Rainwater Harvesting Structures Research Articles

Water Budgeting of Babhulgaon Micro Watershed under Deficit Rainfall Years

Water budget under deficit rainfall years was conducted at Babhulgaon micro watershed, Parbhani district of Maharashtra state considering crop water demand, human and livestock consumption. On the main streams, there were nala bunds and farm ponds constructed for rainwater harvesting and supplemental/protective irrigation. During the year 2014, a total rainfall of 398.1 mm was received, which was 52% deficit than average normal rainfall. The major losses were occurred as soil evaporation and transpiration are 59.71 mm and 155.26 mm, respectively. The surface runoff of 29.87 mm (11%) was estimated and the soil moisture of 103.50 mm was utilized for crop growth and which was found to be insufficient for normal crop growth, thus effected the crop yields. The crop water requirements of kharif and rabi season were 339.45 and 70.10 ha-m, respectively. The total crop water requirement of the year 2014 was 409.55 ham. During 2015, an amount of 407.8 mm of rainfall received which was 51% deficit to average normal monsoon rainfall. The major losses observed were due to soil evaporation and transpiration as 61.94 mm and 161.61 mm respectively. In 2015, rainfall was well distributed and only two storms were observed in the month of September resulted in a surface runoff of 18 mm which was 4.42% of rainfall. The ground water recharge contribution was 52.36 mm (12.84% of rainfall). The soil moisture storage of 107.77 mm was observed and found to be insufficient for crop growth. The crop water requirement of kharif and rabi season was 337.55 and 81.00 ha-mm, respectively. The total crop water requirement of the year 2015 was 418.55 hamm. The outflow characteristics indicated that there is additional possibility for construction of rainwater harvesting structures like nala bunds, earthen dams and farm ponds etc., because total available water storage capacity in all existing structures is about 21 to 35% of annual runoff only. The deficiency of water resources in the Babhulgaon micro watershed can be managed by harvesting the available potential runoff and its efficient utilization through modified cropping pattern.

Impact Assessment of Land use / Land Cover Change on Soil Erosion and Rural Livelihood in Andit Tid Watershed, North Shewa, Ethiopia

Land use, which is use of land by human for different purposes, is influenced by two broad sets of forces human needs (socio-economic) and environmental features and processes (biophysical). The study was carried out at Andit Tid watershed one of SCRP research unit founded in 1982, located on 390 43’E 9048’N. This research has aimed to assess the trend and main driving force of land use and land cover change (LULCC) within the catchment / watershed during the last two decades and its impact on soil erosion. Structural questioner was used to collect social data from 8% of the total household. Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) and supervised image classification used to identify land use/ land cover change of the study area for 1994 and 2014 years, respectively. TESTMAIN and SPSS version 16 Statistical software’s were used for Soil loss calculation and social data analysis, respectively. The result indicates that, there is expansion of cultivated land by 11.33% (44.55ha) while reduction in natural shrub lands by 7.3 % (35.73ha). The main driving forces of land use land cover change are high number of family member, small land holding size and minimum asset own per household, lower educational level of the household, the household mainly occupied on agriculture and there is lack of animal feed. This change forced farmers to collect cereal crops based on suitability area, sale livestock, use organic and inorganic fertilizer and use improved variety due to low crop productivity. The LULC change has an impact on decline soil fertility, cause serious soil erosion problem with in farmland/watershed. The result also indicated that soil loss reached 3655 ton per annum from the watershed. Therefore, proper handling and land use system need to be implemented, rainwater harvesting structures and soil and water conservation practice need to be encouraged in order reduce soil loss.

GIS-based multi-criteria approach for identification of rainwater harvesting zones in upper Betwa sub-basin of Madhya Pradesh, India

The emergent water paucity calls for more resourceful alternatives of water conservation. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is one of the most capable systems to increase availability of water and agriculture output in the semi-arid regions. Nevertheless, the assessment of RWH potential and selection of appropriate RWH locations pose a great challenge for the water managers due to lacking biophysical data and infrastructure. The present study attempts to assess the RWH potential and identifying probable RWH locations in the Betwa sub-basin using geospatial and multiple criteria decision analysis techniques (MCDA). The spatial theme such as land use land cover was derived by supervised classification method and lineament and drainage by edge enhancement method from Landsat ETM + satellite image and other secondary published maps. The surface runoff was determined from modified Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) method. These parameters were assigned suitable weights and integrated with a geospatial (GIS) technique to generate RWH site suitability map and to identify possible locations for RWH structures. SCS-CN technique displays that the water-body and built-up areas have high runoff potential, while forest area shows low runoff. The analysis indicates that 5.6% (87.7 km2) is suitable for percolation tanks, 3% (46.6 km2) suitable for farm ponds and for check dams (0.7 km2) of the study area. The study reveals combined methodology of geospatial and MCDA procedures in planning of rainwater harvesting at a regional scale.

Robust approach for optimal positioning and ranking potential rainwater harvesting structure (RWH): a case study of Iraq

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) structure is considered as the best solution to conserve water for arid regions. The selection of RWH location is based on several key determinants such as hydrology, environment, topography, and socio-economic. This study proposed a robust methodology to identify and select the location of RWH using geographical information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) with multi-criteria decision techniques in areas where data are scarce. Several thematic maps were extracted such as vegetation cover, soil group, slope, land use, and digital elevation (DEM). The RWH sites were ranked based on four major indexes: evaporation, cost-benefit, sediment, and hydrological index. Sensitivity analysis shows that the variance inverse (VI) and rank order method (ROM) considered all indices that effect ranking as compared to the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy-AHP. Sensitivity analysis also proved that the proposed method is suitable to be used for RWH site selection in arid regions.

English

English

Rainwater harvesting possibility under climate change: A basin-scale case study over western province of Saudi Arabia

Groundwater reservoirs are important water resources all over the world. Especially, they are of utmost significance for arid and semi-arid regions, and therefore, a sustainable exploitation of these reservoirs needs to be ensured. The natural and most exclusive water supplier to groundwater reservoirs in Saudi Arabia is rainfall, which is characterized by sporadic and random temporal and spatial distributions, particularly under the impacts of climate change; giving rise to uncertainty in groundwater recharge quantification. Although in Saudi Arabia, intense and frequent rainfall events are rare, but they generate significant flash floods with huge amounts of surface water. Under such circumstances, any simple but effective water storage augmentation facility such as rainwater harvesting (RWH) structures gain vital importance for sustainability of water supply and survivals in arid and semi-arid regions. The objective of this study is to explore the possibility of RWH over a basin in the western province of Saudi Arabia called Wadi Al-Lith under climate change. Climatic data is obtained from the IPCC AR5 GCMs, which is further downscaled using a regional climate model RegCM4 for the Arabian Peninsula domain. The RegCM4 is driven to simulate climatic parameters including rainfall at 25km grid resolution for the present climate (1971–2000), and future climate (2006–2099) with representative concentration pathways, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Results indicate that more durable and longer wet durations are expected with increasing surplus rainfall amounts in the far future because of climate change impacts. Consequently, future climate scenarios are expected to enhance floods and flash floods occurrences, which call for progressive measures to harness the RWH opportunity.

Impact of decentralised rainwater harvesting structures on farm income, variable input usage and livestock possession in semi-arid tracts of India: Regression analyses

To sustain the growth of agriculture and feed its growing population, India needs to shift to semi-arid regions characterised by water scarcity for irrigation. Rainwater harvesting is a potential solution to this problem in future. Decentralised rainwater harvesting systems have been developed to overcome the demerits of community based watershed structures. Using robust least square regression it was found that among various factors, adoption of rainwater harvesting structures is significant at 5 percent level of significance and plays important role in not only increasing the farm income but also increasing the use of yield enhancing inputs like fertiliser (1 per cent level of significance), seed (5 per cent), labour (1 per cent) and farmyard manure (1 per cent). Livestock possession was also found to be significantly influenced by adoption at 1 percent level of significance.

Multi-criteria analysis and GIS modeling for identifying prospective water harvesting and artificial recharge sites for sustainable water supply

Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is a promising tool for supplementing surface water and groundwater supply to overcome imbalance between water supply and demand under changing climatic conditions. The main aim of this study is to present a technically robust and pragmatic methodology for evaluating rainwater harvesting potential and identifying suitable sites for RWH and artificial recharge structures using Geographic Information System (GIS)-based multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). Unlike past studies, this study proposes an approach to prioritize zones/sites for RWH and recharge structures, which is of great importance for the effective implementation of RWH strategies. The derived themes ‘runoff coefficient’ and the basic themes of ‘slope’ and ‘drainage density’ were used for mapping rainwater harvesting potential. Thereafter, suitable zones and sites for feasible RWH and recharge structures were identified using suitability criteria and GIS-based Boolean logic. In addition, identified zones/sites were prioritized based on the themes of key factors viz., post-monsoon groundwater level, groundwater fluctuation and water demand. After normalizing the weights of the themes and their features, the themes were integrated in GIS environment. The study area was divided into four RWH potential zones with 47% and 38% of the study area falling under ‘high’ and ‘moderate’ RWH potential, respectively. On the other hand, the study area was classified into four rainwater harvesting demand zones namely, (a) ‘very high’ (29% of the study area), (b) ‘high’ (26.4%), (c) ‘moderate’ (21.3%), and (d) ‘low’ (23.6%). The zones suitable for constructing farm ponds cover 2314 km2 and those for percolation tanks on the ground cover 42 km2. Further, 69 sites for percolation tanks along the streams and 33 sites for check dams were also identified as suitable locations over the study area. Framework for the prioritization of suitable zones/sites for RWH and groundwater recharge is proposed in this study by integrating ‘rainwater harvesting potential’ and ‘rainwater harvesting demand’ maps. The integrated geospatial and MCDA approach is not only time saving and cost-effective but also very helpful for the efficient planning and management of rainwater at a larger scale.

Identification of rainwater harvesting sites using SCS-CN methodology, remote sensing and Geographical Information System techniques

This study presents a method to identify potential sites for soil and water conservation techniques for the demarcation of suitable sites for artificial recharge of groundwater aquifers, in the study area. The run-off derived by the Soil Conservation Service Curve Number method is a function of run-off potential which can be expressed in terms of run-off coefficient. The augmentation of water resource is proposed by the construction of rainwater harvesting structures like check dam, percolation pond, farm pond and gully check dam. The site suitability for different water harvesting structures is determined by considering spatially varying parameters like slope, infiltration, run-off potential, landuse/land cover, stream order, soil texture, land capability class, hydrological soil group and micro-watershed area. The determined suitable site has been validated with existing recharge structures of the study area. Accuracy assessment of the suitable sites for recharge structures potential maps of the Bindra watershed is 82.60%.

Farm level rainwater harvesting across different agro climatic regions of India: Assessing performance and its determinants

Rainwater harvesting and its utilization have a very important role to play in harnessing the production potential within dryland systems. This study assesses the performance of small rainwater harvesting structures (farm-ponds) in 5 major rainfed states of India over the period 2009–2011 using data from multiple sources and stakeholders. Rainwater which is harvested using structures of varying types and sizes was used for either supplemental irrigation or recharging open-wells. In many cases, the farm level rainwater harvesting structures were highly effective for rainfed farming and had a multiplier effect on farm income. In some situations however, it was viewed by farmers as a waste of productive land. The use of farm ponds in Maharashtra, for example, resulted in a significant increase in farm productivity (12–72%), cropping intensity and consequently farm income. In the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, farm pond water was profitably used for supplemental irrigation to mango plantations, vegetables or other crops and animal enterprises with net returns estimated to be between US$ 120 and 320 structure−1annum−1. Despite such examples, the adoption of the farm ponds was low, except in Maharashtra. A functional analysis of the reasons for high adoption of water harvesting structures indicated that factors such as technical support, customized design, level of farmer participation, age, existing ownership of open wells, annual rainfall and household assets were the major determinants of performance of farm-level rainwater harvesting structures. Based on this countrywide analysis, different policy and institutional options are proposed for promoting farm-level rainwater-harvesting for dryland agriculture.

A Methodology to Assess and Evaluate Rainwater Harvesting Techniques in (Semi-) Arid Regions

Arid and semi-arid regions around the world face water scarcity problems due to lack of precipitation and unpredictable rainfall patterns. For thousands of years, rainwater harvesting (RWH) techniques have been applied to cope with water scarcity. Researchers have used many different methodologies for determining suitable sites and techniques for RWH. However, limited attention has been given to the evaluation of RWH structure performance. The aim of this research was to design a scientifically-based, generally applicable methodology to better evaluate the performance of existing RWH techniques in (semi-) arid regions. The methodology integrates engineering, biophysical and socio-economic criteria using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) supported by the Geographic Information System (GIS). Jessour/Tabias are the most traditional RWH techniques in the Oum Zessar watershed in south-eastern Tunisia, which were used to test this evaluation tool. Fifty-eight RWH locations (14 jessr and 44 tabia) in three main sub-catchments of the watershed were assessed and evaluated. Based on the criteria selected, more than 95% of the assessed sites received low or moderate suitability scores, with only two sites receiving high suitability scores. This integrated methodology, which is highly flexible, saves time and costs, is easy to adapt to different regions and can support designers and decision makers aiming to improve the performance of existing and new RWH sites.

The Status of Domestic Water Demand: Supply Deficit in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 targets access to water and sanitation for all people in the next 15 years. However, for developing countries such as Nepal, it is more challenging to achieve this goal given its poor infrastructure and high population growth. To assess the water crisis in the most developed and populated area of Nepal, the Kathmandu Valley, we estimated available water resources and domestic water demand in the valley. We estimated a supply deficit of 102 million liters per day (MLD) in 2016, after completion of the first phase of the Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP). If the MWSP is completed within the specified timeframe, and sufficient treatment and distribution infrastructure is developed, then there would be no water deficit by 2023–2025. This indicates that the MWSP will make a significant contribution to the valley’s water security. However, emphasis must be given to utilizing all of the water available from the MWSP by developing sufficient water treatment and distribution infrastructure. Alternate mitigation options, such as planning land use for potential recharge, introducing micro- to macro-level rainwater harvesting structures, conjunctive use of surface and groundwater resources, and water demand-side management, would also be helpful.

Impact Assessment of Decentralized Rainwater Harvesting on Agriculture: A Case Study of Farm Ponds in Semi-arid Areas of Rajasthan

The present study was taken up to analyze the impact of decentralized rainwater harvesting structures in semi-arid districts of Rajasthan, namely Tonk and Karauli. Adoption of these structures was found to increase the cropping intensity to as high as 190 percent from 120 percent. The crop diversification also increased towards the high value crops such as cumin. Various farm inputs usage was also found to increase under both withwithout and before-after approaches. High values of benefit: cost ratio (1.9 and 2.3) and net present worth (119 and 126 thousands in both the districts) of farm pond adopted farms as compared to non-adopters confirmed the financial feasibility. Environmental benefits as decline in soil erosion, increased ground water availability and faunal activities were also perceived by adopters.

SELECTION OF RAINWATER HARVESTING SITES BY USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES: A CASE STUDY OF KIRKUK, IRAQ

Arid and semi-arid areas such as Iraq suffer not only from limited precipitation but also from poor management of rainwater for agricultural use. One technique for rainwater harvesting (RWH) is to collect excess runoff water during the rainy season and store it for agricultural purposes during dry spells. Remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) are widely used to identify suitable RWH sites. In this study, an integrated approach was adopted to determine suitable RWH sites in Kirkuk City, Iraq. The methods were integrated with the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) method to evaluate the parameters that significantly contribute to RWH site selection. Thematic layers, such as runoff depth, slope, drainage, and land use/land cover, as well as their features were assigned suitable weights and then integrated in a GIS to generate a RWH potential map of the study area. Suitable sites for different RWH structures, such as farm ponds and check dams, were also identified. The study area can be classified into three potential RWH zones: high suitability zone (8.2% or 399.75 ), moderate suitability zone (63.4% or 3,090.75 ), and low suitability zone (28.4% or 1,384.5 ). Around 3.7% of the study area (181.6 ) is suitable for farm ponds while 4% (197 ) is suitable for check dams. The integrated RS, GIS, and MCDA techniques were found to be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to recover rainwater and select suitable RWH sites.

Runoff Estimation and Identification of Water Harvesting Structures for Groundwater Recharge Using Geo - Spatial Techniques

A geo-spatial study was conducted to estimate the runoff by Soil Conservation Services – Curve Number (SCS – CN) method, in Nagapattinam Taluk (areal extent of 303.96 km 2 ), Tamil Nadu, India. In this study, the spatial data of land use (2007) was derived from satellite images. A hydrological soil group thematic map was also prepared using ArcGIS 9.3. The thematic maps were overlaid with each other and assigned the SCS– CN values, and the runoff potential map was prepared on the basis of curve number classes. The highest, moderate and low runoff potential zones (2007) were obtained, and the area covered under each category was found to be 165.96, 121.65 and 15.81km 2 , respectively. To determine the suitable locations of rainwater harvesting structures, land use, soil group and slope map were overlain. From the overlain map attributes viz., soil, land use and slope, the suitable locations of rainwater harvesting structures like check dams (84 Nos.), percolation ponds and nalla bunds (76 Nos.) and farm ponds (20 Nos.), respectively, were found. The geospatial identified structures were validated through existing structures in the study area with their GPS coordinates, and it was found that some of the structure locations were exactly in line.

Geoinformatics application for assessing the potential of rainwater harvesting in arid regions. Case study: El Daba’a area, Northwestern Coast of Egypt

In the light of the current situation of water resources in Egypt, where it has a deficit in those resources, the rainwater harvesting and assessment of its potentialities became necessary. In the present study, an attempt is made to define a decision based on scientific approach for identifying the most appropriate sites for rainwater harvesting. This approach is based on GIS data layers which include DEM, landforms, geologic setting, watershed area, rainfall amounts, drainage lines, morphometric parameters, flow accumulation, flow direction, slope, and surface runoff. It also includes a verification of the site suitability through field investigations. El Daba’a area has been chosen because it has a lack of water for agriculture and drinking purposes. In addition, this area has special interest because of a planned nuclear power plant there. The obtained results reveal that the study area contains eight basins which have slightly intensive drainage network. The morphometric analyses of the studied basins reveal their opportunities for surface runoff. Three of them are showing high hazard degrees. These basins have actual runoff (Q) ranges between 16.5 and 25 mm annually resulted from average rainfall of 164 mm. Therefore, management of rainwater harvesting and protections from flash floods were recommended. Many rainwater harvesting structures, for example concert dams, alternative earth dikes, surface water reservoirs, and cisterns, should be established.

Isolines of location specific constants of rainfall intensity- duration- frequency for Vidarbha region

Rainfall intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) relationship is required for design of soil and water conservation structures. Rainfall intensity-duration-frequency relation depends on the physical characteristics of rainfall occurring at a particular place. The rainfall intensity-duration-frequency relationship can be expressed as I = (KT a )/(t + b) d in which, I is rainfall intensity (cm/h), T is return period (years), t is duration (h) and K, a, b and d are location specific constants. The location specific constants in above relationship are calculated by analyzing the rainfall data of recording type rain gauge. The values of K, a, b and d are estimated for all stations of Vidarbha region. Then isolines maps of each constant K, a, b and d for Vidarbha region have been developed. Isoline for 'a' show steeper increase in western Vidarbha with minimum in Nagpur district. The values of constant 'a' vary from 0.1544 to 0.2074 in all nine stations except Buldhana (0.2524). As far as constant 'b' is concerned the isolines show valley portion from Amravati towards Akola i.e. in western direction. The common range of the values of constant 'b' varies from 0.20 to 0.30. The isolinesfor'd' showed concentric circles in western Vidarbha near Akola and similar type is observed near Nagpur. The common range of constant 'd' is in between 0.6618 to 0.7668. There was no general slope for isolines of 'd'. The isoline for 'K' showed two concentric circles around Nagpur and Akola denoting two peaks and in general has slopes in North-East direction from Akola and Nagpur. The 'K' value for Vidarbha range from 3.148 to 6.680. Isolines maps developed for different parameters of intensity-duration-frequency equation of Vidarbha region are useful to designers and planners for prediction of rainfall intensity at any location of Vidarbha region for any duration up to 24 hour and return period from 10 to 100 years to design flood control, rainwater harvesting and runoff disposal structures.

Delineation of potential sites for rainwater harvesting structures using a geographic information system-based decision support system

This paper presents a methodology based on a decision support system (DSS) that employs remote sensing and field survey data and geographic information system (GIS) to identify potential rainwater harvesting areas (RWH). This DSS was implemented to obtain suitability maps and to evaluate the existing RWH structures in the study area. The DSS inputs comprised maps of rainfall surplus, slope, potential runoff coefficient, land cover/use, and soil texture. On the basis of an analytical hierarchy process analysis taking into account five layers, the spatial extents of RWH suitability areas were identified by multi-factor evaluation. The spatial distribution of the classes in the suitability map showed that the excellent and good areas are mainly located in the southern and western parts of the study area. On average, 12.2% and 22.2% of the study area are classified as excellent and good for RWH, respectively, while 34.7% and 30.9% of the area are classified as moderately suitable and poorly suited and unsuitable, respectively. Most of the existing RWH structures that are categorized as successful were within the good (72% of the structures) areas followed by moderately suitable (24% of the structures) and excellent areas (4% of the structures).

The potential of in situ rainwater harvesting in arid regions: developing a methodology to identify suitable areas using GIS-based decision support system

The first step in any rainwater harvesting system involves methods to increase the amount of water stored in the soil profile by trapping or holding the rain where it falls. This may involve small movements of rainwater as surface runoff in order to concentrate the water where it is wanted most. This paper presents a geographic information system (GIS) methodology based on a decision support system (DSS) that uses remote-sensing data, filed survey, and GIS to delineate potential in situ rainwater harvesting areas. The GIS-based DSS implemented as well as evaluated the existing rainwater harvesting structures in the study area. The input into the DSS included a map of rainfall surplus, slope, potential runoff coefficient (PRC), land cover/use, and soil texture. The outputs were map showing potential sites for in situ water harvesting (IWH). The spatial distribution of the suitability map showed that 1.5 and 27.8 % of the study area have excellent and good suitability for IWH, relatively, while 45 % of the area has moderate suitability. Validation of the existing IWH structures was done during a field survey using collected data and the suitability map. The validation depends on comparing rainwater harvesting/recharge dam’s locations in the generated suitability map and the location of the surveyed IWH structures using the proximity analysis tool of ArcGIS 10.1. From the proximity analysis result, all the exiting IWH structures categorized as successful (99 %) were within the good suitable areas.

Rainwater harvesting and integrated development of agri-horti-livestock-cumpisciculture in high altitudes for livelihood of Tribal farmers

Participatory rainwater harvesting for promoting integrated development of agri-horti-livestock-cum-pisciculture was implemented during 2004-2008 at high altitude (> 1500m MSL) areas of Mawlangkhar village, West Khasi Hills district, Meghalaya in a watershed approach to assess and refine improved package of practices integrating crops, fruits, vegetables, fish and animal production for higher productivity and income. Soil and water conservation measures like construction and renovation of ponds, jalkund- a micro rainwater harvesting structure on hilltops, bench and half moon terraces were developed with the active participation of the local peoples. The quantum of water harvested at one point of time during monsoon season through two ponds in community lands (2.69 million litre water), two ponds in individual farmer’s land (1.2 million litre water) and 15 jalkunds (0.45 million litre) on hill tops estimated to be about 4.3 million litre, was utilized for multiple purposes including irrigation, pisciculture, livestocks and domestic purpose. The cost of water harvesting in community pond was computed at ₹ 12/1000 litre (L) and for jalkund ₹ 82/1000 litre considering the lives of pond and jalkund for at least 20 and 3 years, respectively. Impact analysis revealed that the productivity has gone up by 30–40% in potato and 45-50 % in rice with the introduction of improved package of practices for various crops, availability of irrigation water and integration of different components. Farmers are now able to get about ₹ 2 440/month from community dairy unit and the individual farmer’s income from piggery unit increased substantially which ranged from ₹ 8 465 to 16 654/year. Besides, farmers are earning a substantial income (₹ 10 000/annum from community pond) from composite pisciculuture. Therefore, integrated watershed programme could be considered as a successful model for high altitude areas of North East India and similar other ecosystems for livelihood improvement of resource poor tribal farmers.