Water Users Association and Irrigation Management - Institute for ...

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tennite mounds on fields. They believed that soil from tennite mounds can make land more
fertile by altering the structure of topsoil and improving drainage in waterlogged soils. This
activity though labor intensive has been traditionally practiced in this village. These
techniques enable the fanners to use land and water and nutrients available in the soil more
efficiently, while reducing pests. The bio-fertilizers also help in arresting alkaliniti. The
migrant Andhra fanners who are traditional rice growers introduced this concept to the
WUA. They mutually discuss the problems related to cultivation and share the experience.
Some of them have visited the agriculture office at Gangavathi in order to collect
infonnation about the cultivation ofHYV. Around 70 percent of the fanners have taken the
help of the WUA for sheep penningH. The WUA enters into a contract with the shepherds
and sheep penning is done twice a year before the agricultural season to increase the
fertility of the soil. But the expenditure is borne by the individual fanners. The WUA also
makes arrangements for the provision of sand in the waterlogged areas and almost 32
percent of sample fanners have taken this benetit from the WUA. About 28 percent of
fanners have got technical assistance for land leveling and shaping. Hence, in Gundur the
WUA is actively involved in imparting infonnation and in the promotion of initiatives to
improve the ways in which fanners manage water and soil. Since the fanners are following
systematic preventive and curative strategies based on their perception, awareness given by
the WUA and age-old indigenous experience, the problem at this moment is not as severe
as in Hagedal. The impact of better water and soil management practises is gauged from
the increased yields (see Table-8.4). Although the WUA has aimed to control salinization
and waterlogging at least to some extent, they are better characterized as a by-product of
the activities, which guarantee adequate and reliable water supplies, i.e. the proper
maintenance and repair of the delivery system. The adoption of total control means is
impeded by lack of appropriate infonnation and the high costs involved in land
reclamation.
7 The first results of a test conducted on degraded sandy soil in Africa indicate that the organic fertilizers used
on the vegetables help arrest the effects of alkalinity (Dicko 1999). .. 0 .
8 Sh eep / goa t manure . ·I·dered to be better manure than cattle manure, where It contams 31 Yo of orgamc
IS cons . ." .
matter, O . 7
°' f N 05°' f PO and 03% of K,O It has a great potential for restonng SOil fertlhty and
/0 0 ,. /0 0 2 5 . , .
improving crop yields (Mueller-Saemann & Kotschi, 1994).
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