The watershed approach aims at treating degraded lands with the help of low cost and locally accessed technologies such as in situ water conservation, afforestation etc, through participatory approach that seeks to secure close involvement of the user community.

The success of the programs in dealing with soil and water conservation however leaves much to be desired. The resources available for watershed development and the potential for such activities in Bundelkhand are substantial. With watershed development it is possible to remedy some of the problems identified in implementation of the watershed programme in the area, it can serve as an ideal means for enhancing the incomes of the beneficiaries and productivity of most land based occupations.

Establishing learning Model watershed in Bundelkhand:

Under the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, sponsored a project to establish nine Model Integrated watersheds in nine states of India with International Crop Research Institute of Semi Arid tropics (ICRISAT) Hyderabad. The ICRISAT formed a consortium which includes Development Alternatives (DA) and National Research Centre on Agro forestry Jhansi (NRCAF) to facilitate the process of establishing Model watershed in in Jhansi District of Bundelkhand region.

The primary aim of the consortium was towards Conservation of natural resources specially land and water and to facilitate the sustainable source of livelihood through continuous farm based researches. On the basis of criteria mentioned in Common Guidelines (GOI, 2008) The watershed identified on the basis of scientific validity and feasibility by expert from ICRISAT, NRCAF and DA guidance, Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh state has been selected to improve rural livelihood activities through participatory watershed development programme with consortium approach.

Consortium for participatory watershed management: Under the Common Guideline (GOI, 2008) model watershed approach focus in Bundelkhand region with the association of multi-stakeholders like ICRISAT as a nodal agency of Government of India for customized technical and infrastructural support and trainings to consortium partners as well as financing too, Development Alternatives (DA) for field level planning’s, strengthening of community institutions, liaison and leveraging with other Governmental schemes and National Research Centre on Agro-forestry (NRCAF) for scientific and technical support and site specific researches.

Consortium of partners is reaching out to the region as a model of integrated genetic and natural resource management and support to the farmers in choosing appropriate cropping sequence and matching crop rotation with the soil profile and changing rainfall patterns helped minimize the impact of drought.

Based on the learnings from the Comprehensive Assessment of Watershed Programs in India undertaken by ICRISAT-led consortium for the project sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and Ministry of Rural Development ( MoRD,) The present programme use KBEPA to build rapport with the community. The consortium partners to be trained to undertake EPA for strengthening partnership and promotion of livelihood based on the scientific validation. The main purpose of KBEPA is to build the sustainability and give a clear signal to the community that they should not be expecting dole outs from the project for development of private farms. They will receive a technical support and advice but not the inputs for the interventions benefiting individuals. For identification of KBEPA participatory rural (PRA) will be conducted and based on the severe and important constraint which can provide tangible economic benefit to the community will be identified and implemented to build the trust and rapport with the community.

Model watershed approach coexisted with infrastructural development, conservation & management of natural resources, promotion of mixed farming practices and need based on farm researches with appropriate and latest technologies. As a result, combination of such intervention at door steps of community protects the community from unexpected losses, increases their risk taking capacities and enhances their productivity of farm produces. Thus, the strong backward and forward linkage in easy reach generates the various income generation opportunities for women and landless families.

Topographic Survey and Preparation of Geo-referenced Maps: For the model watershed the member of the consotiunm based on the expertise available undertake detailed topographic survey using available new tools in order to undertake scientific planning of the model watershed development. Based on the topographic features the watershed boundaries delineated, geo-referenced using the GPS, all the physical water structures aligned with the GIS maps and in the cadastral maps. Maps indicating current cropping systems, soils (depth and type), and constraints will be prepared. These maps will be used for discussion with the community and will be available as a resource for the villages covered by the model watershed.

Strenthening of Community-based Organisations (CBOs): The consortium partners facilitate the formation of User Groups (UGs) which will be based on the secondary and tertiary drainage lines. The other approach of including the voluntary membership in the UGs to ensure sustainability. The UGs and SHGs (existing) as well as labour groups will have the representation on the decision making body of the watershed i.e. Watershed Committee (WC). The process to develop them as effective CBOs will be a continuing process through training, exposure visits, and capacity building measures as required. Ground rules for operating the CBOs will be formulated along with the community. The UGs will also be encouraged and trained to adopt the good practices of SHGs to meet regularly and involve in the thrift scheme to help each other in the group.

In-Situ Moisture Conservation Measures: Based on the learning at the ground in order to ensure equity and tangible economic benefits to small and marginal farmers in-situ conservation of rainwater is a first activity for harvesting rainwater. Once this is achieved and community is capacitated for collective action ex-situ rainwater harvesting initiatives will be taken up. This is important to ensure community participation and full involvement in planning and execution of the RWH structures. In-situ soil and moisture conservation measures will be translated into economic productivity through efficient use of the conserved natural resources. Based on the soil, rainfall and other factors suitable landform measures will be evaluated by the farmers and popularized through PR&D approach.

Establishment of Hydrological gauging and weather Stations: In model watersheds runoff, soil loss and nutrient losses is to be recorded for which hydrological gauging stations and soil loss measurement devices established. The CBO representatives will be trained in collecting runoff samples and data from the gauging stations.

Partrticipatory Research and Development (PR&D) Selection of Crops and Cultivars: Based on the agro ecological potential and market demand suitable cultivars of the established crops as well as new crops will be made available for the farmers to evaluate and select. The PR&D approach will enable the farmers to select the suitable crops and cultivars by themselves rather than recommending others. The PR&D approach also is adopted for the best integrated Nutrient and Pest management trials taking in to consideration of local resources to be used as sources of plant nutrient and for biopesticide production. All the PR&D trails involve large number of farmers ensuring small and marginal farmers are the beneficiaries. All the trials will be conducted based on contributions in cash or kind by the participating farmers and efforts will be made to involve as many farmers as possible during the project phase.

Rehabilitation of wastelands: Wastelands or common property resources (CPRs) in the watershed areas will be rehabilitated through collective action and full involvement of the Panchayat. With suitable soil and water conservation measures the CPRs will be rehabilitated using fodder-tree systems. Economical important and less water requiring plants such as Jatropha and Pongamia will also be used along with the fodder and fruit trees depending on the quality of the CPRs.

Participatory Evaluation & Monitoring: In order to bring in the transparency in the operations in the watershed development PE&M approach will be adopted along with the consortium partners. Wall writing of the results, interventions and expenditure items will be adopted. The community members will also be involved in participatory groundwater monitoring as well as recording the yields from the PR&D trials of INM, IPM, and cultivar selection. PM&E will be a continuous process to do the mid-course corrections in the interventions as well as for the approach.

Impact Assessment: Using detailed baseline data suitable impact assessment methods will be used to assess the impact. In addition to the regular outputs from the PE&M, data collected from the trials, gauging stations, remote sensing pictures HHs surveys data will also be collected to assess the economic and social impacts. Various case studies to document the impact pathways for improving the livelihoods will also be undertaken. Not only the economic and biophysical impacts but also social capital development as well as institutions and skills development will also be recorded. Most importantly the principle of internal impact monitoring as a quality assessment tool will be established.

Capacity Development: Various methods for capacity development such as exposure visits, hands-on training, demonstrations, leadership skill development, talking skills in addition to various watershed activities will be undertaken. Most importantly the capacity development of the consortium partners as well as change in the attitude to work in the watersheds amongst the partners as well as policy makers in the district will be tried. Specified training courses by the specialized trainers will be undertaken. Areas like climate change, adapatation strategies, and biodiversity conservation will also be addressed. Participatory R&D approaches as well as PM&E of Natural resources is an integral part of the watershed programme. Policy makers will also be sensitized with the approaches adopted in the development of model watersheds.

Strategic Research: In the model watershed strategic research in agricultural production, wasteland development, value chain, impact assessment as well as scaling-up activities will be undertaken. Second generation issues emerging from the watershed development and market forces will be identified for addressing through suitable research initiatives. Model watersheds will be used as learning sites for the researchers to identify the research issues as identified by the communities as well as to share the research findings with the community and the policy makers.

The success of participatory watershed development by the different stakeholders judged according to the extent to which improvements in productivity are both equitable and sustainable. In the future the major expectation is to strengthen the capacity of all stakeholders’ communities and the state to implement programme at a pace compatible with national development imperatives and the availability of resource. A period of consolidation is called for to allow implementation capacity to ‘catch up’ with the scale and vision of the watershed program.  q