Book of Extended summaries ISDA

International Conference on Reimagining Rainfed Agro-ecosystems: Challenges &
Opportunities during 22-24, December 2022 at ICAR-CRIDA, Hyderabad
T1-04O-1181
Climate Resilience Through Inclusive Water Management Over A Decade:
A Successful Case Study of Yelerampura Gram Panchayat, Tumakuru
District, Karnataka
P.R. Ramesh 1 , N. Loganandhan 1 , J. M. Prashanth 1 , Praveen Kumara 1 and D.V.S.
Reddy 2
1 ICAR-Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Hirehalli, Tumakuru-572 168, Karnataka, India
2 ICAR-Agricultural Technology Application Research Institute, Zone-XI, H.A. Farm Post,
Bengaluru-560024, Karnataka, India
Water is one of the primary life sources for all the species living on the earth, including the
mankind. It is also one of the major constituents for production of food, another source of life,
on which human beings are dependent. The dry spells affect the productivity of crops, due to
non-availability of water during the critical stages of growth, intensive rainfalls spoil by
instigating flower droppings, deterioration of grains in standing crops, crop lodging etc., apart
from another major impairment called soil erosion. As per a study conducted by Santanu
Kumar Bal et.al., (2022) on principal rainfed crops in major dryland regions of India, the yield
loss due to impact of dry spells was about 75–99% in 24% of sorghum, 23% of groundnut and
13% of pearl millet and it was about 50–74% in 44% of cotton, 24% of groundnut, 17% of
maize, 16% each of pearl millet & sorghum and 12% of pigeon pea growing regions. As per
another study conducted by Yan li et.al., (2019) in the United States, excessive rainfall can
reduce maize yield up to −34% (−17 ± 3% on average), relative to the expected yield from the
long-term trend, comparable to the up to −37% loss by extreme drought (−32 ± 2% on average)
from 1981 to 2016. So, if any one thinks of a single solution that would solve this twin-issues,
he cannot forego the key climate resilient interventions like farm ponds, percolation ponds and
simple in-situ moisture conservation practices like trench cum bunding, formation ridges and
furrows, etc. In order to mitigate the above described climate vulnerability, a national level
project was initiated by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), by the name -
National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture’ (NICRA) in the year, 2010. Planning,
coordination and monitoring of the programme at national level is the responsibility of ICAR-
Central Research Institute for Dryland Horticulture CRIDA, Hyderabad. At district level, the
selected KVK is responsible for implementing the project at village level through farmer’s
participatory approach. Under this programme, the interventions were focused only to address
climate related constraints for stabilizing the productivity and not general agriculture
development.
12 | Page Resilience through land and water management interventions, water management and governance