Natural Resource Management Through Watershed Development
Natural Resource Management Through Watershed Development
What is a watershed?
A Watershed can be defined as an independent hydrological unit. It is a drainage basin or catchment area of a particular stream or river. In simple terms, it refers to the entire upstream topography around a defined drainage channel which feeds water to the lands below. A watershed may vary from a few hectares to several thousands of hectares.
Why watershed development?
Man and his environment are interdependent. Any change in the surrounding environment directly affects the people living therein. A degraded environment results in a degraded quality of life for the people. Thus, a programme to reduce poverty and improve the standard of living of the people must be aimed at improving the environment they live in. Environmental degradation does not recognise administrative and political boundaries (e.g. village, taluka, etc.). A watershed provides the best environmental unit for planning a development programme.
Components of watershed development
Watershed development involves conservation, regeneration, and judicious utilisation of natural resources. It aims to bring about an optimum balance between the demand and use of natural resources so that they remain sustainable over time.
The components of watershed development are :
Soil and land management
Water management
Crop management
Afforestation
Pasture/fodder development
Livestock management
Rural energy management
Other farm and non-farm activities and
development of community skills and resources
All these components are interdependent and interactive.
Why people's participation?
There is a close relationship between the environment and the human community living within for its livelihood. When the economic condition of a community deteriorates, it leads to over-exploitation and degradation of natural resources.
It is necessary for people to understand the relationship between their poverty and the degraded environment they live in.
Environmental regeneration is possible only when the concerned people realize a need for it and are empowered to have control over the process of resource utilization, management and conservation.
As human beings and their activities are the primary cause of environmental degradation, they can restore the health of the environment they have ruined by resetting their ways and activities towards the environment around. Hence, there can be no sustainable natural resource management unless it involves the participation of all inhabitants of the concerned environment/area in an active manner.
Watershed Development Projects implemented by NABARD
The objectives of the Indo German Watershed Development are :
To develop micro-watersheds in a comprehensive manner, so as to create adequate and sustainable livelihood opportunities for the inhabitants of that area.
To catalyse to form village groups into mobilising their degraded environment through participatory self-help initiatives.
To facilitate the arising and unfolding of a people’s movement for sustainable economic development along watershed lines.
Poverty can be alleviated and eradicated when people realize their creative potential, come together and organize themselves based on self-help and community objectives.
Often a catalyst either from within the community or from outside e.g. a NGO, is required for such a transformation.
A watershed is not just a naturally occurring hydrological unit. More importantly, it is the area of survival and base of sustenance of all those living within it. It, thus, becomes necessary to draw the inhabitants together, generate a common interest and foster a common purpose.
Participatory and well-managed watershed development enhances the ecological resource base of a rural economy and creates sustainable livelihood opportunities for the watershed community.
A participatory approach involving all concerned, i.e. the watershed community (village), NGOs and Technical Support Organizations, is necessary, as integrated watershed development involves a variety of skills, disciplines and competencies.
To make an appreciable and lasting impact both on the incidence and the extent of poverty, a large scale effort involving the government, banks, agriculture universities must be made.
The coming together of people’s initiative and supportive institutional and policy framework could create conditions favourable to the unfolding and establishment of a people’s movement for environmental regeneration on watershed basis.
Main strategies adopted under IGWDP:
While a micro-watershed is identified by its physical characteristics, it is the peoples' commitment that decides for inclusion or otherwise in the programme. It is in effect a "self-selection" process.
People are asked to demonstrate their willingness/eagerness to undertake the watershed project by visiting nearby watershed for experience / exposure and agreeing to contribute 4 days of shramdan (voluntary labour) initially without any support from the programme.
Villagers agree to bring down the cattle population within the carrying capacity of the land, ban free grazing and tree felling and eschewing crops which require more amount of irrigation.
A pilot project - 50 to 100 ha - is taken up for treatment measures where the competence and willingness of the community / villagers and the ability of the NGO to mobilise and work with the villagers are put to acid test. This project lasts for 12 - 18 months period and affords the right opportunity for learning while doing. Technical skills required in soil and water management are demonstrated, practised and refined in the field itself.
A peoples' organisation called "Village Watershed Committee" (VWC) with adequate representation of women is formed for planning, implementing and eventual maintenance of the treatment measures / structures. VWC is responsible to Gram Sabha or entire village community.
Village community is asked to partner the process of watershed development through it's contribution of one-day-a-week free labour contribution (shramdan of nearly 16% of project measures). Of course, as an incentive for it's participation, the programme envisages ploughing back 50% of free labour contribution to the maintenance funds of VWC.
The treatment measures follow a "ridge to valley approach". The "net-planning" approach adopted demands survey of each of the plots in the watershed and suggests appropriate technical measures for conservation and improvement in consultation with the farmer and his family.
Efforts are made to encourage VWC to think of ways and means to involve the landless in project activities and design appropriate systems of benefits arising from common property resources.
The women in the community, besides being represented in the VWC, are encouraged to form SHGs and undertake project related activities like raising a nursery, kitchen gardens, in addition to inculcating the habit of thrift and funds management / rotation of funds amongst themselves. Besides, women promotion/development activities are undertaken from a "Women's development Fund" set up by earmarking 5% of project measures.
The village community and NGO are allowed to implement the full scale watershed project only on successful completion of Capacity Building Phase (CBP) of the project. This strategy has to a large extent eliminated the incidence of failure at a later stage.
The village community in association with NGO manages the entire fund meant for project measures. The management costs of NGOs are funded separately.
A maintenance fund is created out of peoples' contribution, ploughing back 50% of voluntary labour and also an end-of - the- project incentive for future repairs and maintenance of structures.
The village community is made aware of the exit requirements of NGO towards the later part of the project to allow VWC to take charge of future maintenance, development and possibilities.
Partners and their roles
The Gram Sabha, the body representing the entire village, accepts and ratifies the project.
The VWC plans, implements and supervises the project.
The NGO motivates and mobilizes the watershed communities and plays the role of facilitator and guide to the VWC during the project period.
Concerned Government Departments, Technical Support Organisations and Agricultural Universities provide extension support during the implementation process as and when sought for.
NABARD and WOTR give technical training and managerial support, besides monitoring the programme.
The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and German Development Bank (KfW) provide financial assistance to the Capacity Building Phase (CBP) and Full Implementation Phase (FIP) of Indo-German Watershed Development Programme through the GoI, NABARD and WOTR.
The Programme Coordination Unit with representation from NABARD and WOTR coordinates the implementation of the programme.
Structure of the programme
The Programme consists of two Phases :
Capacity Building Phase (CBP):
This phase is administered by WOTR wherein village communities and NGOs prepare, plan, implement and supervise watershed projects, but who may not have the necessary skills and capabilities. It enables village communities and NGOs to acquire the necessary skills and competency and qualify for inclusion in Full Implementation Phase.
Full Implementation Phase (FIP):
After successful completion of CBP, the project enters FIP which is the main phase administered by NABARD in association with support organizations like WOTR and other NGOs.
Women promotion/ gender integration
For gender mainstreaming and empowerment of women, women are involved at every stage of the project. The VWC has 30% representation by women. Further, there is a special provision of Women's Development Fund under the programme by earmarking 5% of project funds for forming Self Help Groups and promoting savings and lending activities, for taking up 'Social Development' and 'Income generating activities'. The activities which have been taken up by women out of this fund so far include:
drinking water schemes,
drainage repair,
soak pits,
kitchen gardens,
Community halls,
flour mill on group basis,
dairy, poultry, stall fed goat rearing,
health camps,
exposure visits
A study recently conducted suggests that this component of the programme has enabled the women to enter the mainstream of society and place themselves in a position of decision making capability.
Impact of the programme
The feedback from regular monitoring by NABARD and the three project evaluation studies conducted, highlight the impact of IGWDP as under:
Drinking water scarcity in the villages has been overcome.
Significant improvement in local employment generation. The villages which used to experience off-season migration, now report minimum migration. Even many families who have migrated earlier, returned to the villages.
Increased number of wells have perennial water and a rise in the water levels of almost all wells in the watershed observed.
Increase in agricultural production due to:
Increase in rabi and summer crop area
Adoption of better varieties of crops
Improvement in yield of crops
Increased area under irrigation
Diversification of cropping (e.g. to horticulture) and,
Additional area, which was so far waste land, brought under cultivation
Improvement in the condition of the landless due to continuous wage availability during project implementation in their village itself and through increased agricultural activity in post-project period.
Taking up of dairy activity in large scale through adoption of cross bred/ improved cows due to availability of higher quantum of grass.
The demand for credit had gone up significantly and dependence on money lenders reduced due to self help group activity.
With strong community involvement, loan repayments have improved.
There are secondary effects like visible improvements in housing and jump in school attendance.
Sustainability and post-watershed development:
For sustaining the impact of the watershed and maintaining the assets created under the project after the project implementation is complete, there is a provision for Maintenance Fund which is built by ploughing back 50% of contributed Shramdan (voluntary labour) rendered by villagers as well as collection from the village community. In post watershed development period, VWCs are contributing in several ways for maintenance of structures, establishing linkages with extension and credit agencies, etc. The VWC of one of our projects, Bhoyare Khurd, has gained enough experience and confidence by implementing one project to function as facilitator in place of NGO for another nearby project.
Major learnings under IGWDP:
People's participation is an essential component of watershed development. With commitment and conviction, people can discipline themselves for their betterment.
Villagers need to contribute their stake/share(voluntary labour etc.) and feel the ownership of the project.
Creating people's organisations like VWC for planning, implementing and maintenance is a must for success and sustainability.
Having a pilot phase for proof testing the abilities and motivation of community and NGO during the CBP phase insures against most of future chances of failure.
Women and landless need to be integrated into the project design appropriately.
Technical considerations and skills for soil and water management, based on "ridge-to-valley" principle can be understood by villagers through learning-by-doing, demonstration/exposure visits, etc.
The village community should manage the funds for project measures through the VWC for total transparency and cost effectiveness. However, timely availability of funds in adequate measure in advance is a critical requirement for watershed projects.
The success of IGWDP has led to setting up of Watershed Development Fund (WDF) of Rs. 200 crores within NABARD with equal contribution by NABARD and GoI to spread the message of participatory Watershed Development in another 100 districts of the country.
IGWDP Maharashtra Phase I (completed)
The Indo-German watershed Development Programme (IGWDP) is an open ended programme of soil and water conservation development projects for the rehabilitation of watersheds in Maharashtra.IGWDP Maharashtra Commenced in 1990-91 with the sanction of Rs. 26.66 crore (€ 6.14 million) of assistance. It was completed in 1999-00 with the successful completion of 26 projects (5 projects were terminated under various stage of implementation). 39,300 ha of land was treated fully utilising the sanctioned grant portion of Rs. 26.66 crore.
IGWDP Maharashtra Phase II (Ongoing)
IGWDP Maharashtra Commenced in 1999-00, but was run concurrently with the IGWDP Maharashtra Phase I. A grant amount of Rs. 56.84 crore (€ 12.78 million) was sanctioned under this phase. So far 60 projects have been successfully completed in various districts of the country while 12 are ongoing (7 projects were terminated under various stage of implementation). Approximately 72,760 ha have been treated so far under this phase. As on 31 March 2006, a grant amount of Rs. 52.72 crore has been utilised for various purposes under the programme against a receipt of Rs. 56.84 crore.
IGWDP Maharashtra Phase III (Ongoing)
The Separate agreement for IGWDP Maharashtra Phase III was signed by KfW and NABARD on 25 January, 2005. The total commitment under this phase is for approximately Rs. 110 crore (€ 19.94 million). 28 projects have already been committed under Phase III. Of which 9 projects were ongoing and 19 projects were in the preparatory stage. Separate accounting of expenditure under Phase III commenced from 01 January 2006.
Summary
Accordingly, 86 projects have been successfully completed under IGWDP Maharashtra while 21 are ongoing. 19 projects are in the preparatory stage while 12 have been terminated under various stages of implementation. A summary of projects under various stages of implementation in various phase are given below
Phase
Total
Completed
Ongoing
FR stage
Terminated
Phase I
31
26
0
0
5
Phase II
79
60
12
0
7
Phase III
28
0
9
19
0
Total
138
86
21
19
12
About 1,05,000 ha has so far been treated ( in the completed and ongoing projects). The projects fall in 25 districts of Maharastra.Approximately, 26,000 families benefited from the projects
B. IGWDP - Andhra Pradesh as on 31 March 2006
Kfw has comiitted to provide grant assistance of Rs.486.6 million (Euro 8.69 million) for the first phase of rehabilitation of watersheds in four districts of Andhra Pradesh viz. Adilabad, Karimnagar, Medak and Warangal. A Programme Support Unit has been set up at Andhra Pradesh RO for smooth implementation of the project and MoU has been signed with the Forest Department of the State for treating forest area falling in the watershed. Nine projects have been sanctioned under the programme envisaging coverage of approximately 10,000 ha with the help of 7 NGOs. The cumulative expenditure incurred for project measures and management expenses so far was Rs.6.67 million. The total expenditure under IGWDP including expenditure for capacity building , PSU was Rs.18.235 million.
C. IG
WDP-Gujarat
Envisages rehabilitation of about 32 watersheds in Dahod, Panchmagal, Sabarkantha and Vadodhara districts og Gujarat.
Separat agreement signed on 07 February 2006
Five watersheds have been selected and the shramadan / CBP will commence shortly.
D. IGWDP-Rajasthan
Kfw, Germany has committed to provide grant assistance of Rs.616 million (Euro 11 million) for Watershed Development Programme in Rajathan. The Project will be implemented in 4 districts viz., Banswara, Chittorgarh, Dungarpur & Udaipur to establish 30-40 watershed projects.
Watershed Development Fund
1. Genesis
1.1 The Union Finance Minister, in his budget speech for 1999-2000 had announced the creation of a Watershed Development Fund (WDF) with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) with broad objectives of unification of multiplicity of watershed development programmes into a single national initiative through involvement of village level institutions and PFAs.
1.2 In pursuance thereof WDF has been created in NABARD with a contribution of Rs.100 crore each by MoA, Government of India (GoI) and NABARD.
2. Objectives of WDF
2.1 The objective of the Fund is to spread the message of participatory watershed development. The Fund will be utilised to create the necessary framework conditions to replicate and consolidate the isolated successful initiatives under different programmes in the government, semi-government and NGO sectors. Thereby, all the partners involved viz., watershed community, central and state government departments, banks, agricultural research institutions, NGOs and NABARD can act in concert to make a breakthrough in participatory watershed development. WDF is proposed to be operationalised in close coordination with the Central and State Ministries as a continuum of their efforts but with a distinct identity.
3. Importance of Participatory Approach
3.1The Watershed Development Program to be successful must involve the participation of the concerned people and must be related to the environment in which they live, and on which they depend for their needs. This involves the following :
It has to be focused on the regeneration and equitable use of the resources in the particular environment on which the village depends for its needs. A watershed provides a naturally occurring hydrological unit and is also the area on which the inhabitants depend for survival. It thus becomes a common issue drawing the people together, giving rise to a common interest and fostering a common purpose.
The people voluntarily must come together and accept full responsibility for regenerating their environment from concept to planning, implementation, supervision, maintenance of project measures and associated practices. This would imply consensus in arriving at a common understanding regarding rules and regulations and the setting up of mechanisms for organisation of works, sharing of benefits and resolution of conflicts.
To make the project sustainable, it is necessary for all the key actors, like the Watershed Community, NGOs, Banks, Government Institutions and Technical Service Organisations, to participate actively and in close coordination with each other.
3.2 Participatory watershed development must be implemented on a “large enough scale” at different places to create many success stories, each of which can act as nuclei, becoming a source of inspiration and demonstration for neighbouring villages. This would provide a major impetus for the unfolding of a “people’s movement” for regeneration of environment.
4. Utilisation of WDF
4.1 The Fund will be utilised mainly for the following purposes :
Promotional efforts with Communities, NGOs, SHGs, Panchayats, Bankers and Government Departments on grant basis.
Taking up "capacity building" projects, on grant basis, with Communities, NGOs, SHGs and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in different states.
Selectively, full scale financing of collaborative watershed projects on a pilot basis, with grant and/or loan finance, with any of the partners mainly for trying out new institutional or other arrangements.
Supplementary flexible financing (grant and/or loan) for watershed projects, on selective basis, in government programmes, to fill in the critical gaps perceived in the field but which are not met under the existing budgetary arrangements.
Financing implementation of watershed projects through the state governments on loan basis.
Supporting (on grant and/or loan basis) promotional activities for micro-credit; promotion of SHGs of women, land-less, members of the SC/ST communities and other weaker sections of the community and other related activities in the watershed development program.
The WDF is to be operated flexibly and apart from the activities stated above, other related and essential activities will also be supported (on grant and/or loan basis).
4.2 The Fund has two components viz., loan and grant. Two-third of the Fund will be for loans to the state governments for watershed development and one-third will be for grant based activities covering promotional efforts, capacity building (implementing micro watershed projects), replication of Indo-German watershed development model (implemented in Maharashtra) in other states etc. In addition, NABARD will actively make efforts to intensify the credit flow in the developed watersheds through its general resources by providing refinance to the banks for all eligible activities, so that the watershed community could take full advantage of soil and water conservation measures undertaken.
5. Criteria for selection of watersheds
5.1 Watersheds covering villages with the following physical and socio-economic characteristics are preferred for inclusion in the programme :
5.2 Physical characteristics
a. Dry and drought prone villages. In any case the proportion of irrigated area may not exceed the average for the state or 30% which ever is lower.
b. Villages with noticeable soil erosion, land degradation, resource depletion or water scarcity problems.
c. Villages in the upper part of drainage systems.
d. The size of a watershed project should be around 1000 ha.
(but not less than 500 ha.)
e. Well defined watersheds with the village boundaries coinciding to the greatest extent possible with the watershed boundary. As far as possible, Watershed encompassing one village is ideal.
f. Villages where the general cropping sequence does not include high water demanding and long duration crops like sugarcane, banana etc. and if such crops are grown in small pockets in the watershed, the villagers should agree that the area under such crops will not be extended during implementation or after completion of the watershed development project.
5.3 Socio-economic characteristics
a. Predominantly poor villages.
b. High proportion of SC/ST in the total population.
c. There should not be much difference in the size of the land holdings.
d. Villages with a known history of coming together for common causes.
e. Villages that have shown concern for resource conservation.
f. Villages with alternative sources of employment must not be selected as the past experience indicates that the programme in such areas would not pick up.
g. Villages that are willing to commit themselves to the following conditionalities :
(i) to ban clear felling of trees,
(ii) to ban free grazing and in treated areas for protecting vegetation,
(iii) to reduce the livestock population if in excess, and maintain the same at the carrying capacity of the watershed (number which can be supported by the watershed),
(iv) to ban cultivation of water intensive crops like sugarcane and banana or atleast not to increase the area under such crops from the present position,
(v) to contribute initially four days of “shramdan” on watershed treatment works by the entire village community and later, once selected for the programme to contribute by way of “shramdan” or otherwise 16% of the unskilled labour costs of the project and also to collect such contribution EQUITABLY (impartially and in a just manner) from the village community. The landless and poor single parent households are excluded from such a contribution,
(vi) promote equity for women and poor through preferential allocation of usufruct rights in common lands.
(vii) to start and contribute to a Watershed Maintenance Fund, from the second or third year onwards to maintain and upgrade the treatments and assets created under the project, at a rate of Rs.100/- per land owning families.
(viii) to take all such steps as are necessary for achieving and maintaining a sustainable production system,
(ix) to constitute, at the village level, a body called the Village Watershed Committee (VWC) which would have to be registered during the implementation phase within 6 months of the commencement of the work, so that it can undertake responsibility for maintenance of all the valuable assets created and generated by the project.
6. Who will Participate in the Programme ?
6.1 State Governments willing to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to avail loan out of the Fund and agree to furnish a mandate in favour of Reserve Bank of India (RBI)/ letter of undertaking for repayment of principal and payment of interest, with NABARD shall be eligible to participate in the programme.
6.2 Based on the criteria prescribed in para 5, following States have been identified eligible to participate - Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and West Bengal.
7. Criteria for Selection of Districts
7.1 The Budget announcement envisages coverage of 100 districts in three years. The districts will be selected in consultation with the concerned State Government. For selecting districts, preference is given where the percentage of irrigation is less than 30%, where there is a concentration of SC/ST population and where the extent of rainfed farming & potential for watershed development is large.
7.2 Priority will be given to the districts having the lowest proportion of irrigated area in the state, subject to the availability of basic ingredients needed for successful implementation of watershed development projects.
8. Commitment of Village Community
8.1 To enable the village community to have first hand experience of watershed development and to demonstrate their commitment for implementing a watershed project, they should be willing to :
a. Visit other developed watersheds (exposure visits)
b. Appoint selected village youth and key persons and sending them for specific training programmes
c. Prepare and implement a demonstration or pilot project for a small area of the watershed of about 50-100 ha.
9. Criteria for selection of NGOs
9.1The nodal agencies of the State Government may implement watershed development projects through NGOs which are funded out of WDF loan. Even if the Project Facilitating Agency (PFA) is other than NGO the same criteria could be utilised with necessary modifications. The following shall be the criteria for selection of NGOs.
a. Reputation and financial management capacity- Three years Annual reports of the PFA shall be submitted [ IV Project Sanctioning Committee meeting held on 26 March 2004].
b. Method of operation and rapport with people and local government agencies.
c. Perspective on watershed development.
d. Nature of projects handled in the past.
e. Technical and managerial capability.
f. Sensitivity towards group action /conflict resolution and equity for poor and women.
g. Ability to motivate the community for providing ‘Shramdan’ in the village where they propose to work.
9.2 The PFA should have been active in the area for a significant period before proposing a watershed project for the area. PFAs and watershed communities willing to implement a watershed project, if selected, have to go through a Proofing Stage (please see chapter IV for details) and meet the qualifying criteria before they undertake a large scale project.
Progress as on 31 August 2006:
As on 31 August 2006, 427 CBP projects (369 under loan and 58 under grant) were sanctioned with total grant assistance of Rs.21.13 crore. These projects are spread over in 121 districts in 14 States. An area of 0.39 lakh hectares has been covered during the CBP which would eventually cover approximate area of 4.11 lakh hectares on completion of FIP. Out of the 427 CBP projects, 234 projects cleared for preparing feasibility reports with a grant assistance of Rs.2.23 crore and of this, 139 projects graduated to FIP with a total commitment of Rs. 68.12 crore
Implementation of watershed development projects in distress districts
GoI has identified 31 districts ( Maharashtra - 6; Karnataka- 6; Kerala - 3; and Andhra Pradesh - 16 ) as distress districts. It has been decided to implement watershed projects aggregating 15000 ha in each of the identified 31 distress districts where farmers are in acute distress with full grant support (approximately Rs.270 crore). The projects in Vidharbha region of Maharashtra have already been lunched. The projects in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala would be launched shortly.
Distress Districts identified by GoI
Maharashtra
Akola
Vardha
Amravati
Buldhana
Washim
Yavatmal
Andhra Pradesh
Prakasam
Mehbubnagar
Guntur
Medak
Nellore
Nalagonda
Chittoor
Nizamabad
Ananthapur
Rangareddy
Kurnool
Karimnagar
Khammam
14Warangal
15 Adilabad
16.Cuddappa
Karnataka
Belgaum
Hasan
Chitradurga
Chickmagloor
Kodagu
Shimoga
Kerala
Wayanad
Palakkad
Kasargod
Integrated Watershed Development in South Bihar
The Empowered Committee on Rastriya Sam Vikas Yojana in its meeting held on 12 August 2004 had approved the project ' Integrated Watershed Development of South Bihar' submitted by NABARD with an outlay of Rs. 60 crore (entirely on grant basis). The programme envisages development of 80,000 ha. of degraded land in Jamuai, Banka, Gaya, Nawada, Munger, Aurangabad, Bhabua and Rohtas district in South Bihar with 'participatory approach'. Against the allocation of Rs.60 crore, the Planning Commission has already released Rs.10 crore to NABARD under the programme. Seventeen projects covering an area of 16,068 ha with a grant assistance of Rs.93.62 lakh for Capacity Building Phase were sanctioned.
