Indigenous Practices for Soil and Water Conservation - Agropedia

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the local sangham, rather than by contractors. 5. The watershed plan should not be hastily implemented. The usual tendency to exhaust funds and achieve physical targets within a financial year does not facilitate quality performance. A proper flow of funds must be ensured, with a provision to carry over the budget to the following year if necessary, without too much difficulty. 6. Where technically feasible, farmers prefer to invest in erosion control measures in a phased manner rather than all at once. This approach helps to reduce costs, and should also be considered in government-supported watersheds. Therefore budget provisions should also be phased. 7. There is a need to provide outside technical help to consult on the design of indigenous SWC structures, and to implement effective SWC measures on common and public land. However, on private land, farmers must give t h e i r f i n a l approval o n the design o f structures i n t h e i r f i e l d s . 8. There should be a provision for incentives and awards for watershed authorities to implement cost-effective programs. This will encourage innovativeness and high-quality work, and will help counter opposition from watershed authorities who stand to lose from altering the current incentive structure. 9. NGOs can play a role at different stages of watershed planning, execution, and evaluation. Their major contribution could be at the motivational and organizational level. They can train watershed authorities in participatory planning and implemention methods and help strengthen the sangham, which will play an important role in flexible programs. 10. Assistance for watershed development, both internal and from abroad, should not dictate the type of materials and technical designs to be used. Watershed plans must be location-specific because geographical, agroclimatological, and socioeconomic conditions, vary, as do preferences. 1 1 . Multidisciplinary watershed teams should be constituted and brought under a single authority for administrative controls. The current system, in which different line departments act in isolation from each other, often creating contradicting plans, must be abolished. I V . E d u c a t i o n a n d T r a i n i n g 1. The need to learn about indigenous SWC practices from farmers cannot be overemphasized. However, a prerequisite for this learning is a willingness to learn, and the realization that farmers have something to offer. Thus, effective learning has to be preceded by a change in attitudes and behavior towards the farmer. 2. The process of attitude change has to start from the top, from teachers in universities to policymakers/implementers in government. Policymakers can be reached through workshops, seminars, newspaper articles, lobbying by special interest groups, a n d donor agencies. In a d d i t i o n , books a n d j o u r - 50
nal articles are useful to target teachers and researchers. This group can also be encouraged by research awards and grants to study indigenous knowledge using innovative methods such as participatory rural appraisal (PRA). Positive reinforcement through proper recognition is important to promote learning from farmers. 3. The development of relevant training and educational material is important. This should include videos, slides, books, and textbooks. Dependence on technical manuals should be avoided as they tend to standardize information. This creates reluctance to deal with any information or observation that does not fit into the standard format of the manual. Training materials should be reasonably priced, to ensure easy access to all categories of potential users. 4. A major hurdle is the shortage of training capacity, which must be increased. The present system of extension education was considered inadequate for two reasons. Firstly, it is confined to state agricultural universities. Secondly, the inability among teachers and students to realize that extension workers have anything to learn from farmers. This again underlines the need for a change in attitude towards farmers. 5. Funding for research awards, textbook development, etc., is available through many international agencies. National organizations such as the University Grants Commission, the Indian Council of Social Science Research, etc., must provide more funding for research on indigenous knowledge and PRA methods. It is hoped that some of this research will lead to t h e development of t r a i n i n g and teaching materials. V. M a n a g e m e n t of C o m m o n P r o p e r t y R e s o u r c e s Development of common property resources requires community participation and organization; therefore NGOs have a special role to play. 1. There is a need to categorize t h e community into a number of small homogeneous groups so that every group's interests are understood and addressed. A separate, composite watershed sangham should be formed comprising of two or three representatives from each homogeneous group. 2. A thorough analysis of the present distribution of benefits of common property resources in a watershed must be made before any new development program is started. 3. The concept of "perceived equity" should be the main guiding force in the identification of future beneficiaries of the developed common property resource. Special consideration should be given to women and the landless. 4. Particular efforts are needed to develop fodder, fuel, and raw materials for the common land resource so that it may help generate additional employment for landless families, particularly during lean employment periods. This is crucial to encourage them to protect vegetative cover and so conserve soil and water on common or public land. 51
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A b s t r a c t Citation: Kerr, J.M
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Scientific Editor: J . M . Kerr Pub
Page 6 and 7: Participatory Methods: The Only Way
Page 9 and 10: Objectives The Workshop brought tog
Page 11 and 12: ment Commissioner of Andhra Pradesh
Page 13 and 14: were true no farmer would ever plan
Page 15 and 16: ever, require a broad, interdiscipl
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Page 20 and 21: Moisture conservation. The major wa
Page 22 and 23: Opportunity Cost of Time Farmers wi
Page 24 and 25: The s t u d y is based on observati
Page 26 and 27: Figure 2. Complementary Roles of Fa
Page 28 and 29: Indigenous Soil and Water Conservat
Page 30 and 31: However, these traditional strategi
Page 32 and 33: along gradients toward a domestic g
Page 34 and 35: • On land that cannot support agr
Page 37 and 38: Participatory Impact Monitoring of
Page 39 and 40: Relevance of P a r t i c i p a t o
Page 41 and 42: These categories are important espe
Page 43 and 44: sangham at the rate of Rs 2m- 1 for
Page 45 and 46: Participatory Planning in the Kabba
Page 47 and 48: sericulture, fisheries, groundwater
Page 49 and 50: the most highly motivated group in
Page 51: Recommendations
Page 54 and 55: 5. There seems to be a large differ
Page 58 and 59: 5. Research and experimentation are
Page 60 and 61: 7. Technical assistance is needed t
Page 62 and 63: Ramachandran Rathod, Devalu Naik, a
Page 64: Working Group Participants Technolo
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