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The N M Sadguru Water and Development Foundation has helped villages in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh set up irrigation cooperatives to manage and distribute water
In the '70s, Shankerpura was a small underdeveloped tribal village in the semi-arid district of Dahod in Gujarat. The undulating topography made it difficult for farmers to lift water to their fields from the river flowing below. Then, in 1976, a small check-dam was built to check rainwater runoff, and water-lifting devices were installed to distribute water to the fields. Some 120 hectares of land were provided irrigation, and 148 families benefited. As wells recharged, the number of private wells went up from 2 to 80. In 2000, the total area under irrigation had increased to 260 hectares, and every household had access to water. The successful implementation of a watershed development scheme also substantially increased tree cover. The annual income from the trees and irrigated crops served as a kind of informal insurance against the adverse effects of drought, and so seasonal migration fell from over 75% in 1976 to around 15% in a normal monsoon year. With the drop in migration, the number of children attending school went up and the literacy rate rose from 17% in 1981 to 45% in 1991. For Harnath Jagawat and his wife Sharmistha, founders of the N M Sadguru Water and Development Foundation, these results were a vindication of how water can be a dramatic catalyst for change. The successful setting up of an irrigation cooperative to manage and distribute water in Shankerpura was also an example of how development hinges on the management of community-based water resources. The Jagawats recall: "When we came to Dahod in the '70s, with the idea of bringing development to the poor Bhil tribals, they told us that interventions in health or education were of little use as they had to migrate because of lack of water for several months in the year." Sadguru personnel identified water for domestic use and agriculture as the people's most urgent requirement. Water was seen as the entry point for development. Thereafter, a bid was made to strengthen the links between the community and their natural water resource base. Sadguru thus became one of the first civil society organisations to venture into the field of irrigation in Shankerpura and set up a lift irrigation cooperative. The intervention transformed the entire economy of the village. Today there are around 260 community lift irrigation cooperatives (LIC) benefiting 19,634 households in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. For instance, in Dhaburi village, Dahod, Gujarat, after a check-dam was built in 1994 across the Hadaf river, and an LIC formed in 1995, some 134 acres have come under irrigation, benefiting around 73 families. With the successful planting of crops like ladyfinger, groundnut and brinjal there has been a 75% increase in income for families in the village. Farmers who make requests to the Sadguru Water and Development Foundation for the intervention and construction of irrigation projects do so knowing that, post-construction, the management will be their own responsibility. They have demonstrated their expertise in operating pumps, distributing water, recovering water charges, resolving conflicts, keeping accounts and doing the administrative chores. The emphasis has been on letting the benefits percolate down to the tribal women who play an important role in farming and other activities. Every LIC has at least three women members among the 11-member executive committee. In recent years, Sadguru has also begun training tribals, especially women, in the advanced technology of drip irrigation systems for horticulture and floriculture. The technology makes optimum use of scarce water resources for increased yields that translate into higher incomes. Indeed, horticulture has proved to be one of the Foundation's most sustainable and economically profitable programmes. Around 267 women's horticulture groups and eight women's horticulture orchards have been registered in Gujarat and Rajasthan. Floriculture too has been enthusiastically received by tribal communities as a means of increasing household income from small and marginal lands. The small village of Rozam in Dahod has over 250 floriculture plots, with families earning anything from Rs 15 to Rs 300 per day from selling roses eight months in a year. The sale of marigolds for weddings and festive occasions provides a family an income of around Rs 150 per day. Take the example of Ramilabehn Rathod who received training at the Sadguru Institute. She went on to cultivate roses on just 0.08 hectares of land, and marigolds in 0.05 hectares. She ended up earning Rs 65,000 in a singe year! For Roopsingh Baria and his wife Sakkubehn Baria the results have been even more dramatic. Once a daily wage earner forced to migrate every season, Baria today employs a group of tribal women to work in his nursery and floriculture plot. Contact:N M Sadguru Water and Development Foundation
Post Box 71, Dahod 389151
Gujarat
India
Tel: 0091- 2673- 238601/238602
Fax: 0091-2673-238604 - By Freny Manecksha (Freny Manecksha is a Mumbai-based freelance journalist) InfoChange News & Features, December 2005
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