Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
ground water recharge of existing wells, and construction of new wells were implemented in
the project area. After the successful implementation of interventions, interviews were
conducted with farmers who applied soil and water conservation measure to assess the impact
on crop productivity, environment, migration and employment generation household security,
and socio-economic status.
Results
The selected villages have mainly two types of cropping patterns mainly cereal-pulses (Paddy-
Finger millet- Little Millet- Udid- Tur) based cropping pattern and another is horticulture-based
cropping pattern. Technological intervention for the cultivation of paddy and finger millet by
SRI methods showed an improvement in crop productivity. The findings of the project showed
that crop productivity of paddy and finger millet crops increased by 29 % and 19-20 %
respectively. A total area of 566.5 ha of land comes under horticulture cultivation. After 4-5
years cultivated fruit crops will start to produce fruits. Thereby, farmers will get a fixed income
by selling fruits as well as providing nutritional security to farmers. Similar Findings were
reported by (Gore, et al.2000, Ranade et al. 1995). The findings of the survey revealed that
68.3% of the households migrated in search of employment either within the district (48.7%)
or to other big cities (44.3%) like Mumbai & Nasik from the month of November to May. Soil
and water conservation structures like CCT, farm pond, gravity-based drip irrigation system,
jasmine cultivation etc resulted positive impact by creating employment generation at villages
level. Through soil and water conservation measure interventions was able to mobilize more
than 3000 human days of work to build across water conservation structures covering hundreds
of acres of land. As a response, the people were incentivized with cash for their contribution to
the initiative. Jasmine cultivation results more economical fulsheti model. It includes the
cultivation of 220 jasmine plants on 500 sq. m (0.05 ha) of land, with an investment of Rs.
3,000. Additional income of the some of the farmer has been raised by Rs. 30000 - 35000 per
year by growing of jasmine using water of farm pond through gravity-based drip irrigation
system. Hence the initiative was helpful in reducing migration up to 26% in all the 7 target
villages.
Soil and water conservation measures constructed under project indicated the increase in
moisture content in soil/regime, ground water level. Also harvested rainwater can recycle for
irrigation in rabi and summer seasons. Near about 12.77 lit water is conserved through CCT,
farm ponds, recharge pit etc. It was found that water table of the open well was found increased
by 0.5-1.0 m. The water retention period in the open well as well as in the nalas located at
foothills was found to increase by 30-45 days during the observation period. To promote
household food security a seasonal calendar of locally available vegetables was prepared and
seed kits comprising seeds of location-specific seasonal vegetables from all three vegetable
groups viz., green leafy vegetables, roots and tubers and other vegetables along with fruit
Resilience through land and water management interventions, water management and governance
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