Impact of Watershed Development Programmes on Livelihood Conditions of Farmers in Haryana

Abstract

Watershed development programmes are being implemented with a broad objective to improve socio-economic conditions of the resource-poor and disadvantaged sections of rural population through conservation, regeneration and judicious use of all natural resources, keeping in view of rural development. So, this study assesses the impact of watershed development programmes on agricultural production, yield, cropping pattern and cropping intensity, livestock population, milk production and feed and fodder. For this, two districts were selected from two watershed development programmes on the basis of maximum completed projects and maximum covered area. Two micro watersheds were randomly selected from each district. 30 beneficiary and 30 non-beneficiary households were selected through random sampling from each micro watershed. Average and percentage methods were used for analysing the results. The study found that impact of DDP and IWDP watershed development programmes had been positive on agricultural yield, cropping pattern and benefit-cost ratios in watershed area (WSA), while impact had been weak on cropping intensity. The study also found that watershed development programmes had positive impact on the population of livestock in WSA of Bhiwani and Rohtak districts, but it had weak impact in Hisar and Kaithal districts. The impact of DDP on total milk production and green fodder was positive in both of Bhiwani and Hisar districts but weak impact on IWDP programme. Both programmes had positive impact on employment generated in per acre mandays from agriculture. DDP had positive impact on employment generated from livestock.