• Percolation
tanks: 1,000
• Bunds/check
dams: 300
• Farm ponds:
5,000
• Area
under watershed development:
50,000 hectares
ITC has initiated a
comprehensive watershed development programme which is critical to soil-water retention
and the reversal of land degradation.
ITC
is helping build cost-effective percolation tanks to protect farmlands from acute moisture
stress and high soil erosion.
Some dry and despairing facts
stare India in the face. The present average soil loss in the country is about 16.35 tons
per hectare per year, which is at least 3 to 5 times worse than what it ought to be.
Nearly 67% of the cultivated area in the country faces severe moisture stress for 5 to 10
months a year. Crop productivity in drylands is low, unstable and highly vulnerable to
seasonality.
ITC's
integrated watershed development initiative is a key intervention to
reverse such moisture stress in some of the more acutely affected,
drought-prone districts of the country. Currently, 2178 small
and large water harvesting structures built by ITC provide critical irrigation to
nearly
18,500 hectares of land in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. This programme
will soon be extended to Bihar.
Village-level
water user groups trained by ITC plan, implement and maintain micro watershed projects.
ITC's watershed development seeks
to achieve two critical objectives: water conservation and soil enrichment. It constitutes
water user groups and trains them to plan and build water harvesting structures like
contour bunds, check dams, percolation tanks and farm ponds.
Trained farmers use their knowledge of the terrain to identify locations for
building water structures and develop the related micro plans. ITC contributes 75% of the
cost, the balance 25% being mobilised by the user groups. The rich silt excavated from
percolation tanks is used to enhance soil fertility. User groups raise regular
contributions from the farmers to meet the maintenance cost of these water harvesting
structures.
So far ITC's Soil and Moisture Conservation Programme
covers 34,979 hectares of rain fed agricultural land and generates employment during the
lean season.
ITC's
conservation projects include construction of surplus weirs to channel water flow from
percolation tanks and excavation of farm ponds for rain water harvesting.
Integrated Watershed Development -
