Chikkanayakanahalli (CNHalli) Taluk, Tumkur District, Karnataka has a geographical area of 98,865 hectares and a population of 2 lakhs. The area gets an average annual rainfall of 400-450mm. The taluk can be divided into physiographic zones - hilly regions, undulating highlands, and gently sloping pediplains. CNHalli does not have any perennial river flowing through it. The two major streams — Torehalla and Karetore join to form the river Suvarnamukhi, which flows through the Suvarnamukhi state forest in the North-East of the taluk. Torehalli River irrigates the area.

The Crisis

A situation analysis carried out in Chikkanayakanahalli Taluk, by Development Alternatives in 1993 initiated by the then CEO of the Zilla Panchayat, was instrumental in identifying major areas of developmental work necessary for the taluk. This revealed that large-scale felling of trees over the years, poor farming practices coupled with the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and over- exploitation of ground water led to the deterioration of soil fertility and a large proportion of land had become a wasteland. The productivity was less than 20% of the total potential, making this one of the most degraded taluks in India.

The taluk is known to have had high rainfall and lush green vegetation almost 50 years ago, with rivulets feeding the innumerable lakes found here. Water from tanks helped foster an agricultural economy with local communities growing even water intensive crops like paddy and sugarcane and plantation crops like arecanut and coconut. Many varieties of Neem, fibrous and medicinal plants are still found here. Several indigenous varieties of trees, herbal and medicinal plants could also be witnessed. Among other areas of work that were identified through the situation analysis, water for Irrigation and development of wasteland were given the highest priorities.

Natural Resource Management

As a follow up activity, Development Alternatives designed a Natural Resource Management / Afforestation project for some of the highly degraded areas in the taluk. This five-year project, funded by National Wasteland Development Board (NWDB), New Delhi in 1994 propelled the Development alternatives team to work on a war-footing to revive the natural resource base of the region.

As part of the NWDB project, wastelands in several villages of two Gram Panchayats – Hoyisalakatte and Dasudi were selected for improving the natural resource base. These lands were highly degraded with absolutely no vegetative cover, and the rains eroded all the topsoil. A plan of action was designed in a manner that addressed several activities in the project including awareness building, community participation, nursery raising, identifying areas for construction of physical structures (gully plugs, trenches, earthen bunds etc.) Some of the activities, which were given high priority in the project to revive these degraded wastelands, have contributed largely towards water conservation and groundwater recharge. These include Soil and Moisture Conservation, Planting Appropriate Plant Species and Natural Regeneration.

(i) Soil and Moisture Conservation: Carrying out appropriate soil and conservation methods was essential to reduce the run-off and facilitate groundwater infiltration. Some of the physical structures that were built for this purpose include gully plugs, earthen bunds, stone bunds etc. Stone bund work was carried out on an area of approximately 380 hectares while earthen bund work was carried out in 270 hectares. These structures helped in reducing the run-off during rains and facilitated groundwater infiltration.

ii) Planting Appropriate Plant Species: Several plant species (more than 25 species) with different properties like soil binding, nitrogen fixing, fodder grass, fuel wood, etc were raised in the nursery. Some of these include Azadiracta indica, Pongamia pinnata, Hardwikia binnata, Leucaenia leucocephala, Acacia auriculiformis, Delonix regia, Dalbergia sisoo, Cassia siamea, Butea monosperma, Emblica officinalis, etc. In all, around one million plants were raised in the nursery and planting work was carried out in 614 hectares. Broadcasting of leguminous grass species such as Styloxanthus hamata and Styloxanthus scabra over an area of 600 hectares was done to ensure efficient natural nitrogen fixation. Grass species such as Congo singal and Green Panicum were planted for livestock grazing. Due to poor soil conditions and low rainfall, there was around 50% mortality in some areas. The plants grown over the last few years have become excellent soil binders and have improved the groundwater infiltration rate in many areas.

(iii) Natural Regeneration: Some of the areas in the wastelands were chosen for natural regeneration work. The activities that would ensure natural regeneration of plants included fire-path making, gharuva making, pruning, mulching activities, etc. These activities have been completed in 400 hectare of wasteland. One of the most important achievements of this project was with respect to the natural regeneration work that was done near the historical Borana Kanive dam. During the year 2000, this dam overflowed for the first time in 25 years. Giving credit to the structure that was built almost a century ago, many government officials who visited the dam site also praised the afforestation work, which prevented the erosion of the topsoil near the dam.

This project gave an insight to the appropriate measures that must be taken to revive and maintain natural resources on wastelands. One of the most important lessons learnt is to give importance to water harvesting and conservation, not only by physical structures like bunds, gully plugs, etc, but also through selection and planting of appropriate plant species to enrich and prevent top soil erosion. Although Development Alternatives was the implemenating agency in the project, a lot of credit goes to the community at large without whose involvement the project could not have been successful. q

  V A Abraham & Chaya Chengappa