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A watershed development project that changed the economic situation of Adgaon Khurd village in Marathwada.
Fifteen years ago, the farming community in Maharashtra's Adgaon Khurd was so poor they were forced to work under the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS). Any work was welcome. Today, thanks to a water management programme, the farms that have sprung up are actually short of labour and the economic condition of the farmers has improved so markedly they do not need to work for anyone else. The Marathwada Sheti Sahayya Mandal (MSSM) became involved in participatory watershed development when this practice was still in its nascent stages, some 15 years ago. The village it chose to work in was Adgaon, in Marathwada, an arid region where the only outsiders welcomed at the time were those bringing in government water t! ankers. The programme proved to be a pilot watershed project where concepts of participatory natural resource management, with watershed as a unit, were initiated. A series of water conservation measures were begun -- the digging of trenches on the hillsides to trap rainwater and allow it percolate into the ground; the building of bunds in the fields to trap moisture for the winter (rabi) crop. The change was dramatic. Over a period of time, the village began supplying water to other villages as well. Cropping habits changed from poor-yielding sorghum and millet to horticultural crops. The villagers were now equipped to tackle any fresh water crises without outside intervention. Contact: J M Gandhi
Marathwada Sheti Sahayya Mandal
! nC/o Ajay Engineering
Adalat Road, Aurangabad
Maharahstra, India
Tel: 91-240-332 121
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