Impact of Soil and Water Conservation on Agriculture in Chhitapal village of Katni district of (M.P.)

Impact of Soil and Water Conservation on Agriculture in Chhitapal village of Katni district of M.P.
(A step of Development by using natural resources for creating livelihood and development by WOTR)

INTRODUCTION

Chittapal is a village which is located in Dheemarkhera block of Katni district of M.P. village is situated is surrounded by the small mountains and forest. It is far away from the main road and there is poor convince and communication which also create separation from the urban area. There are low level income people dwelling in huts and small houses, there livelihood depends upon human resources , natural resources. Roshan Singh Marko 35 years old man he is marginal farmer ,who is living in village since his childhood, he talked about his ancestral livelihood was completely depend upon the natural resource and working for others, sometimes they did cultivate their lands, he has 1 care of registered land which they cultivated basically one or two times during the year, he growen Kutki, Kodo, Arhar and Til. He poroduced 3-4 quintal of kodo and kutki and 2 quintal of arhar. he irrigated his land 2 times in a year, he has unique storage system  called ‘kothi’. In the name of livestock he has one pair of ox and cow. He have no option rather then working for others whose field is located nearby river or there is any source of water.

Intervention of WOTR

Before ‘WOTR’ came into the existence, he changed his life through the help of the project. His life was drastically changed, he has taken lots of advantages of natural resources which he had but he was not able to use those resources, because he has no idea how to use the resources which he had.

‘WOTR’ came into the existence of the year 2006. He has given sramdaan for the ‘WOTR’  and also worked for the watershed project like construction of Check dam and well and getting money from the project for their livelihood , ‘WOTR’ also provide water storage system like ‘Gabion’, Stone bunds .

After completion of the Check dam nearby his farm he now cultivates wheat, paddy, gram, mustard, rai, til, vegetables. His farm  production is also increased

Now he became marginal farmer to small farmer.Because of  soil conservation in his one acre of land, now his production is increased double and triple. He also captured 3 acre of  forest land which he cultivate 2acres of unirrigated  crops like kutki, kodo, til etc and irrigated crops in 1 acre like wheat, potato etc.

soil is also fertile now it gives double production of crops , he increased his cultivable land by 12 percent according to his previous agricultural land .

Negative Impact of ‘WOTR’

  • Decrease in production of Kodo and Kutki
  • Using fertilizers like Urea, DAP and other chemical fertilizers.
  • Decrease in production of organic grains.
  • Food habit is also changed, they consume less kodo, kutki.
  • Culture of village is also changed .

Parameters for checking Impact

  • Availability of water
  • Cultivable Area under irrigated land.
  • Reduction of barren land (in percent).
  • Cultivable land (in percent)
  • Area under irrigation.
  • Storage system.
  • Changes in food habit.
  • Increase in cash crops.

Recommendation

 

  • Needs to maintain all the water structure.
  • Water treatment of some area also.
  • Provide market linkage of their crops.
  • Creates awareness about cash crops.
  • Creates awareness of negetive impact on agriculture by using fertilizers and other chemicals.