nowadays, modern agriculture in India has shown significant progress in terms of infusion of technology and improved agricultural practices. Farmers have adapted to rapid diversification, mechanization and value addition practices, leading to better returns, more value added products and growing opportunities for various agri-input suppliers. However, at the same time, farmers are facing severe constraints in terms of receiving quality extension services, proving to be a major bottleneck for future growth. At the same time, increasing modernization of agriculture is also opening up better business opportunities for specialized agriculture extension services and enterprise development.

Background of study:-

The Dangs is the tribal district of South Zone in Gujarat District. Agriculture is one of the main livelihood occupations in this region while various constrains like rainfall dependence, lack of extension services and quality inputs making this profession insecure to support the growing population. Alternatives livelihood options are limited due to natural constraints like lack of water and the quality of land. The main limitations for increasing productivity of agriculture are the quality and quantity of land and water. The cropping pattern is adjusted as per this topographical condition. Farming in Dangs can be considered as the most challenging tank due high slope of land (more than 60%), extreme rainfall during rainy season, lack of irrigation facility, lack of transport facilities etc. Paddy is the main crop in this region and farmers practise traditional methods for dehusking and winnowing of the grains. Dehusking is done by beating the grains on wooden pallet placed on open ground. After dehusking, winnowing is done by dropping the grains in wind direction. Then the rice is kept in ground without any cover. As dehusking is done in ground the entire grain is not collected for further processes and there is a loss of nearly 8-10% of grains. After dehusking, the winnowing process is entirely dependent on nature. Even during storage the open storage of grains are also exposed to adverse climatic risks. Hence there is a considerable amount of loss of produces in the entire post harvesting process. Although desirable, but in tribal zone the per capita income of the farmers is very low and it is difficult to purchase an electric fan for winnowing or a polythene sheet (Tadpatri) for covering the harvested grain. All these factors are resisting the farmer to come out of the vicious cycle of poverty.

Intervention under IWMP:-

Keshbandh village from IWMP-1 Kakshala with a total population of about 1200 has been selected for this intervention. Farming community comprises around 62%. The total agriculture land is around 42ha land out of which paddy is grown in 32ha land approximately. Yearly production of paddy is around 9600kg which generates income of Rs. 11,5200 considering Rs. 13-15 price per kg.

Under the head of livelihood & micro-enterprise polythene sheets (tadpatri) were provided to 42 farmers & 4 electric fans and 5 hand fans were provided to a user group (UG). The cost of tadpatri is Rs 2395 and cost of electric fan is Rs 7300. The electric fans are being used on a sharing basis of the community. Because of tadpatri the loss of grain has reduce to nearly 10 % due to ease of collecting the grains. Due to electric fan farmers are no longer depending on wind. It is also observed that the percentage of husk in final marketable grains is lesser than earlier process. Vasubhai Manashyabhai Gavit is a member of the UG and according to him under ideal condition the net profit per ha ranges between Rs 2300-3900. Apart from direct benefits, now post harvesting operation takes lesser time and hence farmers get involved in separate activities to earn additional income.

Estimated income is mentioned below

	Before condition:	After condition:-
Final yield per ha:	900-1200 kg	1000-1300 kg
Price Per kg :	Rs. 14-15	Rs. 14-15
Income:	Rs. 12600 -18000	Rs. 14000-18200 to 15000-19500

Fig. 1: Before Condition:- Dehusking & winnowing operation are being done on open ground which causes post harvesting losses

Fig. 2: After Condition:- Dehusking & winnowing operation are being done on tadpatri which has helped in reducing post harvesting losses

Observing the profit figure the UG is now saving for any future maintenance of the assets. Although this intervention is very small comparing to the project cost and other soil and water conservation interventions, but the impact of this intervention is clearly visible with in a very small time period. In other way it shows that the selection of the activities is done after proper analysis of the ground situation and need of the community. There is also a huge scope to replicate the activity in rice producing areas in Gujarat and other places. As it is found very helpful for the farmers of Dangs, a positive outcome is expected from other places under IWMP.

User Group (UD) Detail:-

Sr. No.	Name of Project	Name of beneficiary
1	IWMP-1 Kakshala	Urmyabhai Tanayabhai
2		Lagnyabhai Manasyabhai
3		Vasubhai Manasyabhai
4		Babjibhai Mohlyabhai
5		Bhukyabhai Sukriyabhai

Contributors: - Miss Priya A. Kadam (Technical Expert, Dang), Mr. Vipul Pardesi ( WDT-Agri, IWMP-1 Kakshala Project)

Concept to Reality – ‘Revolving Fund’ (A Small Attempt for a Bigger Change)

2014-01-21T11:53:00.001+05:30

A self-help group (SHG) is a village-based financial and social intermediary usually composed of 10–20 local women. The first SHG was formed by Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency (MYRADA) in 1985. After the success of their initiative the concept was replicated exponentially in all parts of India. Later on from 1992 National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) had taken greater initiatives to link the SHGs with banks commonly known as SHG bank linkage programme. Various Government and Voluntary organisations have promoted the linkage programme and tried to link them with main stream economy.

Revolving Fund Concept: The conceptual framework of Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWMP) is to augment the livelihood status of the people dependent on a particular catchment area. District Watershed Development unit (DWDU) is acting as project monitoring and implementing agency in Patan district of Gujarat. In few projects where forest area is more than 33 percentages then the implementing agency is District Forest department. DWDU has taken a major initiative in promotion of the concept of revolving fund in Patan under the IWMP project. By definition ‘Revolving Fund’ is a capital raised with a certain purpose which can be made available to the same users more than once. The Revolving Fund is expected to be utilized for income generation activities and return within 18 months. This repayment will be deposited in the Watershed Development Fund (WDF) to utilize the fund in future.

The risk factor of this concept is delayed repayment of the fund or turning loan amount into a bad debt. To overcome the risk factor DWDU has promoted revolving fund on SHG basis rather than individual basis. The SHG then lends the money to the individual as per their demand and norms of the group. It has been observed that due to proper selection of individuals by the group and peer pressure, the repayment is secured. Beside this the SHGs are formed with majority of similar occupational and social backgrounds, therefore the group activities selected by them are quite similar in nature. Hence increases the chance of success. This also increase the managerial ability of the SHGs as all decision was taken by the groups themselves.

The main benefits of this initiative as per the beneficiaries:

1. Availability of fund at 1 % interest which is very nominal than other informal lending sources. The money lender is the main source of informal credit in village with usually interest rate of more than 24-30 % depending of the requirement of the individual. While revolving fund is interest free. In some cases SHG itself decided to impose minimal interest to the borrower to ensure repayment and enhancement of group savings.

2. Timely availability of fund: The fund flow is flow Village Watershed Committee (VWC) to respected SHGs. The SHGs then provide the fund to the individuals ensuring repayment within 18 months. The administrative process is simple and there fund is available timely to individuals.

3. Promote group activities: DWDU is acting as a key agency for capacity building of the SHGs. Hence group activities based on livelihood enhancement are being promoted with proper training from different resource persons.

4. Being different from a grant based system this approach enhance the group’s ability to become self sustainable.

5. Improves managerial skill of the SHG

Initiatives:

The first revolving fund of Rs 25000 was given to Jaychetrapal SHG for package tea business in Bhilot village (IWMP-11) of Radhanpur Taluka. The group then procured bulk quantity of local branded tea which is having high demand in that area, and packet it in small pouches to sell in the village. The indicator of their healthy business is depicted by the timely repayment of the loan. Within 6 months they have already deposited Rs 10000.

Being encouraged by their success revolving fund is highly encouraged in IWMP project area of Patan. In Mubarakpura village (IWMP-2) at Sami taluka a group named Arti SHG has taken revolving fund on Nov 2012 for procurement of cumin seeds for cultivation on farm land that was taken on lease by the group members. The seed money was given to 7 members of that SHG. Although cumin production was not very high due to acute shortage of rainfall but still they were able to repay the amount by May 2013 (within 6 months). Now again this year they are willing to take revolving fund for cumin expecting a higher yield compared to last year as average rainfall in this region is more than last three years average.

Naroda Gangaben Chehabhai, a member of GangaMaiya SHG, Anwarpura Village (IWMP-9 ) located at Sami Taluka, received Rs 25000 as revolving fund under Integrated Watershed Management Prorgamme (IWMP) during April, 2013. With her own contribution of Rs 6000 she purchased a Mould Board plough with Rs 35000. The MB Plough with her own tractor have been rented for Rs 600/hr. As her first business startup she had managed to operate nearly 45 days for the Kharif season of 2013. Her reported average revenue was approximately Rs. 63,200 whereas the expenditure was Rs 34650 towards diesel expenses and Rs 20350 for maintenance (including driver). Her net income during the season is Rs 8200. Now she is all ready to catch the Rabi season and also started to repay to revolving fund. On the other side it is also helping other farmers for timely tillage practices.

Fig. 1: Plough of Anvarpura village

Fig. 2: Godhana SHG group

Fig. 3: SHG group of Bhilot

Fig. 4: Kirana shop of motipimpli

Mrs. Jamiben Kanji bhai native of Motipipli village IWMP -11 located in Radhanpur Taluka is a member of Jai Chamunda SH started on Nov, 2007 with 16 members. Being a member of the SHG, Jamiben received various trainings on understanding of the concepts of savings, skills development and entrepreneurial development trainings from DWDU. After the training she decided that it would be good to start a provision store as there were no other provision stores in nearby adjoining areas. Incurring her demand, the Village Watershed Committee has provided Rs 25000 as revolving fund to the SHG on 6 July 2013 to start a provision store. She manages to procure materials in bulk from the Radhanpur market situated at 10km from the shop. At the starting the shop was doing average business and she was able to save Rs. 200 per day (i.e monthly earning of Rs 6000). Within few months she was able to understand the customer preference and apart from regular provisional goods she also keeps seasonable goods and manages to earn Rs 4000-5500 per month taking into the account expenses on electricity. She has so far repaid an amount of Rs 7000 to the SHG.

Small kirana shop, cutlery shop, cattle feed shop, agri implements and various other small business and entrepreneurship has been evolved by this small effort of revolving fund. Till now nearly 28.38 lakh revolving fund has been disbursed to more than 76 groups and 40 villages. In all the groups the repayment time is remarkable.

Although it is a minor step but these small initiatives are bringing great impact on the life of people. There is still a huge scope to promote revolving fund for not only in Patan but in other villages of Gujarat. Now the SHGs themselves are very much interested to receive the revolving fund and generate alternative livelihood.

Contributors: M.K.Patel (Project Director, Patan), Manishaben Patel (MDT-CM), Chetnaben Patel (WDT CM), Nainaben Patel (WDT-CM), Abhinandan Das (Technical Expert, Patan), Megha Jhamb (Technical Expert, Patan)

A Step Towards 3rd Green Revolution

2014-01-18T15:03:00.001+05:30

Preface:-

Green Revolution started in late 1960s refers to a series of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives that increased agriculture production worldwide, particularly in the developing world. Agriculture in India has a significant history. Today, India ranks second worldwide in farm output. Agriculture with its allied sectors like fishery and animal husbandry, is the largest livelihood provider in India. It also contributes a significant figure (nearly 17%) to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Sustainable agriculture and environmentally sustainable technologies such as soil conservation, sustainable natural resource management and biodiversity protection, are essential for holistic rural development. It is after the green revolution and white revolution that India has turned into a self sustainable nation from an import dependent country.

Background of study:-

In the Dangs there is high pressure on the agriculture lands, since majority of the land is forestland (59%) and only a limited amount of land is available for agriculture to support a growing population. Another limiting factor is the fact that 68% of the agriculture land is situated on a slope. There is very little space for infrastructural development or expansion of agricultural lands. Sole dependency on rain fed agriculture, insufficient agricultural land, low agricultural productivity and a lack of alternative employment sources are the main problems in this region. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood; 85% of the population is either a cultivator or employed as an agricultural labourer. The whole Dang district has very limited opportunities for irrigation, since there is a scarcity of flat land. The cropping pattern of the Dangs is conditioned to rainfed nature of agriculture and lack of irrigation. Most of the cultivation is being done during monsoon and Paddy is the main crop. Pesticides and chemical fertilizer are not commonly used; even farmers with bigger land holdings do not use fertilizers in the production of rice. In this context it is interesting to note that the Dangs has the lowest ranking amongst all districts in Gujarat on the percentage of gross irrigated area and fertilizer consumption, only 0.53% is irrigated and only 1.20 kg fertilizer is being used per ha. Even though in agriculture productivity and agricultural production per household, Dangs ranking is 8th and 12th (7247 Rs/ha. and 1301 Rs/capita). This provides lots of opportunity for taking up organic farming in the district.

Main reason for the deteriorating quality of land is erosion of the top soil layer due to heavy rainfall. The practice of burning timber for improving soil condition, locally name as “adar”, further enforces deforestation. Hence land is prone to erosion and it also reduces soil fertility due to loosening the top fertile layer of soil.

Traditional method of paddy farming:-

Here paddy farming is done by adar method. In this method timber is allow to burn on soil in order to kill the bacteria. Also seedlings are not prepare properly and transplanting is not done properly, Use of seed per ha is also high.

Disadvantage of adar:-

1. Less productivity
2. Pressure on forest
3. Increase in soil erosion
4. High cost of production
5. More requirement of water.

Intervention through IWMP-

After analysing the situation and coordinating with Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) it was decided to implement System of Rice Intensification (SRI) tech. for paddy farming. AKRSP is already working in this region to promote SRI technology for augmenting agriculture production.

Method of SRI:-

1. Seed treatment:-

SRI technique was developed in 1983 by the French Jesuit Father Henri de Laulanié in Madagascar. However the reach of this technology was very limited until last decade. The main principles of this technology are application of minimum quantity of water and individual transplantation of very young seedlings in a square pattern. Here, seed is treated in brine solution before using for seedling preparation. The brine solution is concentrated to such extend that a potato or egg can float in the solution. Once the solution is prepared seed is poured in it. The seeds which float on water are not used for seedling preparation and thus rejected. The good quality seed is taken out from water & then washed with clean water. Then this seed is tightly packed in cloth bag & put it for 1 day until sprouts come out from the bag.

2. Seedling Preparation:-

For seedling preparation the above sprouted seeds are used. Raised bed which is being treated with vermi-compost is prepared. These seed are spread on this bed.

3. Land Preparation:-

Land preparation is done by normal method. The only difference in this method is that depth of water impounding is less as compared to traditional method.

4. Transplanting:-

Seedlings of 12-15 days are transplanted as root growth is fast & more pillars are developed. During transplanting row to row & plant to plant distance is maintained as 25 × 25 cm.

5. Weeding:-

As proper spacing is being maintained, weeding operation is done very easily. Here, Cono-weeder is used for weeding operation. It helps in easy weeding operation & land in being pulverised during operation so aeration is done. It also helps in proper growth of paddy.

Advantages of SRI:-

1. Less cost of production
2. Less use of water i.e. water conservation
3. High productivity -around 2-3 times increase in production

Detail of Work:-

In District Dang there are total 109 beneficiaries of SRI intervention. The expenditure for this activity was Rs. 1496 per beneficiary per acre. Somabhai Pandubhai Pawar of Nirgundmal village in IWMP- 6 (Shamgahan Project) is among one of the farmers selected for SRI demonstration in the village. According to him the production of paddy has increased by 2-3 times. Earlier the production was 300 kg and now after practising SRI techniques the total production is nearly 750 kg. Considering the market price of paddy as Rs. 18 per kg, the increase in gross revenue is nearly Rs 8100 per acre.

Fig. 1: Seed treatment with salt solution

Fig. 2: Uprooting of 12-14 days seedlings

Fig. 3: Transplanting seedlings by maintaining 25 * 25 cm spacing

Fig. 4: Land after final transplantation

Effect of study:-

Likewise Green Revolution, this tech has found to be very useful in increasing livelihood of farmers. This technology has proved to be a boon for major rice producing places in India. Not only in Dangs but also in various other eastern parts of India, this SRI technology is being practices for last few years and expanding its reach considerably. With this remarkable achievement in rice cultivation other farmers are also accepting this technology. For promotion and as a part of extension service various training are also being organised by DWDU in coordination with KVKs and NGOs. For better result seed treatment and seed spacing should be maintained properly. To monitor the practices all extension departments along with DWDU is constantly engaged in training and capacity building activities of the farmers.

Contributor:- Miss. Priya A. Kadam (Technical Expert, Dangs), Mr. Salieshkumar M. Patel (WDT-Agri, IWMP-6 Shamgahan Project, Dangs), Mr. Jayesh Ikubhi Chaudhari (WDT-Surveyor, IWMP-6 Shamgahan Project, Dangs)

Small Farms Success Story: Creeper Vegetable Cultivation

2014-01-18T13:56:00.001+05:30

Visdaliya village is located in Mandvi block of Surat District of Gujarat. The total geographical area of village is 164 Ha. The region is characterized by moderate rainfall. The average rainfall in the region is only 1000-1100 mm. The topography of the land is undulating with moderate slope. Mostly inhabited by the tribal communities of Vasava, Chaudhari and Gamit, poverty in this village is partly due to poor natural resources, lack of irrigation facility and small land holding. Most of the villagers are dependent on forest resources especially for fuelwood and fodder. Some of them also harvest small timber for construction of kacha houses and agriculture implement purposes. Most of the villagers are engaged in agricultural activities for their livelihood. Forest department provides land for agriculture purpose on lease basis which is known as ‘Sanad land’. Paddy and vegetable cultivation is the main crop for earning and for domestic consumption purpose.

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) had started its interventions in the village in 2010-11 (IWMP 6- Ambapor project) which includes 19 villages. The total geographycal area of the watershed is 7248.2 Ha. out of which 4700 Ha was proposed for treatment under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP).

Fig. 2: Bottle gourd intercropped with Tomato in Rabi

Fig. 2: Bitter gourd intercropped with Chillies in Kharif

Mahendrabhai Mangabhai Chaudhari a tribal farmer who owns 0.3 Ha (0.75 acre) of land in the village has benefited by renovation work done in his openwell and a gabion structure constructed in the nearby nalla that flows through his land. This activities under IWMP has helped in reducing soil erosion and recharging groundwater thus enhancing his agriculture productivity. He used to cultivate kharif paddy, which yielded about 40-45 quintals in 2/3rd of his land and vegetables in 1/3rd of his remaining land. His annual income was approx. Rs. 1,00,000/- from agriculture upto the last year.

IWMP programme has provided subsidy of Rs. 24000/- for cultivation of creeper vegetable to him in the month of May, 2013 for enhancing his agricultural productivity. The subsidy includes 100 RCC pole, 67 Kg galvanise wire and 10 pheromone traps in 0.11 Ha (0.27 acre) of land. The contribution from the beneficiary includes high yielding seeds and labour cost for land preparation, pit digging, installation of pole, sowing of seeds, weeding and harvesting of crops in one season accounting to nearly Rs. 5500-6000. In Kharif season he cultivated bitter gourd as main crop and chillies as an intercrop. The total production of bitter gourd and chilly was 480 Kg and 224 Kg. The total earning was Rs. 37000/- by selling both these vegetables in the nearby markets of Mandvi and Zhankhvav. Beside this his own consumption amounts to Rs 3000/- approximately. Due to heavy rainfall during 2013 he had harvested the crop prior to its actual season. In Rabi season he has cultivated bottle gourd as main crop and tomato as intercrop and earned Rs. 39000/- by selling 2150 Kg bitter gourds and 1620 Kg tomatoes excluding his own consumption amounts to Rs. 3000/- approximately. Accumulating both the season he has earned net profit of nearly Rs. 70000/- from 0.27 acre of land through vegetable cultivation. Now his annual income is approximately Rs. 1,65,000/- from agriculture in this year.

Fig. 3: Creeper vegetables bitter gourd

Fig. 4: Creeper vegetables Bottle gourd

According to him this system can yield better profit in small acreage of land. Before that he used to cultivate vegetable on land but most of them were spoiled due to direct contact of water and soil. Hence the produces were unable to fetch good market price. The wastage was also more in earlier system of cultivation. Beside this, intercropping in possible with this “Mandva” system, hence augmenting the income exponentially. Most of the farmers had replaced the wooden pole with cement ones as wooden pole is often infested with termites. After viewing this positive impact most of the farmers demands the same. Total 300 farmers in three blocks namely, Mandvi, Mangrol and Umarpada of Surat district are adopted such a system through IWMP. Three training programme were organized by DWDU with the help of KVKs in Mandvi, Mangrol and Umarpada blocks on cultivation practices of vegetable crops for better yield.

The Cost benefit model of the intervention:

Description	Unit	Quantity	Rate	Amount Rs.
Fixed cost (subsidy from IWMP)
Providing and fixing of cement pole at spacing of 3mt	No	100	180	18000
Providing and fixing of 12 gauge galvanise wire on cement pole for making wire mandap	Kg	78	40	3120
Providing and fixing of 16 gauge galvanise wire on cement pole for making wire mandap	Kg	80	27	2160
Pheromone trap	No	72	10	720
Total				24000
Utilities & other expenses (per cycle) (beneficiary contribution)
Seeds (Bitter gourd/ Bottle gourd, etc.)	gm	250		300
Providing fertiliser like vermicompost or organic manure	Kg	500	2	1000
Pesticide/ fungicide	Kg	20	15	300
Power				1000
Labour charges		20	100	2000
Transportation				1200
Miscellaneous expenses				200
Total				6000
Turnover (per cycle)
Production in Kharif season
Bitter gourd	Kg	480	60	28800
Chillies	Kg	224	50	11200
Total				40000
Production in Rabi season
Bottle gourd	Kg	2150	12	25800
Tomato	Kg	1620	10	16200
Total				42000
Turnover (2 cycle per year)			Rs.	82000
Fixed cost (per year)
Fixed unit				24000
Other expenses including utilities				12000
Total				36000
Profit Analysis
Net profit (per annum) from creeper vegetable cultivation (1^st Yr)			Rs.	46000
Other expenses including utilities (per annum) (from 2^nd Yr onward)				15000
Approx. Net profit from 2^nd year onward excluding utilities and other expense			Rs.	67000

The mandva method is considerably protected from pest and termite attack and also enhances vegetable production. The quality of produces is also of grade A due to less contamination from soil and water borne diseases. Most of these cultivators are small and marginal farmers and this intervention has brought a significant change in their livelihood. It is highly accepted in Surat districts and there is a huge scope to promote this activity in other places with suitable condition. The market of this produces are comparatively low in Kharif season than in Rabi season. Hence promotion of creeper vegetable in Rabi season with life saving irrigation could bring substantial change in the livelihood status of millions of farmers.

Contributors: N. A. Suthar (Project Director, DWDU, Surat), Ms. Prajakta Rathod (Technical Expert), Tejas Rathod (WDT, Agriculture)

Fishery - A Livelihood Generating Case Study of Panchamal District

2014-01-15T13:36:00.000+05:30

Introduction

The Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) came under implementation in Gujarat since 2008. The Gujarat State Watershed Management Agency (GSWMA) serves as a State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA) to undertake the IWMP in the state. One of the main objectives of project is promoting eco friendly and locally suitable activities with the required capacity building of the stakeholders. Other important aspect of that is the activities planned under the project have to be demand driven and need based with active participation of community members.

Background

The IWMP-8 project is sanctioned under the batch-2 projects of the state in the year of 2010-11. The project area lies under the Kadana Taluka of the district of Panchmahal. District Watershed Development Unit is the Project Implementation Agency (PIA) for this project.

Project Area

The IWMP-8 project area is located in South West side of the Kadana taluka; Panchmahal district, Gujarat state. The project consists of total sixteen villages and has a Geographical area of 6225.41 ha, of which 150.35 ha has been covered under Watershed –Hariyali Project hence the remaining area of 6180.74 ha is covered under Integrated Watershed management Programme.

Socio Economic

The total population of IWMP-8 project area is 9871. Majority of the population belong to Scheduled Caste (75.25%). The literacy rate is 47.75% and among them the female literacy rate is 33.28%. The people depend on Agricultural and animal husbandry for livelihood and income generation. During lean season people migrate to nearby cities for casual labour. This migration period lasts for 3 months .Out of the total 1903 households 967 are under Below Poverty Line (BPL).

The whole population of Pandorini Andhari village belong to Scheduled tribe and out of total 28 households 15 belong to BPL. People involved in Agricultural related activities along with animal husbandry. The agricultural practices are purely traditional and the seeds used are local variety. The major crops are Maize and Paddy. Crops are practiced only in 2 seasons. Due to water scarcity only 60% agricultural area is available for cultivation of 2nd crop.

The first step towards change

The Project villages are located nearby Kadana dam. The adjacent villages depend on the dam for income generation through fishery. They use their own boats and equipments to indulge in the activity. Previously, the members either had to wait to get a chance for vacant boat or else they had to catch fish on the shores using fishing rod. They used to get very less catch and the size of the fish is also not that big to fetch good prices. Many at times they had to leave their villages and migrate to near cities in search for employment. Many of them used to work as daily labour in nearby cities in lean seasons.

The Intervention

The livelihood activities are identified and selected under the livelihood component of the project. This exercise is done through the standard process in the preparation of DPR as per the operational guidelines. In the operational guidelines it has mentioned that the preference has to be given for activities that are especially targeted towards asset-less families including land less, small and marginal farmers. This objective is achieved by organizing the deprived people and formation of their Self Help Group (SHGs).

Fig. 1: Members of Jai Mahinadhi Men Self Help Group

The Self Help Group ( SHG) , “Jai Mahinadhi Men Self Help Group” was formed during the year 2012 in the village of Pandorini Andhari. Fishery is taken as an activity to be carried out under this group since the members were involved in catching fish in the dam.

Shri. Pador Shaileshbhai Khatrabhai is the president and Shri.Bhivabhai Khatrabhai is the cashier/secretary of the 10 member SHG group. All the members belong to the Scheduled Tribes (ST).

Table No: 1 Member details

Name of SHG Member
Pandor Shaileshbhai Khatrabhai	Pandor Bharatbhai Koyabhai
Pandor Jivabhai Khatrabhai	Pandor Rameshbhai Koyabhai
Pandor Parvatbhai Khatrabhai	Pandor Nathabhai Hirabhai
Pandor Koyabhai Somabhai	Pandor Dayabhai Nathabhai
Pandor Parvatbhai Koyabhai	Pandor Jashvantbhai Rupabhai

The SHG has registered and the bank account has opened in Bank of Baroda. They started regular savings with a contribution of Rs. 30 per month per person and developed the habit internal loaning. Until the end of November, 2013 the group has successfully saved Rs. 6000 and an amount of Rs. 3000 has been used in the internal loaning. The regular meetings of SHG, assisted by the Watershed development Team (WDT) of District Watershed Development Unit (DWDU), helped to facilitate proper understanding and establish rapport among themselves. The SHG approach helped the under privileged to build their self-confidence and internal financial support through the internal loaning in emergencies. Interaction in group meetings and collective decision making enables them in identification and prioritization of their needs and resources.

The components provided to the SHG as the part of IWMP activity are listed out in the table below

Table No:2 Estimate of Activity

No.	Item	Unit	Price/unit (Rs.)	Total cost (Rs.)
1	Boat	3	15000	45000/-
2	Fish catching net	5	5000	25000/-
	Total			70,000/-

The boats they received under IWMP have greatly increased their capacity. Everyday two or three members use a single boat to catch fish. The table mentioned below, explains the average income received by the members of the SHG members in every month since the items received from the IWMP. Hence the average catch of individual/per day is two to three kilograms and the average income received is Rs.200.

Table No:3 Details about the Catch and Income Generated per Boat

Month	Catch(Kg/Month)	Avg. Price/Kg	Income (Rs.)
April	130	80	10400
May	120	80	9600
June	130	80	10400
July	60	80	4800
August	70	90	6300
September	50	90	4500
October	150	90	13500
November	170	90	15300
Total	880		74800

The average catch varied from month to month and so is their income. The catch is especially low in the months of July, August and September, because of monsoon. But the change is clearly visible in their income. Since the fishing activity requires less labour and time these people can indulge in regular agricultural related work and other works in the village during day time. Hence now they are able to generate sustainable income that can support themselves and their family.

Fig. 2: Men in action – Men Laying net

Way Forward

The group has plans to upgrade the quality of fishing equipments and tools from the regular savings they make. The periodic maintenance and related expenses are met from the savings they make. As per their own estimation they will able to add 2 more boats to their credit by next year.

Contributor: Kiran.K.P (Technical Expert, Panchmahal), Damor Laxmanbhai Maganbhai (WDT-Community Mobilizer), DWDU Panchmahal

Restoring Drinking Water supply in Chirapada Village of THE DANGs

2014-01-10T14:58:00.001+05:30

Water security has been defined as "the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks." Sustainable development will not be achieved without water. Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other life forms even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. Water covers 71% of the Earth's surface, and is vital for all known forms of life. Only 2.5% of the Earth's water is freshwater, and 98.8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0.3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, and an even smaller amount of the Earth's freshwater (0.003%) is contained within biological bodies and manufactured products. Water security also means addressing environmental protection and the negative effects of poor management. It is also concerned with ending fragmented responsibility for water and integrating water resources management across all sectors – finance, planning, agriculture, energy, tourism, industry, education and health. A water secure world reduces poverty, advances education, and increases living standards.

Background

The Dangs is a tribal district, of South Zone in Gujarat District. It is called as the Cherapunji of Gujarat. The district receives an annual average rainfall of about 2373 mm. The rainfall is spread over a period of about 90 days. The importance of water as a catalyst for the development of the Dangs cannot be understated. Almost 85 % of the population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, which makes this part of the population even more dependent on water. Even though the Dangs has a high annual rainfall (2200 mm) compared with the average rainfall of the whole of Gujarat (852.68mm), both drinking water and water for irrigation is scarce. Hilly terrain and lack of adequate recharge mechanisms are the main reasons for this water scarcity. The drinking water scenario in the Dangs is on a critical juncture. The drinking water supply system (centralised supply, hand pumps and open wells) and the (ground) water availability are not in balance. The unsustainable use of ground water along with the undulated land and lack of any recharging mechanism has led to faster ground water depletion than recharging. There is hardly any rainfall runoff entering from any adjoining areas to the Dangs. Further there is no transfer possible for groundwater from one basin to another. The entire rainfall receipt is drained out of the district only from two outlets: one near Waghai for the Ambika-Khapri river drainage and another near Bhenskhatri for the Purna-Gira river drainage.

Likewise, in IWMP-6- Shamgahan Project, Chirapada is one of the village situated in The Dangs. The village receives ample amount of rain during rainy season and the main sources for drinking water supply are 2 open wells & 13 hand pumps. After the recession of rainy season the villagers endure problem of drinking water. They had to walk around 5 to 6 km to fetch drinking water. Sometimes they have to pay for availing drinking water during dry season. The Water and Sanitation Management Organisation (WASMO) had constructed one water tank and made the connection of drinking water pipe line to each & every household. Even after that there was problem of drinking water as the source (well) used to dried-up during months of February-March. During lean season the animals were also taken far away for getting drinking water. Although drinking water problem is not directly related to the family expenditure of the household but it has a huge opportunity cost incurred during travelling for bringing water for human and animals.

Intervention through IWMP:-

After doing survey & brief discussion with villagers an abandoned well was identified for renovation in EPA work. According to the villagers the well contains water for almost 12 months. Since that well was in a dreadful condition it was not used by the villagers. So the work of repairing the well with pipe line connection to the tank constructed under WASMO and a submersible pump for lifting water to the tank were taken under EPA. During EPA the well has been repaired & pipe line connection from well to WASMO tank has been done. A submersible motor was placed in the well. The cost of the activity was Rs 2.459 lakh under IWMP (GPS location N 20º38’50.3" E 073º42’20.9”). For proper functioning of the activity Village Watershed Committee (VWC) has taken a major initiative for providing electric connection to the pump by mentioning the work in the Gram Sabha resolution. Hence the cost of distribution of water is provided by Government under Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB).

An animal trough was also constructed for providing drinking water to animals under EPA.

Fig. 1: Well under construction

Fig. 2: Well fully constructed

Fig. 3: Pipeline connection from tank to well

Effect of work:-

Now the system is fully functional and nearly 800 households are getting drinking water at their doorstep. The well which is selected for supply of water to the tank is a perennial source of water thus the problem of drinking water has been solved permanently. Animal water trough has also been found very useful by reducing the travel time of animals in search of water.

Future Planning:-

After successful implementation of this work, the Village Watershed Committee are planning to built small check walls at upper catchment of this well to facilitate recharge. This will ensure continuous drinking water supply even in drought years. The VWC is also working with the Gram Panchayat for regular repair and maintenance of the structures.

Contributor:- Miss Priya A. Kadam (Technical Expert, Dang) Jiteshkumar Somabhai Patel (WDT Er.)

Impacts on Agriculture by Soil Moisture Conservation - A Case of Porbandar District

2014-01-10T14:16:00.000+05:30

Water is one of the nature's most important gifts to mankind. The availability of water is vital for all known forms of life. The major source of water is rain and it is erratic and problem of water availability and scarcity is increasing; hence of excess use of ground water. Cultivation of agricultural crops is dependent upon water availability in winter and summer so conservation of maximum amount of water is a big challenge. To save the monsoon water and make it useful for agricultural practices various Soil Moisture Conservation activities are been implemented in Porbandar district by DWDU Porbandar.

Kasabad cluster (IWMP-3) in kutiyana taluka covers eight villages. Majority of the villages are under Ghed area of the district. Ghed area is unique as entire area is covered by excess monsoon water drained from nearby catchment area. During Kharif season cropping is not possible due to flooding and submergence. Farmer’s takes only Rabi crops like gram, ground nut, wheat and jowar but available water is insufficient. The quality of the water is very poor due to high salinity inhibited in the soil. Need of reliable sources of good quality water plays an important role in yield and quality of produces. The main sources of support irrigation in this region are ponds and check dams.

Fig.1: Pond Development at Dharshan village of IWMP-3

In Dharshan, one of the villages under IWMP-3 cluster, pond development was selected by the community to increase irrigation potential by harvesting rainwater. The activity costs Rs. 2.92 lacks and was implemented in survey no. 217 (GPS: 21°31’ 45.2” N & 69° 57’ 30.6” E) before monsoon in 2013. 25 farmers are directly benefiting by this activity for cultivation of Rabi crops. Now they are growing cotton, gram, ground nut and castor in 21.2 Ha of land. Due to excess rainfall in this year and construction of pond, water availability is increased by nearly 6,45,454 Litre, hence ensuring water availability in dry season i.e. till Feb-March months. Considering cotton and groundnut as main crops the estimated total increase in earnings is Rs 1.61 lacks (Shown in Table below). Indirectly it will also help in ground water recharging from the total surface area of the pond. The estimated economical returns of the farmers by agricultural activities as mentioned below:

Items	Cotton	Ground nut
Area covered under agriculture around pond by 25 no. farmers (in Ha)	10	15
Approx. Production based on purely rainfed agriculture (In Tonne/Ha)	1.25	1.5
Total production	12.5	22.5
Approx. Increase in production (Tonne/Ha) (If support irrigation is available from pond)	0.1875	0.15
Total production (In Tonne)	14.375	24.75
Difference of Production (Tonne)	1.875	2.25
Avg. Market Rate in Rupees	1000/20 kg	600/20 kg
Increase in earnings (in rupees)	93750.00	67,500.00
Total earning (in rupees)	1,61,250.00

Fig 2: WDT members are explaining regarding impacts of the activity

Farmers view:-

Solanki Samat bhai Jehabhai said “ Last year I lost 2 ha of land near the pond and lost Pea crops in Rabi season due to lack of support irrigation. This year I expect a good yield as water availability is increased after pond development”
Mer Parbatbhai Ranabhai said “I had been growing pea in Rabi season for last few years. But due to water conservation measures I am also cultivating cotton and groundnut with pea to get better earning”

There are various other soil water conservation activities that are being carried out under IWMP. This project is able to fulfil the expectations of the community by directly and indirectly benefiting them, emphasizing on Natural Resource Management.

Contributors: Kiran Balas (Technical Expert, Porbandar), Kanu Baldaniya (Technical Expert, Porbandar), Aswinbhai A Odedara (President VWC)

Integration of approach with MGNREGA - A case of Tapi District (IWMP)

2014-01-08T18:19:00.002+05:30

Basic information of the project area: Amaniya village is located in Vyara Taluka of Tapi District. Total population of the Amaniya village is around 496, alongwith total households are 232. The sex ratio is 836 out of 1000 males. The total geographical area of village is 353.10 Ha out of which 300.00 ha area was treated under this project. The village has Black cotton sandy soil in their agricultural land of 141.60 Ha. The average soil depth is 1-3 meters with 50% hilly area.

The village comes under Batch 1 project of DWDU-Tapi, IWMP -2 (Dhamandevi). The batch 1 projects of IWMP are sanctioned in the FY 2009-10. It is mainly a tribal village and thus traditional agriculture is in practice in the village. The Project Implementing Agency (PIA) for this project is Vyara forest division.

Problem Analysis

Prior to the implementation of the project, indigenous cultivation practices were practiced by the villagers. 15-20% of the agricultural land in the village is covered by irrigation facilities and the ground water strata of the village is very low, thus during the Zaid crop all the secondary sources of irrigation such as bore well and open well dries up. The farmers take Kharif crop and very less Rabi crop. The main crops in the area are Paddy, Pigeon Pea, Okra etc. and their yield was very low in accordance to their potential yield. Moreover the farmers uses indigenous seed for the crop they cultivate.

Before the intervention in the project area soil erosion was an acute problem in the village due to its hilly terrain and with more than 6% of average slope. Most of the rain water flows from the hilly regions of Dang District.

Intervention

Due to the acute problem of soil erosion and water scarcity in non-monsoon season there was and need to build up water harvesting structures in the village and thus with the participation of the villagers and according to the DPR a checkdam was constructed at forest cover, compartment no 323 (Survey No). The site is located at 3 km away from Purna River towards north forest area. The checkdam was constructed in convergence with MGNREGA. The total cost of construction for the checkdam is Rs. 3.33 lakhs totally funded under MGNREGA.

“The convergence in the construction of the checkdam with MGNREGA has also generated local employment for the village benefitting the villagers. This work was also appreciated by Karnataka Watershed team during their visit to TAPI district.”

The storage capacity of the check dam constructed is of 2700 CMT it affects the water table of the nearby wells of the following:

Sr. no.	Name of beneficiary	Community	Survey no.
1	Janubhai malubhai kokani	ST	08
2	Sanjaybhai mohanbhai gamit	ST	07
3	Rameshbhai gamanbhai gamit	ST	23
4	Shantaben mohanbhai	ST	15
5	Gov. Gauchar land(patal kuva)

By looking into the benefits of the water storage village watershed committee had decided for more and more plantation of TKB and bamboo in the area. Now, people have realized that ponds, check dams, afforestation and Nala bund plays an important role for water harvesting.

Fig. 1: Labour involved in Check Dam Construction

Fig. 2: Labour involved in Check Dam Construction

Fig. 3: Karnataka Watershed Team visited during work-in-progress

Fig. 4:
Checkdam under convergence with MGNREGA, IWMP2 Dhamandevi, Cost: 3.33 lakhs

Details of irrigated area through this Checkdam and name of beneficiary:

Sr. no.	Name of benefitted farmers	Community	Irrigated Area ( Ha.)
1	Shanta ben mohanbhai	ST	1.20 ha.
2	Teru ben jamnabhai	ST	1.35 ha.
3	Ullubhai jamnabhai	ST	1.45 ha
4	Khalpa bahi Rangabhai	ST	1.50 ha
5	Uliyabhai ranga bhai	ST	2.3 ha.
6	Ganga ben gaman bhai	ST	2.05 ha
7	Kantibhai janla bahi	ST	1.70 ha.
8	Rangubhai gaman bhai	ST	1.2 ha
9	Randu bhai mahrubhai	ST	2.1 ha.
10	Manabhai Randubhai	ST	1.3 ha.
Total			16.15 Ha

Impacts of the Interventions:

A check to soil erosion: With the construction of the check dam the high erosion in the area has been checked and thus it also slows down the speed of the runoff water.

Ground water table recharge: Due to Construction of the checkdam the water harvested will recharge the ground water and thus will affect the underground water table.

Increase in irrigation potential: By construction of Check dam in the project area it harvests more water. So, if water is readily available for farmers will help for irrigation purpose. This will also increase the cropping period of the crop.

Net increase in crop production :Due to the effect of availability of irrigation, the crops is getting adequate water for their irrigation and thus in the given area with the same variety of crop the production per ha. has increased to a remarkable note.

Contributors: Mr. Hemant Gaikwad (Technical Expert, Tapi), Mr. Haresh Sardhara (Technical Expert, Tapi), Mr. Prashant Patel (WDT-Er.), DWDU Tapi

Vegetables Cultivation in Tribal Areas in Vadodara

2014-01-08T17:22:00.001+05:30

Green Houses are friendly for plant growth as they have great control over the environment favorable for plant growth. Green Houses are effective in growing off-season vegetables, flowers, fruits, planting material acclimatization, plant breeding and transplants. It is more effective in certain crops like Tomatoes, Chilli and Brinjals etc. The controlled environment also helps to extend the cropping season for most of the crops thereby it increases the farmers income.

“Main objective of watershed project is to increase the income of the stake holder but it is also equally important to transfer the best known practices to the village level.”

Why Green house in watershed project?

As per the current guidelines, integration is on the forefront as mentioned above, thus Agriculture productivity and crop diversity has been taken up seriously to have the following effect:

1. Low Input cost.
           a. Less water and labour requirement.
           b. Higher yield compare to traditional cultivation.
           c. Trend towards pesticide-free produce in the market.
2. Increase in Income
           a. Market Demand for exotic vegetables, flowers.
3. Business
           a. Growing agricultural market segment.

DWDU Vadodara Intervention:

Bandi Village of Pavi jetpur taluka is covered under IWMP-1 project village of Vadodara district. Indigenous cropping pattern was in practice in the village and thus there was an immense demand for the exotic vegetables in the local market. DWDU-Vadodara under its livelihood intervention identified a User Group in the Bandi Village who mostly grew maize as their crop. As a part of their intervention DWDU-Vadodara presented a demonstration on the potential of net house in their village and the user group readily accepted the concept. The net-house (size is 100 sq.m.) constructed in survey no-47/1 & the name of User Group chairman is Rathwa Kishanbhai Salubhai. They used the net house for growing vegetable seedlings of Tomato (Aviskar, Abhinav), Brinjal (Neelam) and Chilli (Garima). Total cost for the installation of the net house is Rs. 60,000/- which was covered under the Livelihood component of the project. The selling of the seedlings is done in the nearby villages within a range of 10-15 km radius.


Fig.1 : Selling of Seedlings	Fig.2 : Green House

Cultivation Pattern of the UG:
No. of Beds: 10
Bed Size: 1mtr.
Vegetables: Tomato (var.Aviskar F1 hybrid & Abhinav F1 hybrid), Chilli (var.Garima & Sitara hybrid hot peeper), Brinjal (Chhaya F1 hybrid & MEBH 39)

Economics of Vegetable Production:

Particulars	Chilli	Tomato	Brinjal	Total
Costing
Seed required (no. of Packets)	2	8	1	11
Cost Per Packet (in Rs.)	400	800	200	1400
Total Cost [A]	800	6400	200	7400
Seedlings Production
Total Production	3500	12000	1500	17000
(-) Self consumption	1000	5000	400	6400
Seedlings for Sale	2500	7000	1100	10600
Price per seedlings (in Rs.)	1.4	2.8	1.3	-
Total Earnings (in Rs.) [B]	3500	20000	1500	25000
Profit [B-A]	2700	13600	1300	17600
CB Ratio	2.38

Note: As per the above data through net-house within only 1.5 month the UG earned a profit of Rs.17, 600/-, which is a great success in current modern agriculture business.

Impacts of the Interventions:

Increase in Profit potential: Total crop yield period of one season in net house is 45-50 days. The profit of UG increased twice in the first season.

Market profitability: Marketing is a big problem in tribal areas. But due to high demand of seedling, beneficiaries came to the UG for procuring seedlings. Thus, marketing was not a big issue in this case.

High Quality products: Net House cultivation has less disease attack and requires less fertilization to the crops, thus quality products are produced by the UG.

Availability of off seasons vegetables: Through net house climatic conditioned can be controlled easily and water use efficiency also increased. So off season vegetables can be grown through this and can get more benefits.

Contributors: Mrs. Rekha Kumari Gupta (Technical Expert, Vadodara), Mr. Sashi (WDT-Agri, Vadodara), DWDU Vadodara

How Tiny Drops changed the life Gorisan , Kheralu

2013-08-19T16:37:00.002+05:30

Cash Crop Grown by the Farmer

Under the IWMP project, Gorisana village of Kheralu cluster (Mehsana) has achieved success in augmentation of agricultural and Micro enterprise development practices. The total geographical locale of this cluster is 5000 Ha, out of which 805.2 Ha is taken for treatment of Gorisana village. Soil of this village is of sandy texture yellowish in color and partially porous in nature which naturally is unable to sustain water for longer duration. The ground water table is very low it region comes in dark zone and due to scarcity of water availability for irrigation, farmers are unable to take more than one crops in a year. Thereby the people whose primary occupation is agriculture get engaged in causal labour work during lean seasons.

The primary reason to promote drip irrigation was to conserve water and use the available ground water judiciously. As most of the people in the area depend on agriculture as livelihood and production purposes, unless the watershed plus approach are undertaken the scope for agriculture development via conserving water seemed meager. In gram sabha, farmer beneficiaries understood the concept of drip irrigation from WDT. Understanding this fact of ground water conservation, 45 farmers of the Kheralu cluster had decided to go for drip irrigation as their source of irrigation.

Gujarat Green Revolution Company (GGRC), has played a major role in this revolution, making it possible for farmers to adopt drip irrigation methods by offering aggressive subsidies on capital cost. The convergence is like 50% GGRC, 20% RKVY and Rs. 24000 from IWMP per se is provided per farmer beneficiary. A village level meeting had been called in the village in which different irrigation companies like Jain irrigation, Netafim, John deere, and Paragon elicited the farmers about their schemes. Furthermore the farmers are taken for exposure visit to the drip irrigation units of all these irrigation companies. The farmers then decided to operationalise drip with the support of John deere.

The impact of the drip irrigation has been categorized into two broad heading namely human and environmental impacts.

Human impact: Due to the implementation of drip the agricultural production has increased up to 30% -40 % i.e. also the farmers are able to take three crops per year with the help of drip irrigation. The weeding cost had also come down after implementing drip in the farms as per the farmers. Water saving expected with the adoption of micro irrigation motivated the beneficiary farmers in shifting to high value crops.

Environmental impacts: The fertility of the land is maintained via drip irrigation as the distribution of insecticides and fertilizers are equally mixed with water in the irrigation tank this saves time, money and energy of the farmers. The plant attains uniform height under drip in a better way. Importantly the crop receives only the required amount of water not exceeding that which in turn saves water and makes it use judiciously. Major impact of drip irrigation in Kheralu was for Crop diversification viz., from rainfed crops to cash crops and bringing cultivable wastelands to fertile agricultural lands.

Dhanji Vagha Bhai is an example of how poor farmers have benefited by adopting modern irrigation methods. Before he switched to drip irrigation in 2012, Dhanji Bhai could irrigate just half of his 1.18 Ha of land. His borewell used to yield water for one hour every seven hours due to low groundwater reserves. Now he only needs 60 per cent of the earlier quantity of water to irrigate the seven acres. A training stint given by John Deere company taught him ways to add new high-yielding varieties of crops. GGRC laid the drip irrigation network at his farm for Rs.62,997.25 . With subsidy, he had to pay only Rs.28,129 only after deducting the farmers contribution of Rs. 10,000 from the IWMP cost.

Today a total of 45 farmers in Kheralu have adopted drip irrigation and today their entire cultivation is done with the help of drip farming. Furthermore, total of Rs. 1089331 is allotted for drip in Gorisana village of Kheralu. Also the farmers here believe that drip irrigation will go a long way in improving the health of land in Kheralu.

Contributors Dipali Solanki, Technical Expert and DWDU Mehasana

Ensuring Drinking Water Security in Deserts

2013-08-14T17:31:00.000+05:30

Rain Water Harvesting Structure

              Khatiya (IWMP-1) project is located in Lakhapar Taluka, Kutch District of Gujarat state. The nearest town is Dayapar which is about 12 Km from Lakhapar. The project area lies in the edges of salt deserts of Kutch also known as Rann of Kutch and falls under the Desert Prone area according to DoLR Classification. It is a very poor and desolate village on the border of India and Pakistan. The village population is 324. The literacy rate in the village is 65% per cent. The ground water table was 50 to 60 meter. The quality of ground water was also degraded. The village did not have any reliable source for drinking water. Government was supplying water by tankers before the intervention of the IWMP project. As per socially imposed construct the women in the villages have to spend a lot of time to fetch Drinking water for their households. They need to walk down 2km to the next village to fetch water for their drinking purpose.

           Thus, the availability the perennial availability of drinking water was an acute problem in the Khatiya village. With the inception of the IWMP project the Khatiya village of Kutch district was taken under IWMP 1 in Batch-I in year 2009-10 by DWDU-Kutch. As a part of the participative planning process the drinking water availability was identified as the major problem in the village. The Watershed Development Committees, PIA and Gramsabha decided to build Roof Rain Water Harvesting Structures to have permanent solution of this problem of drinking water. Under this model the rain water seeping from the roof is collected and transferred via PVC pipes to underground tanks for storage and for future use in non monsoon seasons.

           Initially 49 Roof Rain Water Harvesting structures were built at cost of 13.23 lacks INR under the project. The structures were built at individual house hold level with the contribution from people living in the households. If the water is not exposed to sunlight, it can remain potable for many years. So an underground tank was built in the house where sunlight could not reach. Minimum capacity of the tank was 8000 liters and minimum size of the tank was 9 ft in width by 9 ft in length and 8 ft in depth.

           As an impact of the intervention in Roof Rain Water Harvesting Structure in the Khatiya village, the availability of drinking water increased by atleast 2 months, by saving time and energy for the women in the village. This structure also increased the quality of the water from “Salty” to “Potable”. With the successful implementation of the Roof Rain Water Harvesting Structure now it became a tradition in the village and now any new house comes up with the Roof Rain Water Harvesting Structure in it. Recently the Narmada supply also reached the village and thus the storage tank in also works to store the Narmada water supply.

Beneficiaries Speaks:

"Water supply department provided water twice in a week due to last village but now could save water for a while"

-- Kanubhai Harijan

Improve quality of water resulting decrease disease ratio

-Dakubhai Harijan

"Before one person of family fully dedicated with only fetched water but now problem resolved and work handicrafts and other livelihood activity in spare time."

-Harjaben Khajuriya

Contributors: Shri. A.C.Patel (Project Director, DWDU-Kutch), Mr. Imdad Bang (Technical Expert), Mr. Jayesh Patel (MDT Agi/Nodal Officer), Mrs. Heena Patel (WDT-CM)

Harvesting rain water for agriculture - A story of Eval

2013-08-13T15:59:00.002+05:30

Earthen Bund, Eval, Patan

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) has changed the fate of few farmers in the Eval village situated at the north western part of Santalpur taluka of Patan district in Gujarat. Due to lack of irrigation sources they had been cultivating Jower and Bajra with the only dependence source of monsoon. Except the kharif crop there is no sowing during the Rabi season and the farmers used to engage them in labour work for the remaining period of the year. This region is characterized by sandy loam soil with dry summer and average rainfall of about 400 mm.

Cumin Crop

Now after the construction of an Earthen Bund under the IWMP 2009-10 project, the same group of farmers is cultivating cumin and castor in the area which was one time cultivable till last year. The 410 mt earthen bund is constructed on survey number 33p with average height of 2.5 mt during 2011 before monsoon. The average water storage capacity is nearly 75000 cum. The cost of construction of the earthen bund with a waste weir was Rs. 5.2 lk. This year 11 farmers are irrigating a total 18 ha of land with the available water stored in earthen bund. One farmer is cultivating castor in an area of 2.4 ha and the remaining 10 farmers are cultivating cumin in the remaining 15.6 ha. The average productivity of cumin varies from 6 to 8 quintal/ha and castor is 25-30 quintal/ha. The average water requirement for cumin is four times during the four months of life cycle. The total estimated production of castor is 60qt and that of cumin is 95qt of the 11farmers. Considering the average market rate of castor is Rs.650 per man (20kg) and that of cumin is Rs.3000 per 20kg the total revenue is nearly Rs. 16.2 lakh. The average cost of production for cumin and castor are nearly Rs. 35000 per ha and 20000 per ha. Therefore the total net income is nearly 9 lk in one season. The net income itself goes above the cost of construction of earthen bund. There is a significant rise in the water levels of the wells adjacent to the earthen bund. Most of the well was used to dried up during summer but presently even in month of April there are ample amount of water which is used for drinking purpose in the village.

Table 1 Details of area of the Crop cultivated

This intervention has directly doubled the income potential of the farmer by increasing the irrigated area. There is a radical change in the life of the farmers and the community in that village. With the increase in income level and cropping intensity the farmers are planning to bring improve varities of seed and follow water efficient technology like drip and sprinkler system for better productivity.

Contributor:

Shri. M.K.Patel (Project Director- DWDU Patan), Abhinandan Das (TE-DWDU,Patan), Harshat Pandiya (WDT-Agri), Hamirbhai Ayer (WDT-Engg)

Conserving the Monsoon – Case of Sabarkatha

2013-08-10T18:52:00.000+05:30

Gujarat, is a semi arid state of India, there is varying climatic condition. Dry arid in west; high rainfall in the southern region, medium rainfall in the eastern tribal belts and erratic rainfall in north. The Sabarkantha district lies in the northern region of the Gujarat.

Sabarkantha lies between 24°31”N to 23°34”N latitude and 72° 44” to73° 39” and Sabarkatha is bounded by Rajasthan in west and Meshana and Banaskantha in West, Gandhinagar in south west, Kheda in South and Panchalmahal in south-east. The western side of the district is bounded by the river Sabarmati, where as hills of Arvalli acts as natural boundary toward the northern and eastern region.

The topography of this district is also no equally same. Himmatnagar, Idar, Talod, Parantji are having the flat to gentle topography, Khedbrahama, Vijaynagar, Vadali, Bhiloda, Meghraj are having forest with hilly and undulating land. The yearly rainfall of Sabarkantha district is 700-800mm. The cultivation is also varied from Khedbrahama to Prantji and Bayad to Himmatnagar. Cropping pattern generally followed is Maize, cotton, wheat, castor, fennel and Vegetables in the different taluka. The major problem source of water, especially irrigation

. Various activity have been undertaken under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), in Sabarkantha District from year 2009-10 like Waste weir, Stagger Contour Trench (SCT), Check walls, stone bunding, New Pond & Pond Deepening etc. One of the activities undertaken was constructing new Pond/ deepening of the existing ponds. The new Ponds, Pond deepening and Farm pond acts as reservoirs constructed for purpose of storing water, essentially controls the surface run-off. The major objectives of the structure are:

• Provide the supplementary irrigation to crops.

• Pond are also used for storing rain water in area of rain-fed agriculture

• They are also used as percolation and recharging of the ground water.

Design and Technical Specification of the Pond

The design of the pond /reservoirs required estimation of asset of parameter related to watershed and hydro-meteorological condition

• From the economic point of site of a pond should be located where there is a scope og largest storages volume with the least earth work.

• The command area occurs at the valley in narrow and side slope are steep.

• The command area should be close as possible to the pond and suitable for agriculture.

• The downstream should permit natural passage for safe disposal of surplus water.

For the padlock the rain water for irrigation purpose there is various structures. In them one is pond/pond deepening and farm pond.

Through an approach of IWMP, the padlocking of the rain water for the future use especially for agriculture, fisheries, crop production along with saving the natural resource for the future generation. The selection of the all structure has been done through the discussion with watershed committee, forest department of Sabarkantha (North and South) and DWDU staff with a detailed technical survey which is undertaken by WDT and cross verified by the MDT of district team and them finalized the structure.

Table No.1- Details of structure constructed under IWMP in Sabarkatha (IWMP 2009-10)

Benefit of Structure

The tables below shows the details of ponds constructed under IWMP and names of the beneficiaries. It also highlights the details of land brought under lifesaving irrigation.

Table No.2 Village-wise Details

Table No.3Cropping Details

Direct and Indirect benefit

In the district one can observe a great variation of cropping pattern, in Idar major crop is cotton, in Talod cotton and castor; in Meghraj Maize and pulses. In Kharif season cotton is major crop in Idar and Talod but in meghraj maize will be the major crops. But in general it is observed that the farmers only cultivate crop in Kharif season but generally cannot cultivate crop during Rabi in the project villages. But after the construction of the of these structures there is a visible direct and indirect benefit which are engrossed by the farmers of these project villages.

1. Farmer are able to do multiple irrigation to their crops.
2. The ground water has also improved which was visible reflected through the water availability in various wells and hand pump throughout the year.
3. Earlier, it was observed that farmers usually did not cultivate during rabi season in any of the project villages but these structures has resulted in availability of the water.

The monsoon harvested was now utilized in fields paying smiles, health, income with better hydro-ecological benefit to the environment, it’s just the beginning.

Contributor :
Siddhart Singh Bisen , Technical Expert Sabarkatha and DWDU, Sabarkatha

Community Participation key to Natural Resource Management

2013-08-09T18:53:00.001+05:30

Community participating in Well excavation

"Participating community contribute towards development of a self empowered society. Resultant of this development creates a informed, highly responsible and active denizens leadership."
This post highlights such an experience of a village in the Tribal belt of Gujarat state.

The Achhala village is located 15 km away from district head quarters Godhra. The village is located inside forest area since the settlements in Achhala are done under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). The powerful sections of the FRA concern the community right to manage, protect and conserve forests which is evident when we observe the village. The dense and big teak trees and the greenery of the place say it all.

For their livelihood and income generation the people in Achhala solely depend on Agriculture and Animal husbandry based activities. Majority of families (about 79 %) is under Below Poverty Line (BPL). There is no other alternatives available within the village hence in non cropping season they had to migrate to urban areas to make their ends meet. But the major issue in the village is scarcity of water for drinking as well as for life saving irrigation of their valuable crops; especially in the hamlets which are comparatively new settlement which don’t have these established facilities.

Gujarat State Watershed Management Agency (GSWMA) under Integrated Watershed Management Program (IWMP) took up watershed development initiatives in the village in year 2009-10. The village is covered under IWMP-5 project of Batch-1, Panchmahals Districts. The project is purely community oriented and local people have a clear say in their resource management, utilization and its conservation. The project is Planned, managed, executed and operated through community based institution (Village Watershed Committee).

Community and Participation.

The solution for water problem came across as an outcome of PRA Exercise (Participatory Rural Appraisal) conducted by the Watershed Development Team (WDT) during the initial stage of project planning. The people proposed to construct a Community well which can be useful for both drinking and irrigation. The WDT finalized the activity under Entry point Activity and works were started after the approval of Gram Sabha constructed and completed within months at a cost of RS. 3 Lakhs.That construction activity directly generated benefits through employment for local people. In total 1146 Mandays were generated and in which the BPL households got benefits directly.

Currently, the community well is main drinking source and water in the well is sufficiently available round the year for household usage. Above all these the villagers were able to do the second crop (Rabi) in that year where they cropped Wheat and Maize. 15 farmers took benefit of irrigation that covered an area of 10 ha. They were able to produce total 100Qtl. Maize and 50Qtl. Wheat out of that season. The monetary benefits counted round about 1.59 Lakhs. With the availability of water in summer the farmers able to do vegetable farming, which is more profitable. Ladyfinger and Beans are major crops cultivated. The details about farmers and their Rabi season crop production is given below.

Table Details of the beneficiaries

The way ahead….

Furthermore the IWMP project has incorporated a plan of providing more assistance to the farmers in its Net Planning through convergence strategy of amount worth Rs.5 Lakhs with Bac ward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), through which facility for lift irrigation will be provided.

This entire episode shows that the necessity of community participation and unity in addressing the issues related to them and solving it with the resources available around them for better tomorrow.

Contributors : Kiran KP, Technical Expert Panchmahals and DWDU, Panchmahals

Small Changes, Large Benefits

2013-08-09T12:45:00.003+05:30

“Can small things make huge difference? It is often told to learn from creatures as small as an ant. A small atom of hydrogen hold the immense power to collapse a huge area, although small they make major change.”Here is the story of small things which made a huge difference in life of rural farmer. Integrated Watershed Management Program is the catalyst behind the story. When did the project start?

The project was started in year 2012-13 and this particular village Chilarvant is part of IWMP-12 project cluster with other fifteen villages of taluka Chottaudepur district Vadodara.

The Need to Execute Watershed Activities in the Villages

The primary reason to promote watershed activities was to improve the agriculture and related activities with the help of conserved water. As most of the people in the area depend on agriculture as livelihood both for consumption and production purposes, unless the watershed activities are under taken the scope for agricultural development seemed meagre. Although dairying is one of the important occupations of the area, the primary source of income is agriculture hence, unless agriculture is developed, per capita income, nutritional status, quality of produce; productivity, economic growth itself is not possible. Cropping pattern also had to be changed to take advantage of both the seasons. Agriculture being the central and connecting link, this project will bring equal opportunities for the poor and marginalized population which is not privileged enough to have enough basic amenities. Also, due to depletion of fertility of soil, water drain and its frequent exposure to drought makes it an area of concern.

It was needed to ensure that poor household has a sustainable livelihood that will increase the economic status of the people and over a period of time increase the asset ownership, self esteem and social participation of down trodden people. The reason for the promotion of watershed was to bring economic growth in the area, where the bottom of the pyramid comprises of BPL households.

Table-1 : Interventions carried out:

Impacts of the Interventions

1. Status of water table and recharging of water

Water table of the ground water is considerable raised this was directly seen from the well of the beneficiary farmer. Previously the water level of that particular well was 35-40 ft from ground level during last kharif. However during current kharif season 10-15 ft from ground level which is huge difference.

2. Increase in irrigation potential

A Farmer named Ratwa karsanbhai holds 2.5 Acres of land, from past few years he is regularly sowing maize in his field. However when watershed programme started in his village and two check walls were constructed in adjacent to his farm and this made a huge difference in his decision for sowing submergence paddy rather than maize.What made him to change his decision?One of checkwall were constructed near his farm in year 2013-14 and right from the first year it gave good results, it stored huge amount of water which is sufficient to irrigate his paddy crop rather than maize. As you can see from picture-1 huge amount of water is being stored and from picture-2 we can see that the farmer is irrigating water in his paddy field with help of just gravity.

3. Social changes: (Community rapport and farmers view point

This little changes which drew good benefits has created a good rapport with community of and has earned the trust of the villagers and now more and more farmer are willing to adopt watershed measures in their farms and their view point towards development has changed.

Farmer Quotes

This is just amazing, water level in my well has risen upto 3mts and it is almost full and I have saw that much water in the well. We could have never know the benefit of check walls more than now.......... more check dams and check walls should be constructed to improve our farming”............

Ratwa karsanbhai (Farmer)

Name of the Village : Chilarvant
Name of the project : IWMP-12
Name of Taluka : Chottaudepur
Name of the District : Vadodara

Contributor : Nitya Pasala, Technical Expert Vadodara and DWDU, Vadodara

Changing Scenario of Saurashtra

2013-08-06T15:35:00.000+05:30

“Water – A colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the large seas, lakes, rivers, and rain. It is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.”

This is a very simple definition of water is often not treasured as a precious and inseparable part of every human life. People living in the drought prone areas know the real value of water and take to desperate water conservation measures so that water availability is present for them as well as for their future generations.

This is the sphere where the District Watershed Development Unit intervenes in providing important measures and steps towards providing sustainable means of conserving water for drinking purpose as well as for irrigation and its allied activities. The success of the watershed activities in Shishak village of Rajkot was visibly scene in the post Hariyali and IWMP era.

Shishak is a village in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat which is characterized by low and uneven rainfall area with average productive soils and to make agriculture more sustainable in such circumstances is a major task. The main challenges which makes agriculture more difficult is scarcity of water for agricultural and domestic purposes, low crop productivity and environmental degradation, low crop productivity, high rate of migration, low wages of labour and lack of awareness regarding farm mechanization. All these factors yield to decrease in per capita income which ultimately responsible for their poor standard of living.

Various activities were undertaken to solve the problem of water scarcity such as afforestation, construction of check dams, deepening of the existing check dams, farm bunds, etc. groups were also formed such as user groups, watershed committees and SHG groups so that people themselves take of the structures built an feel a sense of responsiveness towards the structures built and they save it for their future generations.

All these improvements has caused betterment of the environment which majorly talks about the increase in ground water table by 1.2 meters and tree cover has increased by 7.65 ha. and 390 tons/hectare/year.

The impact of these watershed activities could be seen with the naked eyes. As the village is in a drought prone area hence the first impact was seen on the agricultural production in the mentioned village. The water table has increased due to the efiicient and effective use of the watershed activities (average water level has risen upto 2m). This has resulted in reduced cost of producing irrigated crops and because of which the quality of these crops would be benefit the farm operator as they can now provide 2-3 irrigation to the standing crops which ultimately increases the net farm revenues by 4 times and its yield has increased the income and opportunity of farm labour. As a result of such huge benefits, the costs of check dams and farm pond have recovered in the very first year of project. Due to the construction of check dams and farm ponds the farmers are now able to get 100%crop production of the Kharif crops such as groundnut, cotton, etc. the rabi crop production has also taken an invariable toll such as the production of wheat, green fodder and gram. Not only in the agricultural sector but also the animal husbandry sector has also achieved great improvement. The ultimate result can be seen in better standard of living of the people of Shishak village. Harvesting of rainwater and treating runoff is the prime objective of construction of such watershed management activities. Before the check dams and farm ponds were made the recharge open wells was poor due to inefficient management of rainfall and runoff. The water present in the wells was used for crops of cotton and groundnut and it was exhausted before the summer season arrived. The depth of wells could not be increased due to the inference of rocky layer in those wells. But after 32 numbers of water harvesting structures constructed with a total surface storage capacity (of all the water harvesting structures) of 701190 cum the average water level increased. As many as 190 open wells existed in 2002-03, with very poor yield with an average water column of 3.0 m in 2003, but presently there are 244 wells with mean water column of 4.2 m. The total recharge taking place through natural and water harvesting interventions is greatly affected by the amount of rainfall, its intensity, duration of monsoon, ground and sub-surface characteristic (i.e., percolation rate and runoff coefficient). Another major breakthrough is that the average pumping duration of 4.15 hours per day in 2002-03 has increased to 5.45 hours per day after watershed implementation.

Social benefits cannot be left out as they are the main pillars behind the success of any project or programme. The social benefits gained from the post Hariyali era are women empowerment and increase in social capital. There has been tremendous involvement of women through the formation of SHG’s and this has resulted in their overall development. As already mentioned the formation of a number of village level committees, the social capital has also been on a rise.

After the hariyali project was over then IWMP came up as a hero and after a study found out that the Hariyali project only covered 500ha of land but there was still a large part of area in Shishak village which needed treatment and hence, in Batch I(2009-10) total area proposed to be treated is 435.50 against the cost of Rs. 65.33 lakh. 46 User Groups (UGs) were formed to carry out the work, monitor their progress, enjoy their benefits and take care of the assets thus created. Along with the UGs, 4 women-Self Help Groups (SHGs) and 1 men-SHG were created to participate in the project and take benefits. There is adequate involvement of women in these groups and their opinions were also taken into consideration.

Watershed Development Programme is now a proven technique of livelihood enhancement through natural resource management. The programme is running throughout the country supported by different agencies; Ministry of Rural development (Department of Land Resources) being the most important one.

Contributors : Sharmeen Ahmad and DWDU Rajkot

Empowerment of Rural Youth through IWMP leading to Sustainability

2013-08-06T12:30:00.001+05:30

Motivation of Youth by DWDU

The approach of Integrated Watershed Management Programme(IWMP) is completely based upon Participatory module, which includes Community Participation, Village Institutions, Enhancements of Productivity, Sustainable use of natural resource and Equity in distribution of benefits.

Livelihood approach under IWMP too focuses on sustainable rural livelihoods development through scientific and integrated watershed development approach so as to preserve the natural resources as well as enhance the socio-economic condition of the rural people especially those who are jobless and asset less people. Ecological Balance is the prime focus of IWMP and maintaining the Socio-Ecological phenomenon is the utmost important of the current era. Day by Day trees and other plants are being cut down by the human being and it had led to serious challenges against the nature. Obviously, IWMP understands these vagaries of nature and therefore is involved extensively in ecological restoration along with social strengthening.

Taking Inspiration from this programme, under District Watershed Development Unit, Amreli (DWDU, Amreli) a SHG of Youth has been formed named; "Navrang Yuvak Swaysahay Juth". This SHG works in SALADI Village, under LILIYA Taluka.

STUDY AREA: SALADI VILLAGE, LILIYA TALUKA, AMRELI.

SHG FORMATION

During the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) activity in Saladi Village, several Youth of the village enquired about IWMP and DWDU works. After that they showed interest in forming a SHG of their own interest, with DWDU facilitation. A total of Eighteen(18) young man formed a SHG which was named as ; "Navrang Yuvak Swaysahay Juth". Registration No: 20/9CG-December-2011. It was decided at the very first meeting of the group that a monthly sum amount of Rs.50 will be taken from all the members for SHG savings

ACTIVITY CHOSEN

Village Saladi is mainly an agriculture based income generation village with people engaged in various kinds of agricultural, animal husbandry activities along with afforestation activity was also needed, as procured from PRA and survey done by DWDU. Also, the youth of the village were nature lover and they took keen interest in Plantation and Gardening.

TRAINING

For any activity to be carried out successfully, there needs to be a proper training session to be conducted, so that a better knowledge could be gained for the people involved in that particular activity. A training cum exposure visit was being conducted for the NAVRANG YOUTH SHG on 17/12/12 for which they visited the "Hill Nursery" in Chavand, under Lathi taluka. The SHG was well trained with Nursery raising technique as well as concept of Green House.

Training of the Rural Youth

The training also emphasized on certain factors in nursery raising like

Site Selection
Soil Selection
Plastic Bag for Sapling
Plant type
Fencing etc..

WORK OUT

After proper training of the youth, the group started to work out on the nursery raising. First of all a proper safe site was chosen where there should be availability of electricity, water, as well as safety could be maintained. They hired a nearby land on rent in the village itself (80x120 feet) the land was already fenced from three sides so the SHG needed only one side to fence the nursery plot. After that soil from nearby pond was brought according to nursery requirement. The SHG worked day night harder to bring out the nursery in good shape.

Within six months the results were seen clearly as plants were now being grown on large basis.

MARKETING

The SHG till date has sold out many plants locally in the village, and the neighboring villages. The local people from the nearby villages and Taluka are now being aware of the nursery. The SHG is working hard to get in touch with more and more people, to sell out there products. Till now a total plants of value Rs.1500/ had been successfully sold out by this NAVRANG SHG,who once were unemployed and idle.

Contributor: Nischal Chudasama and DWDU, Amreli

Tapping every drop of Water and Soil to Enhance Agricultural Productivity

2013-08-02T18:51:00.000+05:30

As one approaches toward the farthest end of Gujarat, bordering Maharashtra the topography changes and beauty of the surrounding make one spell bound. View of valley from the hill top, the scattered fields and small white structures made us ask what are they?

Valsad is the southernmost district of Gujarat which includes five taluka namely Kaprada, Dharampur, Paradi, Umargaon & Valsad. Kaprada taluka is referred as 'Cherapunji 'of Gujarat but in summer season there is scarcity of water even for drinking purpose. The yearly rainfall of Valsad district is more than 2000 mm, the terrain is mostly hilly & undulating. The famer mainly cultivate Paddy (locally known as Dangar), Ragi. The major problem of the area is excess soil erosion during monsoon season.

Various activities have been undertaken under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP), in Valsad District from year 2009-10 like waste weir, contour trenches , check walls gully plugs, spring wells etc. One of major activity undertaken was waste weir locally known as Paka-Nakka. The structure generally controls soil erosion & as well maintains water level in paddy crop during transplantation and critical stages. The major objectives of the structures are:

To decrease the soil erosion and excess runoff.
Retain the soil fertility.
To increases agriculture production.

Technical Specification of Waste Weir

Waste weir is a structure which is constructed to decrease the scouring of soil and excess runoff from fields suitable for agriculture purpose. It is constructed in fields towards a natural depression or where there is a temporary water outlet. It helps in safe passage of the excess runoff from the field and also stores a required amount of water level in the field as per requirement of the crop. Its height is normally 0.5 to .7 m. which facilitates in water storages. It is very economical structure.

Around 800 waste-weirs were constructed under IWMP during past three year. DWDU, Valsad and Forest Department, Valsad Division with Village watershed committee after a detailed survey in terms of both technical and socio- economic had finalized these structures. Around 848 waste-weirs were constructed for various beneficiaries

Table No. 1 - No. of Beneficiaries

S.No.	Name of Taluka	Name of Project	No. of Beneficiaries
1.	Dharampur	IWMP-1 Pindaval	215
2.	Dharampur	IWMP-2 Murdad	258
3.	Kaprada	IWMP-3 Vavar	196
4.	Kaprada	IWMP-4 Virkshetra	183
Total			848

Benefits of Structure

A study was been conducted to verify the benefit of the waste-weir for farmers. A sample analysis was conducted on farmers’ field where this structure was constructed. All the farmers cultivated paddy crop.

Table No. 2 - List of sample farmers

S.No.	Name of Taluka	Name of Project	Name of Village	Name of Beneficiaries	Survey No.
1	Dharampur	IWMP-1 Pindval	Pindval	Jamshubhai Kalubhai Dabkiya	157
2	Dharampur	IWMP-1 Pindval	Jagiri	Manirambhai Kakadbhai Khadkar	128
3	Dharampur	IWMP-2 Murdad	Pandavakhad	Tulsibhai Shankarbhai	19
4	Dharampur	IWMP-2 Murdad	Tutarkhed	Balubhai Pandubhai Bhoya	120
5	Kaprada	IWMP-3 Vavar	Vavar	Namubhai Govindbhai	231
6	Kaprada	IWMP-3 Vavar	Barpuda	Sityabhai Laxmabhai	165
7	Kaprada	IWMP-4 Virkshetra	Malghar	Tukaram Mavajibhai	440
8	Kaprada	IWMP-4 Virkshetra	Virkshetra	Namdevbhai Manubhai	392

Paddy is the staple crop of Valsad especially Dhrampur & Kaprada Taluka where 100 Percent of population depends upon paddy for food. About, 80 percent farmer cultivate paddy in their field. The undulating land form limits the production and productivity of paddy crop because of high requirement of water. Paddy crop requires standing water during its cultivation. The daily water consumption of paddy is about 6-10mm.

Depending upon the variety, crop duration varies from 100 to 150 days. The total water requirement of paddy is 1200-1400mm depending upon the type of soils. The daily consumptive use of rice crop is 6-10mm. In Valsad district soil type is Sandy Loam which is having water requirement is 2261 mm.

Table No. 3 - Water requirement for Rice Crop at different stages

S.No.	Satge of Growth	Avg. water requirement (mm)	% of total water requirement
1	Nursery	50-60	5
2	Main field preparation	200-250	20
3	Planting of main panicle preparation	400-450	40
4	Planting to flowering	400-450	30
5	Flowering to maturity	100-150	5

Table No. 4 - Depth of water to be maintain in during different crop growth of stages of rice

S.No.	Satge of Crop	Depth of Crop(cm)
1	At transplanting	Shallow (2-3)
2	After transplanting (5-20 day)	4 to 5
3	During tillering (22-42 day), Mid season drainage, (24-48 hrs), 20-25 DAT (heavy soils), 20-25 DAT (very heavy), 40-45 DAT soils	Shallow (2-3)
4	Reproductive stage, panicle emergence, flowering	4 to 5
5	Ripening stage, milk stage, dough stage, maturity	Drain the field gradually to saturation, withdraw the water 12 days before harvesting

Waste weir act as the best engineering option for this problem. The structure facilities in creating water logging condition in the field as per requirement, there is also an option to drain out the excess water from the field.

Sectional View of Waste Weir

The study conducted highlights that the structure has great significant outcome on the production of paddy crop especially rainfed. It is always observed that the biological potential of the crop cannot be utilized to its prospects until suitable inputs are supplied in right time. Paddy crop is highly sensitive to its water deficit especially during its critical stages. Restricting water supply during these stages affects productivity more severely. Paddy crop require water during Tillering, Panicle Initiation, Heading and Flowering. The excess runoff and erosion of top soil generally had prevented the output of crop.

Table No. 5 - Output of sample analysis

Name of Taluka	Name of Project	Name of Village	Name of Beneficiaries	Survey No.	Name of Crop	Area (in ha)	Production before waste weir (kg)	Production after waste weir (kg)
Dharampur	IWMP-1 Pindval	Pindval	Jamshubhai Kalubhai Dabkiya	157	Paddy	1 acre	700	839
Dharampur	IWMP-1 Pindval	Jagiri	Manirambhai Kakadbhai Khadkar	128	Paddy	20	347	409
Dharampur	IWMP-2 Murdad	Pandavakhad	Tulsibhai Shankarbhai	19	Paddy	20 guntha	365	429
Dharampur	IWMP-2 Murdad	Tutarkhed	Balubhai Pandubhai Bhoya	120	Paddy	21 guntha	330	406
Kaprada	IWMP-3 Vavar	Vavar	Namubhai Govindbhai	231	Paddy	1 acre	678	779
Kaprada	IWMP-3 Vavar	Barpuda	Sityabhai Laxmabhai	165	Paddy	1 acre	689	765
Kaprada	IWMP-4 Virkshetra	Malghar	Tukaram Mavajibhai	440	Paddy	20 guntha	357	398
Kaprada	IWMP-4 Virkshetra	Virkshetra	Namdevbhai Manubhai	392	Paddy	20 guntha	430	489

The study shows that the structure has helped in increasing the water holding capacity of soil and also helped in providing water during the required stages of water requirement of the crop. Another benefit of the structure was that this also provided residual moisture for a pulse crop in the same filed thus supporting the food and nutrition security of the farmers.
The increase in production and productivity of Paddy crop in the field have resulted a positive and visible impact of watershed. Further the general perceptions of farmers have changed that only large checkdam will show results. This structure has also helped in equitable distribution of the output of the programme to large number of beneficiaries.

Contributors: Dipali Khatal, Technical Expert Valsad and DWDU, Valsad