IWMP-3 - Commissionerate of Rural Development Gujarat State ...

DWDU, Rajkot
Agriculural Improvement programme
Our understanding is that without addressing the crucial area of end-use regulation, no amount of rainwater harvesting is going to work.
For this the most important requirement is the working out of a sustainable package of practices for dryland agriculture. This is moreover
an alternative to the Green Revolution, which largely bypassed the drylands or is completely inappropriate for them. It is believed that the
economy must be viewed as a sub-system of the larger eco-system, which comprises not merely human beings but also natural resources
and non-human species.
The watershed village area has seen penetration of Green Revolution (GR) inputs in agriculture, which is the main occupation of the
people. Cotton that was the main crop of the area is becoming completely unviable because of high pesticide costs. Despite excessive use
of pesticides, pestilence remains an intractable problem. The inputs available to them are often sub-quality. For example, local dealers
dispose of expired pesticides to illiterate farmers. Farmers are in general suffering because of high input costs. However, their problem is
that they perceive no alternative to the GR package. What is worse, the catchment areas have suffered severe denudation of forest cover in
recent years. This has raised the rate of soil erosion and surface runoff. Biodiversity has also been adversely affected. There is a fodder and
fuel crisis in the area. In the recent 3-year drought, the worst impact was on cattle. Within this context, our attempt (see Figure below) is to
forge several new links within the elements of the natural resource base of the area (climate, rainfed agriculture, wastelands, forests, and
crop residues, animal and human wastes and decentralized energy sources). With soil and water conservation technologies, surface runoff
is minimised which improves the level of soil moisture. Loss of essential soil nutrients is also reduced. And harvested runoff is recycled to
agricultural land through water harvesting structures. The utilisation of soil moisture through vegetative systems strengthens the flows of
fodder, firewood. Non-woody biomass from the regenerated forests and commons, as well as part of the crop residues, is returned to the
soil through microbial decomposition. Revegetation of the commons also provides material for direct incorporation into soil as green
manure. Animal wastes are directed to biogas plants, from which bio-energy is supplied either to the households for cooking. The organic
residue from the biogas plant (digested slurry) goes to enrich the soil as a nitrogen- rich fertiliser.
Detailed Project Report: IWMP-III 98