Living Land

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] 97

Restoring lands and livelihoods in rain-fed areas

through community watershed management

Suhas P Wani and Kaushal K Garg, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, India

nsuring food security and reducing poverty for

a global population that will grow to 9 billion

by 2050 is a challenging task.

Increased food

production has to come from available, limited water

and land resources.

Water scarcity is acute, particularly

in developing countries like India, China and Thailand

where population pressure is high, physical scarcity of

water is expected and countries are struggling to eradi-

cate poverty and improve quality of life.

Blue water availability in most of the river basins is declin-

ing as available water resources are already allocated among

various sectors and no scope exists to harvest it further.

3,4

Moreover, significant uncertainty is arising on future water

and food availability due to increased vulnerability of drylands.

Extreme events like flash floods or longer dry spells; more dry

or wet years; temperature change and pest/disease infestation

are among the characteristics driven by climate change.

Use

efficiency of land and water resources must be enhanced, espe-

cially in rain-fed systems which hold huge untapped potential

to address present and future food security.

6,7,8,9,10

A large percentage of rural families in Asia (60 per cent)

and Africa (70-80 per cent) is largely dependent on agricul-

ture and allied sectors. There are a number of challenges such

as fragmentation of farmlands, low crop yields, water scarcity,

land degradation and inability to access credit and markets.

However, crop productivity of these farms is two to five times

lower than the achievable potential. Per capita availability of

land is declining continually with the growing population.

Further, most of the cultivated lands as well as common prop-

erty resource lands are degraded and continue to degrade

further, particularly in Asia and Africa. The International

Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

and its partners have been working to develop various natural

resources management technologies to bridge the yield gaps

and to harvest the potential of rain-fed areas since 1976. For

example, various

in-situ

and

ex-situ

soil and water conservation

technologies to enhance/maintain land capability and green and

blue water availability were developed at farm and commu-

nity scale; their suitability was evaluated for different soil types

and cropping systems; and they were demonstrated through

on-station research experiments at ICRISAT and on-farm

farmers’ participatory trials along with consortium partners.

8,9,10

Based on the lessons learned from different evaluation studies,

an ICRISAT-led consortium has developed a farmer participa-

tory integrated watershed management approach adopting a

holistic integrated genetic and natural resource management

strategy to increase productivity, production and profitability

through building partnerships. ICRISAT later expanded and

strengthened the Inclusive Market Oriented Development strat-

egy to link smallholder farmers to markets and ensure profits

through innovative collective action using new information and

communication technologies.

ICRISAT and its partners have established sites of learning

(500-2,000 ha scale) in different rainfall and ecological regions,

demonstrating the potential of rain-fed system through an

integrated watershed management approach. The following

case studies from India, China and Thailand represent differ-

ent ecosystems, demonstrating the suitability of the integrated

watershed management approach to minimize land degrada-

tion, overcome water scarcity and harness the potential of

rain-fed agriculture in Asia.

Adarsha Watershed, southern India

The Adarsha watershed in Kothapally is located in the

Shankarpally mandal of the Ranga Reddy district of

Telangana (previously Andhra Pradesh). Before 1999, this

village suffered acute water shortage, land degradation and

poor agricultural and livestock productivity. Eighty per

cent of its 462 ha of agricultural land was rain-fed with a

monocropping system. The main crops were cotton, maize,

sorghum and pigeonpea with productivity of 1,000-1,500

kg ha

-1

of sorghum/maize and 200 kg ha

-1

of pigeonpea.

There were 62 open wells. Most of these dried up soon after

monsoon and the women walked 2-3 km to fetch drinking

water from February until the monsoon arrived.

At the request of the district administrator and the government

Drought Prone Area Programme, ICRISAT and its consortium

partners (the Government of Andhra Pradesh; MV Foundation,

a non-governmental organization; the Central Research Institute

for DrylandAgriculture; and theNational Remote Sensing Agency)

started implementing watershed technologies between 1999 and

2004. Various soil and water conservation practices, productivity

enhancement, crop diversification and intensification work along

with knowledge-based entry point activities were introduced.

Groundwater availability increased from 3.5 m to 6.0 m due to

various soil andwater conservation interventions. Due to increased

availability of water resources, the entire watershed transformed

from degraded to more productive. Cropping intensity increased

from 85 per cent to 150 per cent and large numbers of farmers

shifted from low-value crops to high-value crops (Bt. Cotton and

vegetables). Average crop yields of sole maize increased by 2.2

iving

and