Integrated Watershed Development Research Articles

Inclusive Participation in Integrated Watershed Development Programmes: Insights from Bundelkhand, Central India

Inclusive Participation in Integrated Watershed Development Programmes: Insights from Bundelkhand, Central India

Study on Land Use/Land Cover and NDVI Changes in Alliveru Watershed Project of West Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh Using Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System

Government of India has taken up Integrated Watershed Development Program (IWMP), now Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) watersheds to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving, and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetation, and water in rainfed areas of the country. In Alliveru Project of Buttaigudem Mandal, West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh, the watershed programme was started during 20132014 and completed in 20202021. The present study was taken up to assess the impact of watershed activities on LULC and NDVI using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques. Terrain corrected Resourcesat-2 LISS IV for year 201415 and 20202,1Erdas Imagine 2015, and ArcGIS 10.8 software have been used in the present study. Onscreen visual interpretation technique has been used while carrying out LULC change analysis and image processing has been used to generate NDVI images. NDVI analysis has shown increase in the vegetative cover in the project area. Significant changes were observed in LULC over the project implementation period due to the soil and water conservation activities by the State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA) under Panchayat Raj & Rural Development (PR&RD) Department. The results showed reduction in wastelands by 21.10% and increase in cropland and plantation by 4.47% and 6.36% respectively. Another positive indicator of watershed development in the project area is the increase in waterbodies by 43.88% due to construction of rain water harvesting structures , that is, 43 check dams, 44 percolation tanks, 6 farm ponds and 2 mini percolation tanks.

Scientific Evaluation of Integrated Watershed Development Programme Projects in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh, India

The current study was taken up to investigate the utility of the Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) tools for evaluation of 13 Integrated Watershed Development Programme watershed projects implemented during 2009-2016 in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. The study was carried out using high resolution Resourcesat-2, Linear Imaging self-Scanning System (LISS)-IV data of 2011 (pre-treatment) and 2016 (post-treatment) to assess the changes in land use/land cover and biomass over a period of five years (2011-16). Due to implementation of the watershed developmental activities, an additional area of 15100 ha has been brought under cultivation. The vegetation maps indicated that 20531 ha of fallow land converted to dense (9533 ha) and open vegetation (10249) categories during the project period due to the adoption of soil and water conservation practices. An additional area of 280 ha (5.72%) increased under water bodies and 1352 ha waste land converted to cultivable land due to construction of farm ponds, percolation tanks and check dams. This area is attributed to cropland and plantations in the year 2016.

Institutional Functionality in Participatory Integrated Watershed Development of Tana Sub-Basin, Ethiopia

Sustaining watersheds that were developed through community mobilization are a major challenge in Ethiopia despite significant efforts to promote soil and water conservation technologies and approaches. This paper investigates the hypothesis that institutional rationality and functionality play an important role in developing enduring watersheds by comparing the good performing Model research watersheds and adjacent watersheds developed through extensively promoted community mobilization. A semi-qualitative research method was used by applying a multi-stage purposive sampling technique for selecting sample respondents. Based on the new institutional economic theory, twelve effective institutional indicators were devised for the evaluation. Questionnaires were designed and tested to solicit respondents’ perceptions on these indicators. Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test. The results showed that significant differences were observed between the two watershed groups in relation to good interaction (p = 0.03) and technical rationality (p = 0.04). Most of the institutional characteristics and rationalities that led to better performance in the case of the Model research watershed were lacking in the community watersheds. In the Model watersheds, effective institutional characteristics and rationalities contributed to enhanced natural resource conservation, increased incomes, improved household food security, and provided additional social benefits. The most important lesson is that close follow-up and informed engagement leads to a speedy recovery and the sustainability of Community watersheds from implementing modest re-orientation of the existing institutional arrangements.

Impact of watershed development programme on farming system of micro watershed Dari of Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh

The study was carried out in Dari micro watershed under the Integrated Watershed Development Programme in the Tikamgarh district, Madhya Pradesh during 2015 – 16. Study aimed to assess the impact of watershed development programme on change in natural resources, land use pattern, cropping pattern and crop productivity. An area under cultivable pasture land was increased by 233.33%, whereas the area under horticulture and vegetation was increased by 100%, respectively. The construction of soil and water conservation structures improves ground water level, which increases digging of number of wells (50%) and hand pumps (66.67%). As improvement in land and water resources, the livestock population under different categories were increased by 15 to 73 %. Whereas fodder availability was increased by 166.67%. An area under irrigation was increased by 333.33% and average cropping intensity was increased by 135%. Cultivation area under Urd was highly changed by 17.10 ha (88.60%) as compared to other crops in kharif season, whereas Wheat crop in rabi season was secured 41.56% change in cultivation area. Significant higher increase in crop productivity was recorded for Soybean crop (66.67%) in kharif season, whereas Mustard secured 40.00% increase in productivity in rabi season.

Dryland agriculture in India – problems and solutions

ABSTRACT : Dry land agriculture is the agriculture which limits the crop growth to a part of the year due to lack of sufficient moisture (Peterson et al., 2006). 68 per cent of the cultivated area in Indian agriculture comes under dryland, which contributes about 44 per cent of the total food production and plays a critical role in India’s food security. A vast majority of the small scale farmers depend on the dry regions for their livelihood. According to the Fourth five year plan of India, dry lands are defined as areas which receive rainfall ranging from 375 mm to 1125 mm and with very limited irrigation facilities. Dry regions are economically fragile regions which are highly vulnerable to environmental stress and shocks. Degraded soils with low water holding capacities along with multiple nutrient deficiencies and depleting ground water table contributes to low crop yields and further leading to land degradation. In order to ensure long term sustainability for dry land agriculture in India, various components are to be taken into consideration like socio-economic resources, integrated water shed development, improvement of rain water use efficiency, diversification of agriculture through livestock farming alternative land uses and integrated soil–nutrient-water-crop management. Dry land farming areas needs much closer attention

Economic Impact of Integrated Watershed Development Program in Rajasthan

The present study entitled “Impact of Integrated Watershed Development Program in Rajasthan” was undertaken to study the extent to assess the effect of watershed on the level of employment, income and consumption of the farmers. Jaipur district was selected on the basis of maximum number of watershed in the zone. For this study Jaipur region was selected purposely. It has highest number of watersheds. Two watersheds from Bassi and two watersheds from Jamwaramgarh panchayat samities were selected randomly and thus a total number of 4 watersheds were selected from the Jaipur district. Multi stage random sampling was used for the selection of beneficiary and non- beneficiary farmers for the present study. 40 farmers (beneficiaries) were selected randomly from identified watersheds. The integrated watershed development project helped increase the consumption expenditure which was Minimum for large farmers (Rs. 2187 per annum) and maximum on medium farm (Rs. 6506 per annum). In case of marginal, small, medium and large farmer families the incremental consumption expenditure had Rs. 5817, 4420, 6506 and 21.87 per annum, respectively. The findings of the study shows that the impact of IWDP on pattern on consumption expenditure was not been the same. The relative increase in consumption expenditure for different categories of beneficiary families was at varying rates. The same was true of expenditure on various components like food, clothing, education, fuel, buildings and others. The absolute and per cent increase in annual employment was observed for all the categories of beneficiary farmers. The maximum per cent increase in employment was observed for marginal farmers (36.25%) followed by small (25.82%), medium (2.69%) and large (2.64%) farmers.

Impact of water management interventions on hydrology and ecosystem services in Garhkundar-Dabar watershed of Bundelkhand region, Central India

Summary Bundelkhand region of Central India is a hot spot of water scarcity, land degradation, poverty and poor socio-economic status. Impacts of integrated watershed development (IWD) interventions on water balance and different ecosystem services are analyzed in one of the selected watershed of 850 ha in Bundelkhand region. Improved soil, water and crop management interventions in Garhkundar-Dabar (GKD) watershed of Bundelkhand region in India enhanced ET to 64% as compared to 58% in untreated (control) watershed receiving 815 mm annual average rainfall. Reduced storm flow (21% vs. 34%) along with increased base flow (4.5% vs. 1.2%) and groundwater recharge (11% vs. 7%) of total rainfall received were recorded in treated watershed as compared to untreated control watershed. Economic Water productivity and total income increased from 2.5 to 5.0 INR m−3 and 11,500 to 27,500 INR ha−1 yr−1 after implementing integrated watershed development interventions in GKD watershed, respectively. Moreover IWD interventions helped in reducing soil loss more than 50% compared to control watershed. The results demonstrated that integrated watershed management practices addressed issues of poverty in GKD watershed. Benefit to cost ratio of project interventions was found three and pay back period within four years suggest economic feasibility to scale-up IWD interventions in Bundelkhend region. Scaling-up of integrated watershed management in drought prone rainfed areas with enabling policy and institutional support is expected to promote equity and livelihood along with strengthening various ecosystem services, however, region-specific analysis is needed to assess trade-offs for downstream areas along with onsite impact.

Land development in India and China: Imperatives for institutional change

Development of land and water resources through FLCs (Farmland Capital Constructions) has played an important role in raising and sustaining farm productivity, right from the early phase of development in the People's Republic of China. The major driving force for promoting FLCs was utilisation of surplus labour, which formed a major source of capital formation in the rural economy. Compared to this, Soil Water Conservation (SWC) programmes in India had received little importance till the mid-eighties, when the Integrated Watershed Development Programmes (WDPs) were recognised as a critical policy intervention, especially for dry land regions. For long, the SWC programmes were undertaken mainly as relief work or employment generation activities, with little concern for improving farm productivity in a given time frame. While China's collective system, in the post reforms period, has undergone substantial changes, seeking more of private control and incentives to sustain the investment on land, private ownership of land and water resources in India has led to over exploitation, especially of ground water, leading to neglect of some of the important measures for SWC. China is now trying to ‘decollectivise’ the use of land whereas India is striving for a participatory mechanism.

Land use dynamics and landscape change pattern in a typical micro watershed in the mid elevation zone of central Himalaya, India

The amount, the rate and the intensity of land use and land cover change are very high in developing countries. The human impacts upon the land are still very great and increasing. This study analyses the process of human-induced landscape transformation in a micro watershed in mid elevation zone of central Himalaya of India in 1963, 1986 and 1996. The watershed (about 80 km 2 in size) comprises a small mountainous valley with steep slopes and deep cut ravines, typical of the landscape pattern in high population intensity mid elevation zone of central Himalaya. The spatial and temporal change patterns of land use were quantified by interpreting remote sensing (RS) data and use a geographical information system (GIS). During the last 33 years, the vegetal cover was altered drastically with increasing population pressure (both human and animal), agricultural activities and industrial wood/raw material extraction activities. The traditional rain fed agriculture on raised terraces has passed through a process of agricultural intensification but this in turn reduced crop species diversity. Restriction on agricultural expansion by transferring large parts of vegetated areas to conservation forestry under government control and unrestrained agricultural expansion on community lands which supported fuel, fodder and manure requirements has resulted in a unbalanced land use. This in turn led to deforestation and environmental degradation. Some limiting factors such as socio-economic and policy forces caused these changes in natural resource management practices and the resulting land use patterns. The study showed that although development interventions such as World Bank aided Integrated Watershed Development Programme, etc., showed promising results in regenerating the resources; the lack of follow-up required after programme withdrawal might cause the deterioration of resources accrued during such regeneration activities. Such local impacts need to be considered in national policies and especially when time bound international aid based programmes are to be implemented.

Experiences of Participation in Integrated Watershed Development Project in Himachal Pradesh

Experiences of Participation in Integrated Watershed Development Project in Himachal Pradesh