research paper on watershed management in india

• Ways to Give
• Contact an Expert
• Explore WRI Perspectives

Filter Your Site Experience by Topic

Applying the filters below will filter all articles, data, insights and projects by the topic area you select.

• All Topics Remove filter
• Climate filter site by Climate
• Cities filter site by Cities
• Energy filter site by Energy
• Food filter site by Food
• Forests filter site by Forests
• Freshwater filter site by Freshwater
• Ocean filter site by Ocean
• Business filter site by Business
• Economics filter site by Economics
• Finance filter site by Finance
• Equity & Governance filter site by Equity & Governance

Search WRI.org

Not sure where to find something? Search all of the site's content.

Watershed Development in India

Economic Valuation and Adaptation Considerations

This paper examines how economic valuation can improve our understanding of watershed development and how to overcome challenges related to data collection, valuing direct and indirect benefits, and climate change adaptation.

Key Findings

In a benefit-cost analysis of a WSD located in the Kumbharwadi watershed of Maharashtra, results show a net present value of $5.08 to $7.43 million over the 15-year project period, and a positive benefit-cost ratio of 2.3 to 3.8, showing that this has been a positive investment for the 171 households of the Kumbharwadi watershed. The BCA results include only improvements in agricultural and livestock income, as well as avoided costs of traveling for fuel and water and government-supplied water tankers. We estimate that tree planting efforts resulted in carbon sequestration benefits worth $1 to $1.4 million. Additional co-benefits which were not valued due to data constraints included:

• Improvements in habitat and biodiversity.
• Increase in school attendance and enrollment.
• Improvements in nutrition, dietary diversity, and human health.
• Female empowerment through the creation of 11 self-help groups that manage micro-credit loans.
• Improved resilience to drought and temperature fluctuations
• Improved community coordination and collective action resulting in reduced conflicts and transaction costs.

Key data collection challenges for economic valuations of WSD include:

• Lack of consistency in data reporting for social, environmental, and economic indicators of WSD projects by implementing agencies.
• Lack of consistency in data collection as project impact assessments are often completed by different actors.
• Insufficient acknowledgment of non-market and co-benefits that can help generate greater awareness of ecosystem services and societal benefits, as well as provide a broader picture of WSD impacts.
• Lack of post-project impact assessments that can help determine whether perceived benefits are actually long-term benefits that contribute to resilience to drought and other factors.

Key considerations and recommendations for climate change adaptation interventions and projects include:

• Economic valuation can provide information to help develop and tailor CCA interventions and strategies.
• Economic valuation of WSD projects should leverage community participation for data collection.
• Economic valuations should consider market, non-market, and co-benefits of WSD projects.
• Economic valuations should consider how benefits are distributed among economic classes, on-farm and off-farm stakeholders, and genders.
• Guidance is needed from WSD funders and researchers to help implementing agencies standardize data collection processes and reporting protocols.

Executive Summary

Watershed Development (WSD) in India has been a part of the national approach to improve agricultural production and alleviate poverty in rainfed regions since the 1970s. Watershed Development programs aim to restore degraded watersheds in rainfed regions to increase their capacity to capture and store rainwater, reduce soil erosion, and improve soil nutrient and carbon content so they can produce greater agricultural yields and other benefits. As the majority of India’s rural poor live in these regions and are dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods and sustenance, improvements in agricultural yields improve human welfare while simultaneously improving national food security.

While WSD receives a significant amount of government attention and funding, there is not a clear understanding among practitioners of the overall effectiveness of WSD programs in meeting the objectives of food security and poverty alleviation. There is also little concrete evidence of how revitalized ecosystems might improve resilience to climate change. A reason behind this lack of understanding is that data collection and evaluation efforts for WSD have lacked rigor and consistency between WSD implementing and administrative agencies. Additionally, evaluations of WSD have tended to focus on describing changes in key indicators and providing project narratives, and as a result, have not provided a clear picture of the economic, social, and environmental benefits for WSD beneficiaries.

This paper argues that there is a clear need for more systematic economic valuation of WSD initiatives to better prioritize government funding and WSD guidelines, foster greater awareness of the benefits of ecosystem restoration for food security and poverty alleviation, and improve the planning and implementation of projects. Economic valuation is a useful tool that assigns monetary values to benefits of WSD, including social and environmental benefits. Economic valuation can contribute to improved WSD decision-making, awareness, and planning, by allowing comparison of project costs and benefits through decision support tools like benefit-cost analysis.

In 2012, the World Resources Institute (WRI) partnered with a WSD implementing agency, the Watershed Organisation Trust (WOTR), to conduct an economic valuation of one of its WSD projects using benefit-cost analysis (BCA) and review their recent Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) Project. WOTR is an NGO based in Pune, India, that has been implementing WSD projects since 1993. It is one of the first WSD organizations to develop a CCA strategy in India. The objective of this partnership was to better understand the need for economic valuation and related data collection and analysis challenges, as well as to foster an understanding of CCA interventions. This paper provides a history of WSD and evaluation measures and challenges. We also present methods and results from our BCA of a WOTR-implemented participatory WSD project located in Maharashtra and highlight our data collection challenges. We then provide an overview of WOTR’s CCA Project, which was initiated in 2009 and has been implemented in nearly 50 villages in three states, and discuss related valuation considerations and recommendations.

Primary Contacts

Senior Economist, WRI's Global Economics Center

How You Can Help

WRI relies on the generosity of donors like you to turn research into action. You can support our work by making a gift today or exploring other ways to give.

Stay Informed

World Resources Institute 10 G Street NE Suite 800 Washington DC 20002 +1 (202) 729-7600

© 2024 World Resources Institute

Envision a world where everyone can enjoy clean air, walkable cities, vibrant landscapes, nutritious food and affordable energy.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

A case study of Integrated Watershed Management Programme at Aapsinga Village in Maharashtra

Aapsinga is a small village in Tuljapur Taluka of Osmanabad District of Maharashtra state (India). It is located at a distance of 8kms from Tuljapur & 18kms from District place Osmanabad. The average temperature ranges from 27 to 38 degree Celsius and the average rainfall of Osmanabad district including this area is about 730 mm. The hilly terrain is the main feature of this region, the entire area is covered by South east " Balaghat " ranges and large spur & valleys have pockets of high biological diversity. This area is in Marathwada region which is in draught condition for most of the years in last decade. This village is facing acute water scarcity problem every year. To overcome these problems related to water Central Government had started a programme of watershed management viz. Integrated Watershed management Programme (IWMP).This village is in the programme (IWMP-21) along with two neighboring village's viz. Katri & Kamtha as a cluster. This study is an overview of various techniques like farm ponds, check dams, vanrai bandharas, etc. which are suggested to overcome the problems related with reducing runoff amount after implementation of IWMP.

Related Papers

International Journal of Scientific Research in Science, Engineering and Technology IJSRSET

Water is one of the main components for support system of life. India has 16 percentage of the world population but still has only 4 percentages of water resources. Watershed management is very much necessary in India. In this present study, watershed management techniques will be discussed for khor village. Khor village is located between north latitude 18.413695 and east longitude 74.3176876 in Daund tehsil of Maharashtra state. The Khor village of Pune district lies in western Maharashtra which is always in drought after every 2 or 3 years. To overcome the problem of water scarcity in khor village water conserving structures and techniques for watershed management will be proposed. Another aspect of ground water recharge also supplemented with the same for this particular village which directly benefits the villagers and farmers.

IRJET Journal

One of the challenges tackled by human civilization across the globe is water scarcity. A limited supply of freshwater cannot meet the growing water demand. Factors similar to contamination of groundwater and surface water, irregular distribution of water resources, and recurrent drought triggered by extreme worldwide weather outlines have harshly influenced water scarcity. To respond to increasing groundwater predicament and take benefit of the higher levels of runoff non captured by natural recharge, analysis, and effective management of groundwater by introducing various approaches through non-natural recharge of aquifers has converted extensive in India for the last three to four decades. Mainly this study is carried out for Ruikhed Village in Akot Taluka, District Akola, Maharashtra, India. By studying various approaches of groundwater recharge, analysis, and development of Watershed for Ruikhed Village, Maharashtra is carried out. An action plan to focus on adequate water management is developed to address the increasing water demand. Various water conservation structures are recommended by taking average annual rainfall, hydrology, and morphology of area into consideration. Total water to be conserved using Farm Pond, Check Dam, Vanrai Bandhara, Rain Water Harvesting, Nala Bunding is calculated in this study. If watershed development methods are executed, it will rise the irrigation possible, which eventually upsurges production of crop, leading to an increase in the economic condition and living standard of individuals of Ruikhed, India.

eSAT Journals

Integrated watershed management programme was launched in Tamsi mandal of gunjala village by using 'Four water Concept'. Case study included Questionnaire survey from farmers living in that village, and continuous study over a period of two years. Tamsi village is a tribal village and drought area with very less rainfall. Total project area is 4566 Hac, Project Cost Rs. 547.92 Lakhs. The sanctioned area of Gunjala micro watershed is 710 Hac with a outlay of Rs. 85.20 Lakhs. Out of which the total expenditure incurred was Rs.39.12 Lakhs and constructed structures were LBS, RFDs, PTs, CDs and Plantation. Over two year period, it was observed that, 2 years of period the ground water has been improved in this village and three Bore wells are drilled and they are successful, even during peak summer they could meet their day today activities. The farmer Jadhav Uttam has an additional income of Rs. 17600 per Acre in cotton and Rs. 6300 per Acre in Red Gram. The farmer Gnan Singh had an additional income of Rs. 17600 per Acre in cotton and Rs. 5,250 per Acre in Red Gram. The farmer Amber Singh had an additional income of Rs. 13200 per Acre in cotton and Rs. 3,500 per Acre in Red Gram. In the same way, others farmers were also able to generate the benefits from the construction of water storage structures. Total Additional income generated for Seven farmers was Rs. 6, 31000/-in 2011-2012 Cropping Season with construction of Check Dams of Rs.3,24000/-an additional average income per Acre to the farmer is of Rs. 22,500/-and a series of 8 Nos. check dams are constructed on single 3 rd order stream which flows Across the 6 Grama Panchayats from ridge to valley. There are 90 farmers cultivating 168 Acre of land who are benefited by getting an additional income of Rs.37,80,000/- .

Dr. Ch. Venkata Krishna Reddy

The development of rainfed area is imperative not only because of its contribution to the total food production, but also for augmenting other resources in the drylands such as fodder, fruit, timber, etc. The prevailing land use system accompanied by unabated deforestation is resulting in rapid erosion of soil and depletion of water level. Uncontrolled grazing of lands washes away invaluable soil nutrients and continuous soil erosion is silting up reservoirs at an alarming rate, causing loss of storage capacity of reservoirs. About 66 per cent of area is rainfed even today. The productivity of crops in drylands is very low due to soil erosion, depletion of moisture resources, low soil fertility, denuding the plantation, bringing marginal soil under plough, etc. soil erosion is a major problem in drylands due to lack of ground coverage with grass or crops during the pre-monsoon period. Though 33 per cent of geographical area should be under forests, at present only 21 per cent of area is under forest, the effective forest area is only about 9 per cent due to wide-spread deforestation. There are less water resources to meet the requirements of wild animals in the summer season. unemployment, seasonal unemployment, disguised unemployment, etc., are common in drylands resulting in poverty, malnutrition and imbalanced diet. Hence watershed development programme is considered the best programme to conserve soil and water, increase vegetation and water resources, and improve productivity of crops, employment opportunities to rural folk and food intake in terms of nutrition value. Nearly 46 mandals out of the total 56 mandals in Prakasam district are identified as drought prone areas, where dried crop and barren land, due to lack of irrigation is obviously seen. Government has implemented Watershed Development Programme in this district under DPAP. To study how far the Watershed Development Programme enhanced the yield of crop, besides providing employment opportunities to the people and improving their income potentialities, this study, “Watershed Development Programme in India – with special reference to Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh” has been purposively selected. Moreover being the native of Prakasam District, the researcher has selected to study this topic on his native district with perfect concern and commitment to analyse the implementation of Watershed Development Programme and to bring his suggestions to the notice of the policy makers.

International Research Group - IJET JOURNAL

Watershed management is the process of preparing and implementing plans, programs, and projects to maintain and improve the sustainable allocation of its resources and the watershed functions that affect the plant, animal, and human communities within it. As a natural entity, watersheds reflect soil, geological, water, and vegetation interactions by providing a common final product flow or stream flow, and the net impact of these interactions on that product. The basic elements for the development of our environment and our country are soil, water and biodiversity. High population densities, improper use of resources and unnatural development work put a strain on the environment. This project deals with the identification and distribution of water resources in the Bharananganam Panchayath of Kottayam district. This study aims to integrate various plans and methods for the proper management and protection of Panchayath water resources. By conducting surveys, visiting sites, and with the help of QGIS software, collect maps of specific areas to which resources have been allocated. The overall balance between the demand and availability of water resources on the premises is analyzed by conducting a water budgeting. This study provides suggestions for appropriate design proposals to properly guide and conserve the water resources.

Badave Pratik PB

Madgyal is a small village located at distance of 25 Kms from Jath city. It lies between North latitude 17°02'56.94 " and East longitude 75° 13'8.14 ". Some measures have been adopted to recharge the ground water resources. Hence it is planned to take such engineering and biological measures which will direct this extra runoff to ground water storage. The most significant feature of the work is that if such technologies are developed and adopted at larger scale in rural areas, it will prevent thousands of villages of the country from water supply by tankers. Geographic information system (GIS) an essential tool for watershed planning and management tasks. For the GIS mapping drainage network, topography, flow path of water are to be easily locate. In the Madgyal some measures have been adopted to recharge the ground water resources, but it has been found that these measures don't work with full capacity in some cases. In the Madgyal watershed area, demand of water for agriculture and drinking purpose is increasing rapidly depleting water resources coupled with overpopulation. Efforts are made to divert large amount of rainwater to recharge ground water resources.

Journal of Engineering Sciences (JES)

Nanasaheb J Sathe , Vijay M Kolhe

Morphometric analysis includes various parameters in preparation of drainage networks maps ordering the various streams, measurements of catchment area, perimeter, relative relief, and relief ratio, channels, drainage density, drainage frequency, bifurcation ratio, texture ratio, circulatory ratio of the western region watershed of Akkalkot Taluka i.e. Dhubdhubi basin. The Morphometric studies helps to understand the nature of the drainage properties of watershed, which in turn gives a valid reasoning for the soil transportation and its conservation. Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing is the most efficient tools in delineation of drainage patterns and water resources planning worldwide. The hydrological investigations provides the information for planning, delineating, evaluation, exploitation and management of groundwater resources. The main sources is the rainfall that plays a vital role in fluctuation of water table. Depending upon the hydrogeological characters of the subsurface, the rate of recharge after the rainfall event decides the groundwater levels and there is always a time gap, which is defined as lap time to attain the maximum water level and subsequently there is a time gap for attaining lowest water level which is also a function of Geology and differences in the heads provide the flow of water from higher potential to lower potential. This flow of water brings down the water levels increasing the gap between the surface and the water table which is designated as the vadose zone. This also delineates the area feasible and non-feasible for artificial recharge. Present study is an attempt to evaluate the nature of the drainage basins and its relationship with characters of the terrains and for deriving means to conserve and manage the resources and overcoming the water management system.

Reconsidering the Impact of Climate Change on Global Water Supply, Use, and Management

Sneha Kumari

Western Maharashtra consists of drought prone villages, which around seventy years ago were facing drastic challenges regarding water requirements. People living in such areas started to migrate from these villages in need of food and water. The chapter focuses on few case studies of drought prone areas of Western Maharashtra which made a move towards sustainability and has created an excellent model of watershed projects. Several practices like ban on cutting trees, terrace farming, contour bunding, drip irrigation, sprinkle irrigation, introduction of cooking stoves, rotational grazing, efficient water distribution and change in cultivation of agricultural crops according to the climate were followed which led the village to become a model for Aadarsh Gaon (An Ideal Village). The author has used secondary data from previous research work and critically analyses the case studies on water management in drought prone areas of Western Maharashtra which managed to become a model for su...

Dr.B.C. Jat

RELATED PAPERS

Universidad Autonoma de Occidente

Daniel Martínez

Ahmad Naufal Azizi

Contemporânea - Revista de Sociologia da UFSCar

Paloma Coelho , Juliana Jayme

Laura Ambrosini

Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie

Peter Dörrenbächer

Rob A.B. Oostendorp

Jurnal Teknik ITS

dyah rahayu

Revue de l'OFCE

Henri Sterdyniak

"Villa Adriana di Tivoli: architettura e potere" in Experiencing the Landscape in Antiquity 2, BAR S3107 edited by Armando Cristilli, Fabio de Luca, Gioconda di Luca and Alessia Gonfloni, published by BAR Publishing (Oxford, 2022), capitolo 12, pp. 99-103

Marina De Franceschini

Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes

Karen Helle

International Journal of Scholars in Education

Duong Nguyen

hgkjhgh tghjfg

Zainul Abidin

International Journal of Membrane Science and Technology

Bambang slamet riyadi

Horticultura Brasileira

Edilson Costa

Petr Bouchner

Journal of e-learning and knowledge society

Anna Labella

Genetics and Molecular Research

sergio siqueira

Adi Gaskell

Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy

David Keeney

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Institutionalising community-based watershed management in India: elements of institutional sustainability

Affiliation.

• 1 National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi, India. [email protected]
• PMID: 12171343

Community-based watershed management (CBWM) has gained prominence in developing world towards integrated resource management for livelihood enhancement of the poor, due to failure of large-scale river valley projects. This paradigm shift has enabled to narrow the divide between the state and community, and marks a beginning for the State towards a "learning organisation" that is adaptive to the changing social and environmental condition. The paper examines the role of State in institutionalising CBWM in three Indian states. It calls for the State to create an enabling institutional environment for coordination among institutions to emerge by devolving adequate responsibilities. This would offer opportunities for institutions to negotiate their concerns and build credibility for a long lasting institutional solution towards integrating resource management.

Publication types

• Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
• Community-Institutional Relations*
• Conservation of Natural Resources*
• Environment*
• Organizational Innovation
• Water Supply*

Advertisement

Impact of Watershed Programmes in Bundelkhand Region of Madhya Pradesh, India: How Beneficiaries Perceive?

• Full-Length Research Article
• Published: 24 November 2020
• Volume 10 , pages 448–456, ( 2021 )

Cite this article

• Biswajit Mondal   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9677-4689 1 ,
• Alka Singh 2 ,
• G. A. K. Kumar 1 ,
• M. K. Sinha 3 &
• Suresh Kumar 4  

294 Accesses

Explore all metrics

An ex- post study was conducted to assess the impact of watershed development programmes, and appraisal was made with perceptions of beneficiaries of respective watersheds. The water resources development activities were accorded the highest priority with the allocation of 42% of the total budget, followed by soil conservation activities with the allocation of 27% of the budget. The cumulative effect of land-based activities was observed in terms of an increase in cultivated area (34%), cropping intensity (44%), afforestation/plantation (34%), irrigation intensity (13%) as well as a decrease in current fallow (78%) and wasteland (35%). The value of crop diversification index and cultivated land utilization index were higher over pre-project situations, and higher value of crop yield index indicated the higher productivity levels for major crops in watershed villages. Positive and significant differences in various socio-economic attributes among watersheds and control areas like labour absorptions and income from crop enterprises also endorsed the positive effects of watershed-based interventions. However, yield enhancement, groundwater recharge, saving of resources and augmentation of income were the major benefits of various watershed-based interventions as perceived by the beneficiary households.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Implications of Watershed Management Programs for Sustainable Development in Rural Scenario—A Case Study from Foothills of Punjab State, India

Watershed degradation and management practices in north-western highland Ethiopia

Enhancing livelihood assets of households through watershed management intervention program: case of upper Gibe basin, Southwest Ethiopia

Arya SL, Yadav RP (2006) Economic viability of rainwater harvesting by renovating village ponds in small agricultural watershed of Joharanpur. Agric Econ Res Rev 19:71–82

Google Scholar  

Chuang FT (1973) An analysis of change of Taiwan’s cultivated land utilization for recent years. Rural Econ. Div. JCRR Rep, 21, Taipei, Taiwan

Dass A, Sudhishri S, Patnaik US, Lenka NK (2009) Effect of agronomic management on watershed productivity, impact indices, crop diversification and soil fertility in Eastern Ghats of Orissa, India. J Soil Water Conserv 8:34–42

Fan S, Hazell P (1997) Should India invest more in less-favoured areas? Environment and Production Technology Division Discussion Paper No. 25, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington D.C, USA

Garett EH, Woodworth RS (1969) Statistics in psychology and education. Vakils, Feffer and Simons Pvt. Ltd., Bombay, p 329

Garg KK, Karlberg L, Barron J, Wani SP, Rockstrom J (2012) Assessing impact of agricultural water interventions at the Kothapally watershed, Southern India. Hydrol Process 26:387–404. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8138

Article   Google Scholar  

Inter-Ministerial Central Team on Drought Mitigation (2008) Report on drought mitigation strategy for Bundelkhand Region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Government of India. Available at http://nraa.gov.in/pdf/drought%20mitigation%20strategy%20for%20bundelkhand.pdf

Johnson NL, Baltodano ME (2004) The economics of community watershed management: some evidence from Nicaragua. Ecol Econ 49:57–71

Joshi PK, Jha AK, Wani Suhas P, Sreedevi TK and Shaheen FA (2008) Impact of watershed program and conditions for success: a meta-analysis approach. Global Theme on Agroecosystems Report no. 46. Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India; International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, p 24

Kademani SBK (2011) Resource use efficiency of dryland ragi cultivators in DPAP-watershed and non-watershed areas: a comparative analysis. IUP J Agric Econ 8:18–27

Kalyan Kumar BM (2007) An economic evaluation of NWDPRA and Sujala watershed programme in Northern Karnataka: a comparative study. Un-published M.Sc. Thesis submitted to the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad. Available at http://etd.uasd.edu/ft/th9617.pdf

Mondal B, Adhikari RN (2007) Profitability of farm productions: a study in a semi-arid watershed. Int J Agric Sci 3:25–27

Mondal B, Loganandhan N (2013) Employment generation potential of watershed development programmes in semi-arid tropics of India. Afr J Agric Res 8:2948–2955. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJAR2013.6966

Mondal B, Nalatwadmath SK (2014) How much is a watershed worth? an assessment. Indian J Soil Conserv 42:322–327

Mondal B, Singh A, Sekar I, Sinha MK, Kumar S, Ramajayam D (2016) Institutional arrangements for watershed development programmes in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh, India: an explorative study. Int J Water Resour Dev 32:219–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/07900627.2015.1060195

MoRD (2001) Guidelines for watershed development: (Revised 2001) New Delhi, India: Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India

Palanisami K, Kumar SD (2009) Impacts of watershed development programmes: experiences and evidences from Tamil Nadu. MPRA Paper No. 18653. Available at http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18653/

Pantin D, Reid V (2005) Economic valuation study: action learning project on incentives for improved water services in the Buff Bay/Pencar watershed. CANARI Who Pays for Water? Project Document No. 2. Caribbean Natural Resources Institute, Laventille, Trinidad and Tobago and International Institute for Environment and Development, London, UK

Patel RK, Kumbhare SL (1980) Employment of rural women in dairy enterprise. Indian Dairyman 32:852–854

Ramaswamy K, Palanisami K (2001) Some impact indicators and experiences of Watershed Development in drought prone areas of Tamil Nadu. In: Workshop on Watershed Management Strategies, Water Technology Centre, TNAU, Coimbatore, pp 88–98

Sharda VN, Juyal GP, Naik BS (2008) Watershed development in India: status and perspective. Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun

Sharda VN, Dogra P, Dhyani BL (2012) Indicators for assessing the impact of watershed development programmes in different regions of India. Indian J Soil Conserv 40:1–12

Sharma BR, Scott CA (2005) Watershed management challenges: introduction and overview. In: Sharma BR, Samra, JS, Scott CA, Wani SP (eds) Watershed management challenges: improving productivity, resources and livelihoods. International Water Management Institute and International Crop Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics, Malhotra Publishing House, New Delhi, pp 245–257

Shiferaw B, Rao KPC (2006) Integrated management of watersheds for agricultural diversification and sustainable livelihoods in Eastern and Central Africa: lessons and experiences from semi-arid South Asia. In: Proceedings of the International Workshop held at ICRISAT, Nairobi, 6–7 December 2004. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, Patancheru 502324, India

Shiyani RL, Pandya HR (1998) Diversification of agriculture in Gujarat: a spatio-temporal analysis. Indian J Agric Econ 53(4):627–639

Sikka AK, Madhu M, Chand S, Singh DV, Selvi V, Sundarambhal P, Jeevarathanam K, Murugaiah M (2014) Impact analysis of participatory watershed development programme in semi-arid region of Tamil Nadu, India. Indian J Soil Conserv 42:98–106

Singh SB, Prakash N (2010) Socioeconomic impact of watershed development project in Manipur. Indian Res J Exten Edu 10:78–82

Sreedevi TK, Wani SP, Sudi R, Patel MS, Jayesh T, Singh SN, Shah T (2006) On-site and off-site impact of watershed development: a case study of Rajasamadhiyala, Gujarat, India Global Theme on Agro-ecosystems Report No. 20, Patancheru 502 324. Andhra Pradesh, India: International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT)

Tanguilig HC, Tanguilig VC (2009) Institutional aspects of local participatory strategies in natural resource management. Field Actions Science Report. www.factsreports.org

Venkateswarlu B, Prasad JVNS (2012) Carrying capacity of Indian agriculture: issues related to rainfed agriculture. Curr Sci 102:882–888

Wani SP, Rockström J, Sahrawat KL (2011) Integrated watershed management in rainfed agriculture. Taylor & Francis Group, London

Book   Google Scholar  

Wolka K, Moges A, Yimer F (2013) Farmers’ perception of the effects of soil and water conservation structures on crop production: the case of Bokole watershed, Southern Ethiopia. African J Environ Sci Technol 7:990–1000. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJEST2013.1529

Working EJ (1940) Crop-yield index numbers. J Farm Econ 22(4):701. https://doi.org/10.2307/1232195

Download references

The funding was provided by Indian Council of Agricultural Research through Senior Research Fellowship.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack, Odisha, 753 006, India

Biswajit Mondal & G. A. K. Kumar

ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi, 110 012, India

ICAR-Indian Institute of Water Management, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, 751 023, India

M. K. Sinha

ICAR-Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Research Centre, Bellary, Karnataka, 583104, India

Suresh Kumar

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Biswajit Mondal .

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest.

The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Mondal, B., Singh, A., Kumar, G.A.K. et al. Impact of Watershed Programmes in Bundelkhand Region of Madhya Pradesh, India: How Beneficiaries Perceive?. Agric Res 10 , 448–456 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-020-00510-2

Download citation

Received : 23 May 2019

Accepted : 07 September 2020

Published : 24 November 2020

Issue Date : September 2021

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s40003-020-00510-2

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Bundelkhand region
• Farmer’s perceptions
• Garrett ranking
• Observed benefit
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

Watershed development in Maharashtra: present scenario and issues for restructuring the programme

The report on “Watershed Development in Maharashtra” by Society for Promoting Participative Ecosystem Management (SOPPECOM) ), on behalf of the Forum for Watershed Research and Policy Dialogue (ForWaRD), deals with the present scenario and issues for restructuring the programme. The concept of integrated and participatory watershed development and management has emerged as the cornerstone of rural development in the dry and semi-arid regions of India. Over the years the country has been making increasing investments in this area with the objective of enhancing the production potential of rainfed agriculture.

The present review of watershed programmers in Maharashtra is not an attempt to evaluate nor assess the impact of the large number of watershed projects that have been implemented in the state. Rather, this is more or less an exercise in stock taking and learning from the past. Even though the review makes an attempt to provide a bird’s eye view of achievements of watershed projects in the state, the focus is on situating the programme in the context of the larger developmental objective of sustainable and equitable livelihoods in rainfed areas.

In this larger context, the stock taking exercise has been carried out with a difference where the status of watershed development is being examined through the lens of a normative framework that lays special emphasis on productivity and livelihoods, equity, sustainability, and participation/democratic decentralization.

The review is based mainly on the existing sources of information (studies, reviews, reports, data available with different state departments etc.), which in fact, are quite scanty. There is also a serious problem of availability of such information in the public domain, besides inconsistency in information/data on issues related to the spread/coverage and physical and financial progress of projects. Nevertheless, the report has tried to overcome the constraints in qualitative information, at least partly, by holding detailed discussions with a large number of key informants and also by visiting a few sites of selected watershed projects.

Click here for the case study