Gravity Irrigation System under IWMP- Jharkhand Sri B. Nijalingappa*, Sri Anupam Bharti**, Sri Kaushlendra kumar***, Sri N. K.

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1 Gravity Irrigation System under IWMP- Jharkhand Sri B. Nijalingappa*, Sri Anupam Bharti**, Sri Kaushlendra kumar***, Sri N. K. Mishra**** * Chief Executive officer- Cum- Special Secretary, Jharkhand State Watershed Mission, ** Technical Expert, Jharkhand State Watershed Mission *** Technical Expert, Jharkhand State Watershed Mission **** Technical Expert, Jharkhand State Watershed Mission 1. Introduction: A gravity fed irrigation system is a cheap effective way to provide water for a smaller sized crop area. It would be especially cost effective if the climate of the area can provide enough precipitation to consistently keep a reservoir filled using rain water harvesting techniques. The basic system is very simple consisting of an elevated reservoir with a pipe coming out the bottom that feeds water into a basic drip irrigation system that is all controlled either by hand or with a very efficient battery powered timer that controls the rate at which the crop is watered. (By Pat kendzierski) Sonuabera is a tiny hamlet located at latitude E, longitude N and altitude -511 meter (MSL) in Ranchi district of Angara block. It consists of two village Sirka & Bissa. IWMP project was initiated in in Sonuabera. The gravity irrigation system & its command area fall under micro watersheds having code no. 4H3C6b1h & 4H3C6b1i. In this two micro watershed people have been mobilized to take watershed activities under supervision of Ram Krishna Mission Ashram, Divyan Krishi Vigayan Kendra, Morabadi, Ranchi. WDT took lead in organizing Sirka & Bisa watershed Committee. PRA exercise was conducted, need based activities were identified, Action plan was prepared and work has been started. Among different activities selected by WC, Gravity Flow Irrigation System was one of the innovative, effective and important project. It was sustainable, green & clean because there are not any extra energy sources was required to run this system except gravitational force. Under this system small river let having perennial water stream was identified at higher elevation and a small check dam across the stream was constructed then pipeline was installed. Three water tanks at different site were also constructed to distribute water safely & efficiently. The work of gravity flow irrigation system was started & completed in between 27/11/2012 to 12/2/2013. The estimated cost was lakh but the actual was only lakh. The total command area was 47 Ha. Pipeline length mt., diameter of the pipe 160mm, Distribution chamber-03, Discharge- 16 LPS (Liter per Second). Total 33 tribal farmers are being benefited. The area around the GFI system has been fully treated by taking all the engineering & NRM measures like Scattered Contour Trench, Bunding, Agroforestry etc. 2. Context and Relevance (Impact of gravity flow irrigation system on local Crop diversification and productivity) General experience is that Just provide water to farmer s field, farmers themselves learn and explore all techniques of agriculture. Water is the booster for multiple crops, growing crops beyond kharif season. Abundant water supply assures against total failure. It is an indicator of sustainability. So, just after completion of the work, farmers started adopting innovative cropping plan and techniques. First of all villagers decided to grow and manages different crops in such a way that it should generate income and sustenance through farming. a. Productivity enhancement Through participation and regular meeting, it was decided unanimously to go for Fruits and vegetable crops to enhance productivity of the area. It was also decided to introduce new tree based crop in that area like lac & Chick pea green pod cultivation as cash crop due to the increased water availability, the farmers are able to diversify their crops and introduced mixed &

2 intercropping. Intercropping has been just introduced with potato & mustard. The new paddy variety and SRI system of was also played a very important role to enhance yield. b. New Innovative Techniques Drip irrigation as a new technology was also introduced in chick pea green pod cultivation, because it is very popular locally & farmers can fetch quick money. It requires less tillage, less water & it enhance water use efficiency at root zone only. It also minimize water loss and wastage. Chick pea as a leguminous crop adds nitrogen into the field and increases soil fertility. It also enhanced the water-use efficiency through the tap root system. Drip-irrigation was introduced first time & farmers were very impressed. The gravity system supported drip without electricity & other power. Now the farmers started growing many crops which is as follows:- Sl. No. Season Crop before Gravity Irrigation Crop after Gravity Irrigation Yield Before (Qt/Ha.) Yield After (Qt/Ha.) 1 Rainy Paddy Paddy Vegetable Vegetable Rabi No Crop The cultivation of high valuecrops such as Chick Pea green pod, carrot, cabbage, tomato and chilli is possible only due to the water conservation structures and the enhanced water-use efficiency. 3 Summer Season Summer Paddy Summer Paddy, Vegetable, Cucurbits etc. NA Vegetable Objectives and Methodology The main objective of this system is to improve the overall living condition of the people through integrated watershed approach. The methodology was adopted by Project implementation agency (PIA) with identification of active opinion leaders and took them to Nawadih (IWDP) to see Gravity Irrigation system. After visualizing and observing the works undertaken at Nawadih, the watershed people got inspired motivated. Initially Mr. Kamlu Mahto, secretary of Sirka Narayan Soso Vivekanand Jalchajan Samity took the leadership to convince all his fellow villagers to adopt watershed approach. Reconnaissance survey and formation of Hamlet level watershed committee with formation of SHGs and UGs was undertaken. Involvement of women in the planning process, resource mapping, current land use mapping, problem mapping, interventions map, and overlaying family based plan maps, prioritizing, budgeting works, roles and responsibility for implementation and supervision by community. 4. Impact Sonubera is a hamlet which is very close to Ranchi. The villagers were mainly engaged in cutting of fire wood, collecting NTPF produce & selling it in the local market. After harvesting of paddy crop, they migrate to different places with their family for different work. Water for irrigation in Rabi and Summer season was not available. The crop growing technique was indigenous and they were also not interested to grow any crop due to low productivity and non availability of technology. Getting income from any other sources was a challenge for them. After completion of gravity system, Farmers leveled their land, cleaned bushes and cultivated new crops suggested

3 by experts. Out of 33 farmers nearly 25 farmers started cultivating multiple crops with vegetables in rabi and summer season. Gravity water brought new life to Sirka and Bissa village. Their annual income was meager 4 to 5 thousand rupees before the commencement of the system, now almost all the 33 farmers are getting employment throughout the year having income of more than a rupees 60 thousand. 5. Time Span (Work Implementation at Sonuabera) Different structures like Check dam, tanks, outlet, water distribution system & laying of pipeline hardly took one year to complete but exposure visit, training, introduction of new techniques, crop varieties & other activities required more time and even the processes of fine tuning of all the works is still under process. First of all villagers decided to grow and manages different crops in such a way that it should be income generating & sustainable. Through participation and regular meeting, it was decided unanimously to go for Fruit, Forest, field and vegetable crops. Besides tomato, radish, cabbage, and cauliflower it was also decided to introduce new crop such as lac & Chick pea green pod as a cash crop. Initially package of cultivation practice was also not standard and scientific. WDT of the project area were taken villagers for exposure visit in IWDP area, where same gravity system was introduced earlier. Farmers decided to go for mango plantation in a large piece of land near drainage, which was a good source of water during summer. Amrapali variety of mango was introduced in a close spacing to utilise land in better way and in between mango plant Semiya lata species are planted for lac. 6. Level The gravity system of irrigation was implemented at Micro Watershed level by the people through Watershed Committee under close co ordination & supervision of all stakeholders from SLNA to WC. 7. Resource Requirement The concept Gravity Irrigation was borrowed from IWDP from Silli and Nawadih. Exposure visit was organized in an old gravity system which is still functional at silli block. Training was given by the expert, planning was done, PIA and SLNA people were also visited site before actual work started and after estimation, special approval was given for this work. A company identified for pipe supply, installation and training to local youth for maintenance. 8. Replication and up- scaling As we know Jharkhand is called The land of forest. The land of the state is undulating having uneven slope. So, many small perennial springs are available in the hills having water available at all season & flowing all around the year finally drains out into the local river. Initially a same gravity irrigation system was constructed under IWDP programme by the same PIA in Nawadih and Medini village of Silli block. The system was so popular that the whole village became water sufficient from water deficit. Villagers were using drainage for day to day work coming from nearby hill. In summer, there was no water in that drainage and villagers were struggling to get a bucket of water. The concept was replicated in IWMP again and three more gravity system of same type was constructed in the project. Now other people of different projects has visited the site and impressed to see the impact of GS. Many villagers were taken to the site for exposure visit and they initiated the same work in their area. In another project of IWMP in ranchi dist. forest dept. has taken initiative to go for one more GS. Now another gravity system in oramanjhi block is in completion stage and at least 150 acre land will come under irrigation. Sl. Project Name Command area (Ha.) Beneficiary(no) Year Status

4 1 IWDP Silli, Nawadih Completed 2 IWDP Silli, Medini Completed 3 IWMP-Angara, Completed Sonuabera 4 IWMP-Angara, Completed Dhurleta 5 IWMP-Angara, Angara In process 6 IWMP-Angara, Rupru In process 7 IWMP-Angara, Sirka In process 8 IWMP-Angara, Sirka In process The gravity system required a little more money, special arrangement and guideline for this because in IWMP cost for treatment per Ha. is only Rs for IAP and Rs for non IAP districts and it is not justifiable with the cost of GS. A gravity system is not only used to irrigate the field but also play a very important role in natural resource management like safely disposal of water which leads to less soil erosion, supply water for day to day work, for animals & plants use and even small electric turbine may be installed at some of the sites. It requires convergence with other department like irrigation, renewable energy, agriculture, forest, fishery, animal husbandry, welfare, may take part to saturate the area. As we know, these days capacity building is an integrated part of any success story. Exposure visit to a successful site will make villagers to visualise the impact in a better way. Handholding support after training is equally important. A special team of experts are needed to identify the sites, survey, planning, estimation and procurement of material and supply to the site of construction is in hilly area. The people participation is also equally important to make the project viable for long time and handing over to JFM may play a very important role after exit. A special fund should be created to make it successful. A district level as mentioned above will help a lot for technical execution of the project. 9. Knowledge transfer The transfer of technology is easy if it is well planned before the real execution. In 1st gravity irrigation system constructed in silli block under IWDP by same PIA, they identified the site first with participation of villagers then they identified an expert of gravity irrigation and a pipe supply company having expertise in installation. The company representative identified one or two inter pass local people and trained them for pipe installation and under supervision of the experts of company, the villagers installed the pipe system. Now these boys are working as a supervisor in the same company. If possible, a specialised agency should be empanelled at state level for identification, execution of gravity irrigation to assure quality and technicalities. The fund flow mechanism should be in such a way that the work execution process should no be effected or a centralised fund flow mechanism may be a adopted to complete the work. 10. Sustainability As mentioned above, the villagers are the expert and able to maintain the unit in such a way that after installation the system is still functional. Now the farmers are trying new techniques like drip and introduced new crop like Lac cultivation on Semia Lata Spcies, a host plant recently identified by the scientist. Now they are working on water budgeting because after utilisation, extra water is also available which is going waste. The farmers are planning to dig a pond to collect the water and eager to go for fishery.

5 11. Exposure Visit:- The best exposure site is near Ranchi in Angara block which is only 30 km away. The most appropriate target group is villagers, PIA and experts of this system. 12. Other Details of the gravity irrigation system:- (a) Farm Bunding:- Farm bunding is a very important activity of watershed and plays important role in soil & water conservation. The work has been started on 15/12/2012 & estimated cost was 1.05 lakh. Total no. of tribal family involved was five. (b) Teak Plantation:- After several meeting, exposure visit and discussion it was decided to plant teak. Other activities were finished before planting like selection of site, pit digging fertilizer etc. Plantation work was commenced on 13/07/2012 and completed on 17/08/2012.Total no of plant were 9120 and area covered 3.64 ha. Total no of tribal families involved was 08. (c) Replicability and Dissemination:-The Jharkhand state watershed mission has taken up one more project in Ormanjhi block in neighbouring village and adjacent land for treatment under IWMP in third batch, The Divisional Forest Officer, Forest Deptt., Ranchi is the Project Implementing Agency. The similar strategy and technology have been planned to increase water recharge capacity and soil productivity. A gravity Irrigation system is under construction in this project area after success of sonuabera. At the macro level, Sonuabera, Angara block watershed could be serving as a demo for the state to facilitate formulation of favourable policy frame work for convergence and livelihoods (d) Shramdan Method and Watershed Development Fund management:- There are two types of Shramdan followed in the watershed. One was compulsory Shramdan i.e. 5 % of Labour cost of work(for ST & SC). For this wage cut method of Shramdan was followed and this was done at the time of payment itself. Another was monthly Shramdan. This was done every month or even in a week. During this Shramdan, people do some activity of common interest like repairing village road, Desilting pond, Constructing well, constructing gully plugs in the forestland, repairing diversion bund or irrigation channels in the medium land etc. This was generally a half- day event or some time full day. People starts at morning and finish by afternoon. Although it is voluntary, so food is arranged by farmers itself. This event also serves the purpose of a get together. People prepare some food jointly from their own fund and take the meal together. This helps in bringing WE feeling among people and developing a common stake for the development of village. (e) Social fencing:- The village youths have protected the adjoining natural forests on rotation basis of watch and ward since inception of watershed committee from grazing, illicit felling for fuel wood and small timber. Free felling of trees is strictly prohibited. SHG and watershed committee of Sonuabera village has done remarkable work in this regard. They mobilized people from all the villages depending on the forest and decided to stop injudicious felling of trees completely. Some other hamlets have controlled free grazing of animals. On finding some animal grazing in the field they catch it, have a meeting and decides the punishment. (f) Women s Sector:- No. of SHGs formed in the Watershed is 4. The SHGs are further organized into cluster level association. SHG select its representative for cluster level association. The cluster member meets every month. The member discuss about the performance of group, problems related to group and plan about helping each other in running the group. They also discuss about the problem of village and if necessary they visit the block office to present their problem to the officials. The Total No of UG in this area is 10. Fertilizer application with protective irrigation during the critical stages is essential. Teak & other species needs silvicultural operations for better growth and development. Many more efforts are still required to make it as a model but the momentum has been already started and many people from national to international level identified & started

6 visiting the place. It came to limelight, when union Rural Development Secretary Shri L.C. Goyal visited along with Jharkhand Govt. Secretaries, Deputy Commissioner, Ranchi, CEO- JSWM, Project implementation Agency and others. Interacted with villagers and committee members. Next day it was highlighted by a National level News paper, The Telegraph on the first page. The Tribal Welfare Minister of Goa, Mr. Suresh Tomar also visited and interacted with villagers, He appreciated the effort made by the people and inspired people to take up intensive agriculture. He had also suggested for a small turbine for power generation to make village self sufficient. Some photographs related to gravity Irrigation including visit of Union rural Development Secretary & Paper cutting of The Telegraph. Conclusion: Transformation from waterless to water rich condition took place in the span of one year through interventions of watershed approach sponsored by DoLR, Govt. of India, Ministry of Rural Development & facilitated by NGO- Ramkrishna Mission Ashram, Divyayan Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Morabadi, Ranchi and implemented by 33 farmers of Sirka and Bissa village. These villages has hamlet called Sonuabera which is situated at a distance of 40 km from Ranchi district in Jharkhand state. The watershed committee name is Sirka-Narayansoso Vivekanand Jalchajan Samati & Bissa- Getalsud-Maheshpur Vivekanand Jalchajan Samiti. The installation site is at Sonuabera hamlet. It also gives benefits to hamlets of pipera Kocha, Sirka & Bisa.

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