Case1-May-2017
The Pambar-Kottakaraiar River basin is one among the 17 basins in Tamil Nadu and it originates near the hills of Natham in Natham and Sanarpatti blocks of Dindigul district and flows through a portion of Madurai, Dindigul, Sivagangai, Pudukottai and Ramanathapuram districts and finally drains at Bay of Bengal near Thondi off the east coast. Thirumanimuthar, Kottakaraiar and Pambar are the three sub-basins of Pambar-Kottakaraiar. This entire river basin is known for intensive tankfed agriculture and most of the residing families here are small and marginal farmers and they mainly depend on agriculture for their livelihood. The river basin is nonperennial. To tap the monsoons, the ancestors created tanks and ponds in the whole stretch to meet water requirements.
The Pambar-Kottakaraiar river basin region is endowed with hundreds of small-scale water bodies namely irrigation tanks and village ponds. These water bodies are the source for irrigation, agriculture and drinking water needs, etc. In the past, these water bodies have been maintained and managed by the local community through Kudimaramath (system of contributing voluntarily to rehabilitate water bodies). During the British rule, the local management system of water bodies was shifted from the community to the state. Then onwards, the local management system of the community was alienated as the state took over the responsibility. During the last 3 to 4 decades, these water bodies have faced many management issues. This results in uncertainty over the survival and sustainable utility of these structures. Over the years, the unpredictability of monsoons and the in-capacitance of water bodies resulted in agricultural loss. The above issues led farmers to lose interest in agriculture. The youngsters were seeking labour work as alternative livelihoods. Many are working at Tirupur and Coimbatore within the state and others started migrating to Middle East countries such as Malaysia and Singapore. The old people in the villages were deserted and left with little or no source of earnings on their own.
DHAN initiated a study to map out vulnerable tanks and ponds for floods. The study revealed that because of poor management of tank system and lack of maintenance, many tanks have got breached during the floods in 2005 and 2007. There was greater community interest for a proposal to revive the tank system in this sub-basin. It could result in ensuring food security and livelihood opportunities of the small marginal farmers in the area. It was also observed that many villages in the area are still using the drinking water ponds as their drinking source. These water bodies are in dilapidated conditions and people are facing drinking water problem. Based on the assessment, DHAN contemplated a holistic river basin watershed development initiative (DHANA Project) and collaborated with Axis Bank Foundation (ABF). It proposed to address the livelihood and drinking water issues of the farming community in the project area employing comprehensive ways and approaches.
DHANA Project was initiated in 2011 with the objective of conservation of small-scale irrigation tanks for poverty reduction through agriculture and safe drinking water development in Pambar-Kottakaraiar River basin, Tamil Nadu. This project covers renovation of 750 waterbodies including 610 tanks and 140 village ponds in the Pambar- Kottakaraiar River basin to enhance the livelihood of the 30,000 poor farming household for their economic development and environment safety.
The project was completed in 2016. The following table portrays the set target and the actual achievement.
The maximum number of tanks that were modernized was 130 in Sivagangai, followed by 105 in Madurai, 87 in Puthukkottai and 77 in Dindigul.
The Water Technology Centre (WTC) of Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) has been assigned the impact study by the ABF. As the works spread across four districts, to draw equal number of respondents across blocks/districts minimum number of tanks viz., 77 tanks in each district were considered as the base population for the study. Seven out of the 70 renovated tanks (10%) were randomly selected from each block. Ten respondents were randomly selected from the list of beneficiaries. Thus, a total sample of 280 (10 × 7 × 4) respondents was selected to represent the tank beneficiaries.
To access the impact of the initiative, change in the income levels of sample households was accessed. The assessment among the tank beneficiaries shows that overall there is 58.35% increase in income from their base assessment. The highest change was observed in Madurai district (85%) followed by Pudukkottai (52.24%), Dindigul (46.15%) and Sivagangai (43.86%). However, this again has relevance with the climatic conditions that prevail in the project area.
In Madurai district, the actual rain fall received during the impact study period was far below the normal rainfall. Under this adverse situation, crop cultivation had not sustained, yet the households had diversed their source of income through engagement in non-farm activities. The change in the crop intensity was recorded maximum as 32% in Sivagangai and 5.72% as the minimum in Dindigul, S. Puthur was 18.53% and Ponnamaravathy recorded 23.74%. Rain water harvested in the renovated tanks, ensured improved groundwater table, thereby enabling farmers to grow a second crop also and hence cropping intensity was the highest in Kottampatti block.
Major crops cultivated in the project area were paddy, coconut and groundnut. Agricultural demonstrations such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of cultivation, selection of variety and timely availability of credit were facilitated. In Natham block, perennial crops such as mango, guava and coconut were raised. The fear of loss due to non-availability of irrigation water and reduced harvest was wiped off after deepening of tanks and application of silt from the tanks in the coconut garden.
Ultimate impact of the project activities is supposed to reflect the change in income level of the sample households. Hence, percentage change in the annual income accessed from the sample households was analysed. It was found that there was 65% increase in income. The highest income increase was recorded as 85% in Madurai district and the lowest of 43.86 % in Sivagangai district and 46.15 % in Dindigul and 52.24% in Pudukkottai. Average change in household income at the sample level for tank renovation beneficiary households was 64.93%.
Harvesting rainwater in the deepened and renovated tanks had become a remote question in the absence of normal rainfall. However, fortunately, spreading of silt acted as a mulch cover to prevent moisture loss from the coconut gardens. Totally, 1.29 lakhs cubic metres of water holding space was created in the existing tanks. Maximum excavation of 36,770 M3 was done in Pudukkottai, followed by 31,988 M3 in Madurai, 15,843 M3 in Sivagangai and 15,380 M3 Dindigul. As a whole 45.86% of the soil removed was applied to the cultivated lands. This practice helped conservation of soil moisture for longer days and keeping the coconut trees in normal condition preventing them from drying and withering due to the scorching sun and heat waves. As a result, even though the yield of nuts in the coconut trees was low 40-50 nuts/tree/year against the normal average yield of 120-150 nuts/tree/year. This yield was made possible only through tank renovation carried out by DHAN Foundation. The same was observed in the case of groundnut also. It could be observed that percentage change in the annual employment days was influenced by the work.
Among the samples for fish pond construction household
beneficiaries, the average change in household income
was 52.19%. It was observed that average household
income was र 1,10,847 per year. Major source of income
from the sample for fish pond beneficiaries was through
crop income. Supply of bore well water to the villages through
common water supply system of the panchayat has
improved. After ensuring satisfied storability in the
renovated tanks and ponds, panchayat leaders started
digging bore wells and fixing hand pumps/motor
pumps to extract underground water for common needs.
Recharge of wells in the farm lands motivated farmers to
expand the area under cultivation, extend the cropping season, increase their cattle population, and produce
high value crops etc.
Cattle owners reduced stall feeding of their animals with dry fodder and concentrates. They allowed cattle to graze in the open grounds and tank bunds. The villagers reported that the animals became healthy and stronger.
The reduction in time spent on fetching water ranged from 50-75%. However, quantity of water collected from the village ponds per week by the households increased. Earlier, the villagers had to walk for 60-75 minutes to fetch drinking water from the nearest source. After renovation, they were able to obtain drinking water by travelling for 15-30 minutes. It is observed that the additional water holding capacity generated could be retained for six months. Sharing and exchanging the success stories among the departments and converging the efforts towards such other beneficiaries in other similar context will result in their overall welfare.