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The
SAMUHA Kanakanala watershed project area is a part of
the 3-District Indo-Swiss Participative Watershed development
- Karnataka (ISPWD-K) project. The Kanakanala watershed covers
a total of 13000 hectares across 24 villages in and around
Tavaragera village in Koppal district. The project has the
following main components: watershed rehabilitation, community
organisation, sustainable agriculture, livelihoods promotion
and capacity building.
A Project Implementation
and Review Committee (PIRC) comprising of members of
the 6 Village Development Societies, Project and programme
representatives has been constituted to plan and supervise
watershed activities.
Pot drip irrigation method
was adopted in promoting dry land horticulture in Advibhavi
and Myadardokki villages. This resulted in the survival of
93% of the saplings planted.
KEY
LEARNINGS:
 Despite gender
sensitisation, watershed programmes continue to be seen as
a technical (male) domain.
Indigenous community
knowledge in land development needs to be documented and shared
with communities so that its importance can be understood
by all the stakeholders.
IN
THE PIPELINE...
... bi-monthly
community monitoring of implemented works
... greater focus
on converting surface flow into sub surface flow through the
ponds network
... on-going
development of a comprehensive manual and posters on watershed
development
...establishment
of a Farmers Service Centre at Tavaragera
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MATERIALS
PRODUCED:
A
local language Krishi calendar with information on crops,
sustainable agriculture practices, soil, crop protection
methods and livestock management.
Kannada audio cassettes on Mallige, a weed that affects
jowar and bajra crops.
An edition of the Kanakanala newsletter.
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Initiated
in 2000, the SAMUHA-NABARD watershed programme currently
comprises Chattar, Wandali, Kumarkhed and Hadagali watersheds
in Raichur District and Advibhavi and Menedal watersheds in
Koppal District.
This year, community response to the Qualifying
Shramadhan was very encouraging in Kumarkhed, Hadagali
and Menedal, with all three village communities completing
their respective tasks in a remarkably short time.
Four Watershed Development
Associations (WDA's) - Chattar, Wandali, Advibhavi and
Menedal - have been formally registered under the Societies
Registration Act, 1960.
The impact of the Capacity
Building Phase in Chattar is already becoming evident:
fallow lands now have an abundant vegetative cover, water
levels in open wells have risen and new species of birds are
being spotted near the check dam.
SAMUHA has pioneered the concept of People's
Technical Resource Groups: A group of 5 villagers (3
men + 2 women) identified by the village for their interest
in land development activities are capacitated through monthly
trainings to understand physical and remote sensed data, and
to technically plan and supervise watershed activities.
KEY
LEARNINGS:
People-to-people
interactions through exposures create high clarity on the
project and its objectives, and facilitate people’s understanding
and participation.
A
proactive Watershed Development Association is critical to
maintaining the quality of implementation.
IN
THE PIPELINE...
...all
six watersheds will go in for the Full Implementation Phase
for a period of four years covering 6000 hectares of watershed
area.
...Farmers
Cards containing planning and implementation details, and
bimonthly monitoring of all watersheds.
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MATERIALS
PRODUCED:
Barefoot
Engineering - People as Technical Planners, a short
film.
Qualifying Shramadhan (Series I), a short film on volumetric-based
Shramadhan undertaken in Chattar, Advibhavi and Wandali
watersheds.
Trinetra, an audiovisual on the community monitoring
process at Menedal watershed.
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