FOREWORD WARASA Jan Sahbhagita ushers in a new era of watershed development in rainfed areas. With the coming into effect of the new Guidelines it is expected that watershed development will truly become a people’s movement. Rainfed areas constitute about two-thirds of the total 142 million hectares cultivated in the country. It is estimated that these rainfed areas contribute only 45% to total foodgrain production whereas irrigated areas which account for only one-third of the cultivated area contribute 55% to total foodgrain output. Going by past trends the average spread of irrigation is around four million hectares every five years. Extrapolating this trend it is projected that about 20 million additional hectares are likely to be brought under irrigation in the next 25 years. This will still leave nearly 65 million hectares under rainfed conditions. The Green Revolution, considered the cornerstone of India’s agricultural growth by-passed the rainfed areas, remaining confined primarily to the irrigated tracts. Moreover, the normal professionalism of agricultural research and extension served the irrigated areas better, but was not as responsive to the needs and priorities of rainfed agriculture. With productivity levels of staple crops in the irrigated areas plateauing off and factor productivity declining it is clear that unless food production in the rainfed areas increases significantly food security may be adversely affected. If the target of over 4% agricultural growth envisaged in the National Agriculture Policy is to be achieved, all areas where rainfed farming is predominant whether in the central plain, hill, semi-arid or coastal lands will need to contribute substantially to incremental output and augment food security by producing marketable surpluses more reliably. Very high priority has been accorded to the holistic and sustainable development of rainfed areas based on the Watershed Approach. Indeed, the watershed approach represents the principal vehicle for transfer of rainfed agricultural technology. The National Agriculture Policy seeks to promote the integrated and holistic development of rainfed areas through conservation of rain water and augmentation of biomass production through agro and farm forestry with the active involvement of the watershed community. A large number of projects for productivity enhancement are being implemented based on the watershed approach. This is being done both through centrally sponsored schemes of the government, externally aided projects and private initiatives of local communities and NGOs. The number of success stories are now legion. Lessons learnt from past successful projects have been mainstreamed into the central government initiatives. Till the Eighth Plan period a total of 16.5 million hectares of land had been treated through the watershed approach. According to a 25-year perspective plan prepared by the Planning Commission it is proposed to treat 10 and 12 million hectares, respectively, during the IX and X Plan period. In 1999-2000. for the first time a Watershed Development Fund (WDF) was established at NABARD to enable States to access credit for treatment of larger areas under watershed development. Impact evaluation studies both on the ground and through remote sensing techniques have unequivocally shown that watershed based interventions have led to improvement in ground water recharge, increase in number of wells and water bodies, enhancement of cropping intensity, changes in cropping pattern, higher yields of crops and reduction in soil losses. While there were major visible gains the problem of sustainability continued to plague the first generation watershed development projects as evidenced by the unwillingness of local communities to operate and maintain completed structures and plantations on community property. The beneficiaries were too often merely passive recipients rather than active participants. The NWDPRA has been thoroughly restructured by retaining the technical strengths of the older programme and incorporating the lessons learnt from successful projects, especially on community participation. In these new Guidelines it is mandatory for the "watershed development" to be planned, implemented, monitored and maintained by the watershed communities themselves. Moreover, to bring about uniformity in approach between the watershed-based programmes being implemented by various agencies, the WARASA Jan Sahbhagita Guidelines are in conformity with the Common Approach for Watershed Development, jointly formulated and adopted by the Ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development. The WARASA Jan Sahbhagita Guidelines have evolved after several rounds of discussions and feedback received from various stakeholders. We are grateful to the farmers, NGOs, scientists and development professionals not possible to enumerate here, with whom we have interacted and consulted in the course of the preparation and implementation of these revised Guidelines, who, through the diverse perspectives and ground realities they brought to bear, have enriched and strengthened the NWDPRA. We acknowledge the contribution of Smt. Sathi Nair, Additional Secretary, Dr. Rita Sharma, Joint Secretary and Shri Mukul Joshi, Additional Commissioner of the Rainfed Farming Division in seeing the Guidelines through various stages/ drafts to the final comprehensive version before you. We also appreciate the special contribution of Dr. N.K. Sanghi, Director, National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) in the development of the Guidelines and of Shri J.L. Padhee who provided the secretarial support. We trust that the restructured NWDPRA, reflected in letter and spirit in the WARASA Jan Sahbhagita Guidelines will help to bring about the desired dynamism in rainfed agriculture, enhancing productivity and production on a sustainable basis, through an enduring people’s movement for watershed development. (Bhaskar
Barua) Date: 11/10.2000 |
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