Watershed plan gives a new lease of life

Sudhakar Rao / TNN / Dec 27, 2005, 21:57 IST

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After the programme was implemented, the socio-economic life of the farmers have improved significantly.

Watershed plan gives a new lease of life

SURAT: Ashok Waghaliya, a farmer in the remote village of Ahwa, cannot stop gushing about his transformation from rags to riches.
For many, the tale of Waghaliya's success might sound as yet another typical story, but like him several villagers of Ahwa taluka are today leading a life that they once just dreamt of. The transformation is not only restricted to a village in Ahwa.
After the watershed project under Drought Prone Area Development Programme (DPAD) of Central government was implemented, several other villages of Narmada, Bharuch, Navsari, Valsad and Dang districts have witnessed a similar transformation.
One of the aims of the DPAD programme was to overcome the problems faced by farmers due to unpredictable rain, which fed the large hectares of agricultural land, by way of conserving rain water.

The research on the impact analysis under the guidance of Veer Narmad South Gujarat University's head of the department of rural studies, Vipul Somani, was carried out in the five tribal districts of Gujarat. About 50 tribal beneficiaries from each district were studied in the research. ..
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The research revealed that after the programme was implemented, the socio-economic life of the farmers have improved significantly.

The DPAD programme has led to an increase in the moisture content of the soil more than ever before, due to which there is an increase in the irrigated land by 310 acres while about 85 new farmers were added to the list of irrigated landholders, said the research.
The average irrigated area per farmer also increased from 0.8 acre to 2.56 acre, which subsequently led to a growth in the income of farmers.
As a result of the sound economic condition, the farmers stopped migrating to cities for employment. For instance, in Pipli and Dhavalidahad villages of Dang, where 84 per cent of the women and 94 per cent of men migrated to cities in search of jobs.
But after the project was implemented, the migration reduced to 33 per cent for women and 20 per cent for men. There was a uniform growth In all the watershed districts, around 170 per cent, in the number of milch animals reared by the villages except in Narmada district due to weak infrastructure and lack of milk collection, processing and marketing....
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Even the lifestyles of the villagers have got a substantial kick after the project was implemented. "Interestingly, we found that many in the village are now proud owners of tape-recorders, motorcycles, televisions, telephones and other electronic items," says Somani.
"Today, most of the villagers have 'pucca' houses for themselves," adds Somani. The programme is being implemented on watershed projects basis since April 1, 1995. At present, 5,956 watershed projects out of 6,465 are under at various stages of implementation.

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