Watershed Project Aim to Improve Farmers' Incomes

The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) and a consortium of partners have pioneered a model to better manage watersheds in India, China, Vietnam and Thailand, and East Africa. The results have been positive and the response enthusiastic.

The President of India, His Excellency APJ Abdul Kalam, has recommended that the ICRISAT model be used throughout drier areas of the country. The National Commission on Farmers, chaired by Dr. M. S. Swaminathan, supports the ICRISAT approach because it has been shown to improve livelihoods in drought-prone rural districts.

According to Dr. William Dar, ICRISAT Director General, "Using the micro watershed as a geographical unit for soil and water conservation and management strengthens the impact of agronomical practices and diversified income generation activities."

Dr. Suhas P. Wani, ICRISAT's principal watershed scientist, explains that the emphasis is on increasing incomes. "Once villagers are convinced that the innovations improve their livelihood security, they become ambassadors to the cause, convincing neighboring villages to practice watershed development technologies."

Farmers from the Kothapally watershed in Andhra Pradesh, India, have generated income through broad-bed and furrow cultivation, planting Gliricidia on the bunds for green manure, introducing new crops and cropping systems, using innovative integrated pest management (IPM) techniques and developing micro-enterprises.

In addition, appropriate cropping sequence and matching crop rotation with soil profiles and changing rainfall patterns helped minimize the impact of drought. After studies showed that soils in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan were deficient in micronutrients, adding boron and sulphur increased crop yields by 28 to 70 percent.

Farms in the Tad Fa and Wang Chai watersheds in Thailand, and Thanh Ha and Huong Dao watersheds in Vietnam, benefited from the introduction of improved crop varieties, construction and rehabilitation of farm ponds, introduction of legumes in the cropping systems, contour cultivation on mild slopes, vegetative bunds with vetiver plantation, introduction of IPM techniques and diversifying cultivation with horticultural crops.

In China, farmers from Lucheba and Xioaoxincum watersheds have harvested rainwater in underground cisterns and surface tanks, diversified the systems growing high-value vegetables and fruits along, and adopted IPM options such as light traps and tobacco waste. They have also earned additional income from related activities, such as raising pig and rabbits, and producing biogas from plant and animal waste. In Thailand, an IPM technique - mixing molasses with water and storing it in open bottles to trap adult moths before they lay their eggs - has eliminated the use of chemical pesticides in vegetable crops.

The innovations also support women's self-help groups and landless farmers. In Kothapally, for example, the women feed parthenium weed to earthworms, generate valuable vermicompost, and earn about Rs 500 per person per month from its sale. They also produce and sell biopesticide made from neem and Gliricidia plant leaves using earthworms. Catering to the needs of generating biodiesel plantations, the women have started a nursery to raise seedlings of Jatropha and Pongamia.

Through improved yields and income-generating opportunities, the families in the watershed projects have earned more money. In Kothapally, the average income (including livestock and non-farming sources) was Rs 37,240 ($795.56) in 2001. By comparison, the average income in the neighboring non-watershed villages was Rs 29,140 ($622.52). Even in the drought year of 2002, Kothapally farmers earned more from crop cultivation than farmers in the neighboring villages.

Farmers from the Tad Fa and Wang Chai watersheds in Thailand experienced a 45 percent increase in farm income. On the whole, the farmers earned an average net income of 45,530 baht ($1194.69) per cropping season.

ICRISAT's watershed research has also improved South-South cooperation. Following visits to India by African officials, the Association for Strengthening Agricultural Research in Eastern and Central Africa (ASARECA) and the Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) are preparing a memorandum of understanding to facilitate long-term collaboration.

The government of Rwanda, through its agricultural research institute (ISAR), is working with ICAR to implement pilot sites, which will also serve as learning sites for the whole sub-region.

As the monsoon clouds cover the Indian sub-continent, villages that have adopted the ICRISAT consortium's watershed approach are doubly secure. If the rains are adequate, yield will be higher. If the rains fail, the innovations pioneered by ICRISAT and its partners will help ensure that crops will succeed.