IWMP-11 - 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 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-11 108