Watershed Management Approaches
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Citation: Wani SP, Venkateswarlu B, Sahrawat KL, Rao KV and Ramakrishna YS (eds.). 2009. Best-bet Options for Integrated Watershed Management. Proceedings of the Comprehensive Assessment of Watershed Programs in India, 25-27 July 2007, ICRISAT, Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India. Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. 312 pp. ISBN 978-92-9066-526-7: Order code: CPE 167. Acknowledgement We sincerely acknowledge the efforts of all the authors who put in together their expertise to write the best-bet options for the different interventions in the integrated watershed management. We also thank the help of several reviewers for giving their constructive suggestions for improving the quality of the chapters. We appreciate the help of Mr KNV Satyanarayana and Sri Lakshmi for word processing and formatting, staff of the Communication Office of ICRISAT for cover design and page-setting, and Shalini N for editorial assistance. We gratefully acknowledge the financial assistance provided by the Department of Land Resources under Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Agriculture to undertake the Comprehensive Assessment of the Watershed Programs in India. Organizing Committee SP Wani P Pathak TK Sreedevi Piara Singh S Marimuthu The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of ICRISAT, CRIDA or MoA and MoRD of GoI. The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of ICRISAT or CRIDA or MoA and MoRD of GoI concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Where trade names are used, this does not constitute endorsement or discrimination against any product by ICRISAT. Best-bet Options for Integrated Watershed Management Proceedings of the Comprehensive Assessment of Watershed Programs in India 25-27 July 2007 ICRISAT, Patancheru, India Editors Suhas P Wani, B Venkateswarlu, KL Sahrawat, KV Rao and YS Ramakrishna Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture Hyderabad 500 069, AP, India Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Rural Development Government of India New Delhi, India 2009 Contents 1 Watershed Management Concept and Principles ........................................................ 1 Suhas P Wani and Kaushal K Garg 2 Selection of Watersheds ......................................................................................................13 KV Rao and YS Ramakrishna 3 Baseline Socio-economic Characterization of Watersheds .....................................27 Anantha KH, Suhas P Wani and TK Sreedevi 4 Biophysical Resource Characterization of Watersheds .............................................41 YS Ramakrishna, Piara Singh, AVR Kesava Rao and M Osman 5 Knowledge-based Entry Point for Enhancing Community Participation in Integrated Watershed Management ..............................................................................53 Suhas P Wani, KL Sahrawat, TK Sreedevi, G Pardhasardhi and Sreenath Dixit 6 Participatory Net Planning in Watershed Management ...........................................69 Crispino Lobo 7 Best-bet Options on Soil and Water Conservation .....................................................75 P Pathak, PK Mishra, KV Rao, Suhas P Wani and R Sudi 8 Cropping Systems for Watersheds/Index Catchments/Farm Lands of Arid and Semi-Arid Ecosystems of India .........................................................................95 KPR Vittal and TK Bhati 9 Crop Diversification and Alternate Land Use Systems in Watershed Management .................................................................................................. 111 VN Sharda and B Venkateswarlu 10 Farming Systems in Watersheds .....................................................................................129 BK Kakade, G Subba Reddy and GR Korwar 11 Integrated Nutrient Management for Sustainable Land Use in Watersheds ............................................................................................................... 139 Suhas P Wani, Ch Srinivasa Rao, A Subba Rao and MA Shankar 12 Integrated Pest Management Options for Better Crop Production .................. 155 GV Ranga Rao, S Desai, OP Rupela, K Krishnappa and Suhas P Wani 13 Integrated Water Resource Management for Increasing Productivity and Water Use Efficiency in the Rain-fed Areas of India ........................................ 177 Piara Singh, P Pathak, Suhas P Wani and KL Sahrawat 14 Crop-Livestock Linkages in Watershed Villages of Andhra Pradesh.................. 191 Peter Bezkorowajnyj and Suhas P Wani 15 Rehabilitation of Degraded Lands in Watersheds .................................................. 205 TK Sreedevi, Suhas P Wani, M Osman and Shailendra Tiwari 16 Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation of Watershed Development Projects: Issues for the Future ............................................................221 K Palanisami, D Suresh Kumar and Amita Shah 17 Remote Sensing, GIS and IT in Watershed Development Programs ................. 233 BK Ranganath and PG Diwakar 18 Guidelines for Planning and Implementation of Watershed Development Program in India: A Review .................................................................243 KV Raju, Abdul Aziz, SS Meenakshi Sundaram and Madhushree Sekher 19 Institutional Reforms under Participatory Watershed Program ......................... 259 NK Sanghi 20 Agriculture and Allied Micro-enterprise for Livelihood Opportunities ...........271 KH Anantha, Suhas P Wani and TK Sreedevi 21 Innovations in Capacity Building Efforts in the Context of Watershed Development Projects in India .................................................................291 MV Ramachandrudu 1. Watershed Management Concept and Principles Suhas P Wani and Kaushal K Garg International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India Abstract Watershed is not simply the hydrological unit but also socio-political-ecological entity which plays crucial role in determining food, social, and economical security and provides life support services to rural people. The criteria for selecting watershed size also depend on the objectives of the development and terrain slope. A large watershed can be managed in plain valley areas or where forest or pasture development is the main objective. In hilly areas or where intensive agriculture development is planned, the size of watershed relatively preferred is small. Keywords: Watershed, consortium, community, water, livelihood. Introduction The rain-fed agriculture contributes 58 per cent to world’s food basket from 80 per cent agriculture lands (Raju et al. 2008). As a consequence of global population increase, water for food production is becoming an increasingly scarce resource, and the situation is further aggravated by climate change (Molden, 2007). The rain- fed areas are the hotspots of poverty, malnutrition, food insecurity, prone to severe land degradation, water security and poor social and institutional infrastructure (Rockstorm et al. 2007; Wani et al. 2007). Watershed development program is, therefore, considered as an effective tool for addressing many of these problems and recognized as potential engine for agriculture growth and development in fragile and marginal rain-fed areas (Joshi et al. 2005; Ahluwalia and Wani et al. 2006). Management of natural resources at watershed scale produces multiple benefits in terms of increasing food production, improving livelihoods, protecting environment, addressing gender and equity issues along with biodiversity concerns (Sharma, 2002; Wani et al. 2003a,b; Joshi et al. 2005; and Rockstorm et al. 2007). History of Watershed Development Program in India About 60 per cent of total arable land (142 million ha) in India is rain-fed, characterized by low productivity, low income, low employment with high incidence of poverty 1 and a bulk of fragile and marginal land (Joshi et al. 2008). Rainfall pattern in these areas are highly variable both in terms of total amount and its distribution, which lead to moisture stress during critical stages of crop production and makes agriculture production vulnerable to pre and post production risk. Watershed development projects in the country has been sponsored and implemented by Government of India from early 1970s onwards. The journey through the evolution of watershed approach evolved in India is shown in Figure-1 (Wani et al. 2005 and 2006). Various watershed development programs like Drought Prone Area Program (DPAP), Desert Development Program (DDP), River Valley Project (RVP), National Watershed Development Project for Rain-fed Areas (NWDPRA) and Integrated Wasteland Development Program (IWDP) were launched subsequently in various hydro-ecological regions, those were consistently being affected by water stress and draught like situations. Entire watershed development program was primarily focused on structural-driven compartmental approach of soil conservation and rainwater harvesting during 1980s and before. In spite of putting efforts for maintaining soil conservation practices (example, contour bunding, pits excavations etc.), farmers used to plow out these practices from their fields. It was felt that a straightjacket top-down approach can not make desired impact in watersheds and mix