Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T1-49 P-1281
Impact and Effectiveness of Rainwater Management Activities and Water
Utilization for Rainfed Crops in the Semi-arid Region -A Case Study
S. Vijayakumar, K.V. Rao, Manoranjan Kumar, R. Rejani, A.S. Dhimate, D.B.V.
Ramana and V.K. Singh
ICAR-Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad -500 059, Telangana
Soil and water are the two important critical inputs in dryland agriculture. The land is fixed in
supply, which cannot multiply but can be managed properly for optimum utilization. Water is
another scarce input owing to erratic and poor distribution of rainfall, which limits the
production of crops. In this direction, there is a need to emphasize the conservation of these
limited resources with appropriate practices. Harvesting and recycling rainwater in dry lands
is important to improve water use efficiency (Shankar and Shivakumar, 2005). Rainwater
harvesting structures are used for collecting and storing runoff water. The construction of
percolation tanks allows infiltration of the storage water through the topsoil to percolate deep
to join the groundwater storage.
Methodology
To review the interest of farmers in the community approach to manage water resources, PRA
was conducted in the village. Water scarcity and uneven and insufficient rainfall distribution
are the major problems prioritized by the farmers in the watershed. Transact walk was
conducted to identify the points for the construction of different rainwater harvesting structures
displayed as physiographic of the Cluster villages in Rangareddy district Telangana State.
Among the existing open wells (average depth 15-20 m) some of the wells shave dried up since
2008 due to the indiscriminate drilling of bore wells. Further, the failure rate of the bore wells
commissioned since 2014 was three for every successful bore well and resulting in increasing
the financial liability of the farmer. The key activities taken up in the watershed area are given
below:
Renovation of traditional water bodies: Desilting activity involves the removal of silt from
the water body using human labor. Farmers are encouraged to collect the silt and apply it to
crop fields to improve soil fertility.
Land development: The activities involve land leveling, bunding and terracing, which have
been implemented on fallow or marginal croplands of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe
farmers. Those lands, which were not cropped earlier, due to the slope and degraded nature of
the land, are being brought under cultivation after the implementation of land development
activities. Individual farmers levelled the fallow lands or wastelands, which were earlier not
suitable for profitable crop cultivation.
Resilience through land and water management interventions, water management and governance
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