Breaking
Barriers
The
success story of a project that was successful in fighting the vagaries
of nature though collective effort and innovation
For
the villagers of Jada, water, the elixir of life, has always been
a limiting factor. But a small and simple, collective effort by
the farmers has effectively countered the problem of perennial water
shortage in this small village in the Dahod district of Gujarat
Dahod
being in the semi arid zone receives less than 1000 mm rainfall
during the monsoon season. The seasonal fluctuations and monsoon
aberrations like late onset, long intermittent drought spells and
early cessation are a common phenomenon each year and once in every
five years a severe drought hits the area leaving its imprints on
the sand.
Stark
reality
- About
80 per cent of the total population lives below the poverty line
- Every
year about 40 per cent of the total population migrates to other
areas for search of work
-
Age-old farming methods and lack of irrigation facilities have
been the main cause for the failure of agriculture. This has led
to a mass diversion to other sources of income
- Owing
to high illiteracy rate, application and adaptation of any sophisticated
scientific technology in farming becomes a Hercules task as it
becomes very difficult to make the illiterate farmer understand
the importance of the benefits of the new technologies
Major
break through
In-depth
analysis of the constraints revealed that the main impediment, for
any development in the area, is the unavailability of water during
the peak summer months. An appropriate sight of cultivation also
adds to the woes, as during summers the grazing of cattle creates
a problem for standing crop.
Recognizing
this fact, and studying the various options available, it was concluded
(from the scenario of wells and hand pumps available at Dahod district)
that a considerable amount of water could be made available even
during the summer season from these resources.
A
survey revealed that approximately 10 wells, in each village, at
a depth of about 3-5 feet and at least seven to eight hand pumps
were workable during summer days. Considering the quantity of water
available from these sources and utilizing it in an optimum manner,
a project could be designed which can provide an opportunity to
the village community to earn their livelihood during the summer
season. Also a project can be worked out to cultivate a small plot
area, with high value crops as vegetables. This may help to sustain
the entire village community instead of some well to-do farmers.
This concept was worked out technically as well as practically through
the Suraj Backyard Farming Project.
An
accelerating force
The
main requirement of the project was an efficient management of the
scarce water through the water management technology, and the technology
that seemed most appropriate was drip irrigation. After undertaking
trials with already available drip components, the results were
not very convincing as installation of a dripper onto the lateral
pipe was a cumbersome procedure for the local community. Also as
circulation of water in the complete system was based on gravitational
force the discharge was not uniform at all drippers. This even
caused a serious choking problem as the water level in the tank
lowered down.
A
new dripper had to be designed to control the flow of water. The
new design had special features: it was easy to install and also
allowed a variable discharge rate of water instead of a fixed one
that constricted movement.
This
dripper has been tested at various locations and approved by the
Government after being thoroughly checked from a laboratory (under
the Central Government undertaking).
Evolution
of the project
Suraj
Backyard farming Project came into existence to provide each and
every farmer an access to modern technology and to enable the farming
community to irrigate a small part of their land throughout the
year through the available water of hand pump or dug well.
Water
from these resources is accumulated in a water container of about
200 litres, by each farmer of the village, and is kept at a height
of about 3 ft from the ground level. A pipeline is laid over the
ground for an area of 120 sq mts. This is attached to the newly
designed drippers at a required spacing of about 0.6 mts. Water
from this drippers drips at the root zone of the plant and is regulated
as per the requirement of the plant. This process, on the one hand,
enables a farmer to irrigate his/ her field from the given quantity
of water and on the other hand facilitates each and every farmer
to get his share of water.
Launch
of the project
A
survey of several villages of the target area was undertaken and
as a result it was decided to launch the project at Jada. The selection
was made on the basis of water resource availability, number of
families, the average land holding capacity of a farmer, annual
income obtained from agriculture activity, number of farmers migrating
to other areas, income generated from migration, number of unemployed
youth, illiteracy rate, type of crop usually cultivated, type of
irrigation commonly used and pattern used in marketing of the product
with middlemen contribution.
The
following observations were made from the information collected:
- Total
population of the village: 1800
-
Total number of families: 250
-
Average land holding: less than an acre
- Type
of crop usually cultivated: maize, wheat, cereals
-
Type of irrigation usually preferred: rain-fed farming and flood
irrigation
-
Annual income generated from agricultural activity by a single
household: Rs 5500 to Rs 6000
-
Per cent of population migrated to other areas: 35
-
Annual income generated from migration per household: Rs 15000
to 20000
-
Number of wells which do not dry during the peak summer season
(where water depth of about 2 to 3 ft is available): 5
-
Number of hand pumps which remain workable during peak summer:
10
The
information was collected from local leaders and through visual
observations and checked with the Government data.
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