Watershed Experience of BAIF

8/8/2019 Watershed Experience of BAIF

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Integrated Watershed Development Programme: Baif Experience B.K. Kakade

1. Introduction

The balanced ecosystem and human system are vital indicators of a sustainableenvironment and better quality of human life. In rural areas, livelihood and naturalresources such as land, water, vegetation and livestock are inter-linked. India’s national

economy is dependent on agriculture and the magnificence of its natural resources islegendary.

However, degradation of the natural resources due to increasing biotic pressure on the

fragile eco-system with breakdown of traditional local management institutions isthreatening the entire human population.

Watershed is a geo-hydrological unit comprised of all land and water within the confines

of a drainage divide. Essentially a watershed is all the land and water area, whichcontributes runoff to a common point. It is a land area that captures rainfall and conveys

the overland flow and runoff to an outlet in the main flow channel. It is a topographicallydelineated area draining into a single channel. A watershed may be nearly flat or may

include hillocks, hills or mountains. Each and every water and land area is a part of onewatershed or other. Frequently the following distinction is being made to indicate the size

of a watershed: micro watershed, sub watershed, watershed, catchment and river basin inorder of increasing size. Generally any watershed can be sub-divided into sub-watersheds



etc. The smallest watershed in the context of agricultural hydrology may be the field orplot. Further more within the context of watershed management, watershed may be

defined as the ecosystem within the confines of a drainage divide.

Watershed Development and Management is defined as the integrated use, regulation and

development of water and land resources of a watershed to accomplish sustainable use of land, water and vegetables for the benefit of its dependents. The emphasis is on soil andwater conservation.

2. Need of Watershed Development and Management

As 70% of our cultivated land fall under the rain-fed areas, Watershed Management isone of the critical factors for improving agricultural production. The natural resource

base on which existence of living beings depend-soil, water and vegetation is underdegradation. Most of the arid and semi-arid regions have concentrations of eroded and

degraded natural resources. Loss of vegetal cover, followed by soil degradation through

erosion, has resulted in lands lacking in water as well as solid nutrients. In India out of atotal geographical area of 329 million hectares, 57% of the area is suffering from soildegradation as a result of over-population, harsh climate condition, over exploitation,

improper use of soil resources, deforestation etc.

Restoring ecological balance and increasing productivity in such region necessitateundertaking all developmental activities on a watershed basis. Depletion of Common

Property Resources (CPRs) is again at the core of the problem. CPRs are collectivelymanaged resources on non-arable land including community forests, grazing lands and

ponds, village tanks and rivers. Generally, the poorer section of rural households dependsmuch more on fuel, fodder and food items from CPRs. Depletion of CPRs including

declining area and productivity has been widely observed. CPRs area has declined from31 to 55% by 1982-86 as a result of large-scale privatisation. On site and offsite

environmental degradation and depletion of soil and water resources is widespread as aresult of over exploitation of remaining of CPRs.

Land and Water resources of India

Particulars Quantity

Geographical Area 329 million ha

Flood Prone Area 40 million ha

Total Cultivable Land Area 184 million ha

Net Irrigated Area 50 million ha

Ultimate irrigation Potential 140 million ha

Natural runoff (Surface Waterand Groundwater)

1869 Cubic Km

Estimated Utilizable Surface

water Potential

690 Cubic Km



Groundwater resources 432 Cubic Km

Available groundwater Resourcefor Irrigation

361 Cubic Km

Net Utilizable GroundwaterResource for Irrigation

325 Cubic Km

In India, agriculture is the predominant occupation and about 64% of the working

population depends upon it for their livelihood. Irrigation facilities created so far are lessthan the potential and the total net sown area is only 36%. As such, a large portion of

agricultural land depends upon the monsoon. They contribute about 42% of country'stotal food grain output. The majority of small and marginal farmer and landless depend

on agriculture, especially in the dry region. Further because of soil erosion, deforestation,over cutting of vegetation, overgrazing, unscientific methods of cultivation, a large area

of land has been rendered barren. About 25% of agricultural land is degraded thus theporosity of Indian Agriculture lies in the development of dry and degraded land.

3. Watershed Development Programme in India

Conservation of water and checking soil erosion is central to the attainment of economicas well as financial sustainability of dry land and agriculture. Integrated watershed

development programme is the major policy instrument for achieving this goal. Theimportance of watershed development as a strategy of agricultural and overall rural

development in rainfed areas has been recognized in India for the past several decades. Itdates back to the establishment of four dry farming research stations at Rohtak, Sholapur,

Hyderabad and Bellary in early 30's.

Watershed Development Programmes which has been increasingly emphasized fordryland plain region in India, is a manifestation of the shifting priorities in agricultural

sector which till recently had concentrated mainly on crops and regions with assuredirrigation. Some of the points of development to be kept in mind are:

Growth of yield among irrigated crops and regions attained during the initialphase of the green revolution has come to some kind of a halt. Hence the future

growth of agricultural production will have to increasingly come from drylandregion at least till another flux of large-scale investment in irrigation takes place.

Frequent failure of rainfall especially since 1980's has resulted into highlyfluctuating productivity in dry land region making at difficult to sustain the

population on farming system alone. The immediate solution of tapping groundwater has also reached alarming levels

of depletion in many parts of the dry land region.

With increasing human and livestock population with the uncertain crop yield hasreduced availability of the common property resources (CPRs) and the biomass.



Importance has been given to dry farming in India, esp. since the mid 1980 in order tocombat the limited natural sources of water and to protect the land from degradation,

conserve rainwater and improve the general economic condition of dry land farmers.

In India, watershed development programme is taken up under various programmes

launched by the Government of India. The Drought Prone Area Programme (DPAP) andDesert Development Programme (DDP), adopted watershed approach in 1987. TheIntegrated Watershed Development Board, National Watershed Programme in Rainfed

Areas (NWPRA) under Ministry of Agriculture and Integrated Wastelands DevelopmentProgramme in 1996 under Ministry of Rural Development and Employment. At present,

on-going 4 Central schemes IWDP,DPAP,DDP and NWDPRA have been merged into anew scheme called Bhoomi Vikas Yojana under a common guideline (Guideline for

Watershed Development, 1995 and revised in 2001) which envisages bottom-upapproach. The main aim is to manage the land and water resources for sustained

production. The watershed Development Programmes like DDP, Drought-Prone-Area-Programme (DPAP) and Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP) are

implemented by the Zilla Panchayats through Watershed Associations. A ProjectImplementing Agency can be a Government Department or NGO.

Both the Centre and State Governments have been making continuous and constant

efforts to improve the living standards of rainfed farmers through planned programmes.These programmes were implemented by both Government Organisation (GOs) and Non-

Government Organisations (NGOs). The focus is on giving technical support inwatershed projects, mapping of project areas design and implementation guidelines for

soil and water conservation structure like bunding, check dams, gully plugs, desiltation of tanks etc. The detailed planning and design for all soil and water conservation measures

is done with the consultation of each subject matter specialist such as engineer, forester,agronomist, social scientist, etc, in the watershed development team. The Government of

India has fixed the cost norm of watershed development, which is about Rs 6000/ha.

4. BAIF’s Integrated Watershed Development Approach

BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune launched its integrated watershed

development programme in various parts of the country in the year 1990 with theobjective of developing models of sustainable development in resource degraded areas.

Through its expert manpower, applied research and field experience in resourcemanagement and people's participation, BAIF has been working in watershed

development with the following objectives:

Promote appropriate technologies for efficient and sustainable use of rainwater.

Conservation of soil and improve the land productivity

Regenerate the vegetation cover on denuded wastelands, promote tree basedfarming systems and sustainable agriculture.

Improve Livestock Productivity

Bring the underprivileged sections of society in to the mainstream

Equip rural communities for sustainable management of the natural resources.



Create year round self-employment opportunities within the village.

These objectives shall lead to development of replicable region specific models of improved quality of life with sustainable management of natural resources. It should

finally reduce the poverty of the rural people.

BAIF’s approach emphasizes convergence of various priority sectors of rural villagers

into a micro watershed for sustainable development of the rural poor.

5. Project Areas

At present, the projects are being implemented in 31 districts in 6 states of India covering

131190 ha land spread over 260 micro-watersheds in about 360 villages. Projects aremainly located in drought prone areas of degraded natural resources with diverse agro-

climatic conditions. Most of the communities in the areas are socio-economicallybackward. The areas covered in different parts of the country are given below:

Table: Programme Coverage

State District Area

Covered

No. of Micro-

watersheds

Funding

Source



(hectares)

Gujarat Ahmedabad, Amreli,Bhavnagar, Bharuch,

Junagadh, Narmada,Panchmahal, Rajkot,

Valsad, Baroda,Mehsana,

Surendranagar, Dang,Kutchh

73,500 170 NWDP/ IWDP/

DRDA

Surat 544 1 CEC

Maharashtra Ahmednagar 3,833 5 IGWDP

Latur 500 1 DANIDA

Thane 367 1 CEC

Madhya

Pradesh

Guna, Vidisha, Rajgarh,

Jhabua

39,600 63 RGWM

Uttar Kanpur Dehat 835 2 ICEF

Pradesh Chitrakut 1463 2 WDFHamirpur 3000 4 WDF

Rajasthan Bundi 3286 2 ICEF

Karnataka Hassan 1500 1 ICEF

562 1 CECTumkur

1000 2 ICEF

Hassan 1200 5 NWDP

6. Activities and Strategy

BAIF is working in diverse agro-climatic, geographical and geo-hydrological situations.

Hence the approach for technical interventions is different in different regions althoughthe approach for implementation is the same.

Development of vegetation cover, surface water storage systems are predominant

activities in hilly terrain with shallow top soil while ground water recharge measures aremain the activities in the plains.

The micro-watershed development works are executed following the concept of Ridge -

to - Valley with the active participation of the local community.

6.1 In-situ Conservation Measures

The upper catchments of watershed with the wastelands are treated with contour trenches,recharge pits and development of vegetation cover. Afforestation and Silvipature

development on wastelands have been widely adopted by the people.



In most of the projects, farm ponds have been promoted for recharging the water in thearea of favourable private landowners. In the areas with deep pervious subsurface media,

mainly in Gujarat area, recharging of open wells has been the focus. Both these measuresare adopted for directing the surplus rainwater into sub-surface. Runoff is diverted with

the field bunding. Farm ponds /village ponds constructed so far in different watersheds

total 3507. During 1997 to 2002 a farm pond network approach for watersheddevelopment has been developed. About 1581 open wells are being used as rechargesources in various watershed locations.

6.2 Silvipasture and Afforestation

This includes developing silvipasture and forestry on village common lands and

wastelands owned by farmers. Soil and water conservation measures like trenching andbunding adopted along to check rainwater and develop a zero runoff model. The

Silvipasture help to conserve the natural resources and increase in biodiversity. Grassessuch as stylo hemata, Dhaman and others those are feasible in the region for improved

fodder and increase in income.

The main aim of this component is improving vegetative cover, as well as increase fueland fodder availability for use by and for the community. The species to be planted are to

be selected as per the needs of the community and site suitability.

Charagah committees including both men and women are formed to manage andmaintain the plantations.

6.3 Drainage Line Treatment

The treatments on natural drainages in a watershed start from the beginning of a small

gully by plugging it to stop erosion using locally available materials such as stone, soil,brush wood or live hedge. The total number of gully plugs is about 20000. In the middle

reaches to stop erosion, reduce runoff velocity and recharge the ground water, series of situation specific measures like dry stone bunds, earthen checkbunds, gabions are

constructed. The total numbers of gabion structures constructed are 9724.

In lower reaches of catchments, runoff water and the water percolated from area isharvested in streams. The water harvesting measures include both the conventional

structures such as Masonry Checkdam, Earthen Nalla Bunding and Percolation Tank andinnovative structures like Ferrocement Gabion and Underground Bandhara. The total

number of water harvesting structures constructed so far is 914.

6.4 Water Supply and Sanitation

The activities promoted for drinking water supply include roof water harvesting usingferrocement, spring development; well development, water storage dams and hand pump

installations. Kitchen waste recycling, ferrocement latrines, bathing platforms in the rural



areas are the main activities. Communities are motivated to maintain the hygienicconditions in and around the water sources.

6.5 Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable agriculture practices are promoted in all the watersheds, which mainlyinclude tree based farming, horticulture, cash crops, use of biofertilisers, etc.Development of pasture on village common lands and improved livestock management

are also the primary activities.

6.6 Livestock

This is one of prime component in BAIF’s activities of development. It includes

conservation of local breed and improved variety of cattle development through artificial

insemination. Along with this stall-feeding is encouraged to protect the naturalecosystem. Coupled with improvement in fodder and water availability, livestock

becomes important source of income to rural poor.

6.7 Energy Conservation & Recycling

Energy conservation devices are promoted to decrease the pressure on forests and trees infarmlnds for fuelwood consumption. The energy conservation devices include improved

chullas, wood stoves, biogas installation, pressure cookers etc.

The practices of vermicompost, NADEP compost and pit compost for increased use of organic fertilizers are also focused on.

In the watershed project of Hunasekatte village in Hassan district of Karnataka, a Community

Biogas plant has been established in 1997 for power generation. Fifty cubic meter capacity plant

generates electricity of 7.5 KVA. The electricity produced is supplied to 50 households and it alsoruns a drinking water supply pump. Villagers contribute the dung daily and a women’s SHG

management of plant collects Rs. 20/- per household towards electricity and service charges. In

addition to management of plant SHG also raises nursery on Panchayat land near the biogas plant

and earn profit of about Rs.20000 to Rs.25000 annually. Vermicomposting is the other activity of SHG.

7. People's Participation

The key to the success of the project and its sustainability is people's participation. For

achieving the desired participation of people, role of community organisations and/orcommunity groups is crucial. People play an active role right from project design up toproject maintenance. BAIF's watershed programme follows the chain of actions starting

with rapport building with people, PRA exercises, participatory planning, designing,building community organisations, participatory implementation and monitoring. Entry

point activities also play a very crucial role in developing rapport with the watershedcommunity. Capacity building is a continuous process from the beginning to the end.

The community organisations are mainly of the following form: (a) village level



watershed development group/committee (b) Self Help Groups of men and women both(c) team/group of village technicians (d) User Groups of any productive activity or asset

giving benefit to certain group and (e) a federation of different groups.

VWC: Village Watershed Committee WUG: Water User GroupSHG: Self Help Group

In general, the approach is, each participating family is part of at least one of the group.Thus the membership in the committee/group is for all. However if the strength of the

group exceeds the operative unit, then there may be two alternatives viz. to split thegroup or to select the representatives for management of the group from the existing

members. Initially the village community members select the representatives of thegroup. Later, after seeing the quality and utility of representatives, the local field officer

may reorganise the representative body. Adequate representation of women, different



castes and tribes, landless, members of local bodies like Panchayat, etc. is ensured.

8. Social and Gender Equity

Within the project design itself, the arrangements are made to reach the maximumbenefits to traditionally weaker sections especially economically backward class, womenand landless. The area-based interventions cover the entire range of the population.

However, the individual resource inputs such as providing capital for running micro-enterprises, developing the orchards in the farmlands, rights for non-consumptive use of

surface water storages are provided to the weaker groups. The decentralized approach of water resource development is adopted to make sure that the benefits reach to people on

the upper and middle reaches of the catchment.

People’s organizations have representatives from weaker groups. Measures have been

taken to reduce the workload of women and involve them in the mainstream project

activities. In addition women’s Self Help Groups are promoted in each project village.Various micro-enterprises are promoted to make them financially empowered. The

women's workload is considerably reduced due to easy access to safe drinking watersources, promotion of firewood plantations and inculcating the use of energy efficient

cooking devices. Efforts are taken to build the capacity of women and men throughtraining and exposure visits to developed areas. All this leads to active participation of

women in the watershed development projects. Special efforts have been made to reducegender gap in the projects.

9. Use of remote Sensing and GIS

BAIF is using Remote Sensing and GIS platform in Watershed Development fromimplementation phase. It Provide scientific inputs for planning, monitoring, management

and impact assessment on natural resource development, environment, infrastructureplanning etc.

10. Programme Outcome

The programme has demonstrated unprecedented effects on the social, economical andthe ecological issues. Below is a list of some outcomes in about 262 villages.

Increase In surface and Ground water Availability

Second crop area has increased by 20-25% over the baseline situation.

Year round access to safe drinking water.

The survey in Saurashtra region of Gujarat shows that there is about 50%

increase in yield of crops mainly groundnut and cotton. In Rajasthan area, crop

yield has doubled.

Over 6000 families are using energy saving devices and waste water recycling



and most of the villagers acquired skills in soil and water conservation practices.

Generation of gainful self-employment in the watersheds.

Greater awareness for conservation of natural resources

Agro-based small scale income generation activities are rapidly emerging.

Women along with men are taking part in community level decision making

process. Over 1000 people’s institutions are functional in the watershed areas.

Each project village has contributed lakhs of rupees to village level organizations

for maintenance of common assets and further developments.

Through its programme, BAIF has developed several innovative approaches for

watershed development in different regions, which have become highly replicable. Beloware some of such approaches / measures:

Farm Pond Network

A network of farm pond has been developed in a project in Hassan district of

Karnataka. The network captures entire runoff water, allows water to flow acrossthe slope and improves the surface and ground water availability. The dimensions

of ponds vary from 20’x20’x10’ to 30’x30’x10’ (6m x 6m x 3m to 9m x 9m x

3m). Each pond has an inlet chamber to trap the silt and outlet for allowing excess

water to flow out, which then joins the next pond in the chain. Stone pitching isprovided at inlet and outlet channels to protect them from scouring. The excess

water from the first pond goes to second and from second to the subsequent one inthe chain. In this manner, the entire runoff water is harvested in the area itself

through the web of ponds. In this watershed area one pond for 2 ha of area issufficient to harvest entire rainwater.

In addition to ponds, small gullies have been treated with gully plugs and water-

harvesting structures have been constructed in rivulets.

In the hot semi arid region of Rajasthan, a drought combating approach has beendeveloped through management of common and private land and rainwater

conservation with traditional and modern techniques.

Revival of Traditional Structure

The traditional structure revived and built under the BAIF-ICEF project, the cement dam withearthen banking and spillway has a length of 215 metres, width of 2.5 metres and height of 5

metres above the ground.

Built on the site of a highly damaged structure that had been built in the days of princely rule,

the dam has created a reservoir with storage capacity of 13 ha metres of water, which has

made a fundamental difference in the water availability situation in Thana.



Says Narayansinghji Rajput, one of the farmers who spearheaded the community effort for theconstruction of the dam, “The reservoir has recharged wells of around 80 families

downstream. For the first time in years, we have been able to get water from the village’s

piped water scheme through an overhead tank. Earlier, there was no groundwater to pump up

and fill the tank. For around 15 years before the construction of this dam, the situation in our

village was such that we wouldn’t even follow the normal custom of offering water to a

visitor. That was how the severe the problem was. Today, we have around half a dozen paddynurseries in this area.”

Construction of the dam, the largest ever community project undertaken in Thana, brought the

entire village together. Recalls Narayansinghji, “For 3-4 months, all caste and otherdistinctions were forgotten. Rajputs, Brahmins, Malis and everyone else worked together and

contributed in any way they could. The dam is being ably managed by a local committee.

It is called Bhimsagar, after the legendary Maharabharata character known for his sheer size,

and it has changed the profile of Thana village in many ways.

Underground Bandhara

In drainage course, favorable conditions were observed for storing waterunderground. Sandy soil with about 1-2 m depth underlained by clay, narrow

nalla width and gentle slope of bed with clayey banks made the structure highlysuccessful. Six structures were constructed in series. The cost per structure ranges

from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 3000. A trench of 1-1.5 m was refilled with clay soil withcompaction. This helped store water below surface & recharged the wells in the

vicinity. In the area of Bundi district where not a single drop of water is visiblein summer, the storage area of UGB had water just below 2-3 feet in the month of

April-May.

Ravine Land Reclamation

In Uttar Pradesh Ravine Land Reclamation approach with equitable waterutilization has been development. Ravine lands form the major part of the lands

here. These ravines are developed due to the continuous flooding of the Yamuna,which passes by the watershed area and the Sengur part of the watershed.

Ravine Lands of the project area have been reclaimed with following treatment

measures:

Development of vegetation cover in deep ravine area.

Contour bunding across the slopes to conserve the rainwater in situ and

stop soil erosion, The bunds have beed protected by developing grasscover.

Gully control using earthen bunds/plugs with vegetation cover on htem.

Masonry and composite checkdam for water harvesting and rechharge.

Each individual was not able to invest a huge amount for drilling a bore well and

installing an oil pump. Looking at this, the project initiated with an idea of forming groups for irrigation. Till date there are 14 bore well groups area formed.



Well recharging technique has been developed and used extensively in Saurashtra

region of Gujarat.

In the years, BAIF expects a number of self sufficient and environmentally sound villages

in the project area.

11. Linkages and Policy Influence

BAIF has been nominated as member of state and district level committees of watersheddevelopment programme in the states of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat. BAIF

Maharashtra (MITTRA) is nominated as Mother NGO for watershed developmentactivities in Thane & Nashik district of Maharashtra. BAIF has also shared its

experiences with the Planning Commission India. Through the demonstration of appropriate approaches and representation in different committees BAIF has been able to

influence the policies of watershed development at various level.

12. Research and Dissemination

BAIF's strength is its strong scientific base for development programmes. Keeping that

as the focus, a research project was implemented during 1992-96 in Maharashtra, todevelop the methodologies for conjunctive use of surface and ground water resources.

The methodologies and appropriate technologies developed for soil and waterconservation and use during the project have been adapted in different projects.

Continuous data is being generated for studying the effect and impact of differentmeasures adopted in all watershed areas. A research report on 'Conjunctive Use of Water

Resources in Deccan Trap (India)' has been published. A research was carried out on

“Integrating watershed development and water supply-sanitation” in five states. The

results have been documented and circulated widely. The outcomes of research, impactsof projects and the experience of the BAIF professionals has resulted in excellent

publications and audio-visuals on watershed for project holders.

The results are also disseminated through various workshops, conferences and trainingprogrammes.

List of References for further reading:

G.G. Sohani, B. K. Kakade et.al.; Conjunctive Use of water resources in Deccan Trap

(India)

B.K. Kakade; Soil and Water Conservation Structures in Watershed DevelopmentProgramme



B.K. Kakade, G.S. Neelam, K.J.Petare; Revival of Rivulets through Fram Pond BasedWatershed Development

B.K. Kakade, H.S. Kulkarni K.J.Petare; G.S. Neelam, A Marathe “Integrated

Drinking water Management, Impact of Watershed Development in different

Geohydrological and Socio-economic situations”

G.G. Sohani; Shaping Your Land

B.K. Kakade, N.G. Hegde; “Integrated Watershed Development: BAIF Approach” a

paper in ‘Integrated Rural Development for Sustainable Livelihood’.

S. Kanse, K.J. Petare B.K. Kakade and G.S. Neelam “Watershed Management using

GIS based Land Information System – Adihalli – Mylanhalli Watershed”

Documents

Watershed Experience of BAIF