NORDIC CLIMATE FACILITY (NCF) Promoting Renewable Energy Technologies for Enhanced Rural Livelihoods

Transcription

1 NORDIC CLIMATE FACILITY (NCF) Promoting Renewable Energy Technologies for Enhanced Rural Livelihoods

2 REFEL planned to install five trial hydraulic ram pumps, saving energy and permitting off-season crop production in remote areas. Hydraulic ram pumps permit irrigation of crops or transport of water for drinking purposes in remote areas, without the use of diesel pumps. Normally the only means to carry out irrigation in those conditions is to use gravity fed systems. The Ram pump allows water to reach those fields where gravity systems wouldn t function. Hydraulic Ram pumps reduce the dependency on fossil fuels for pumping downstream water for irrigating and drinking water supply or alternatively reduce workload of women and girls to carry water uphill. Supply water of up-hill slopes requires either a diesel or electric pump in cases of hills. Given the expense and labour needed for these, farmers who aren t able to use gravity-fed irrigation and are constrained to only rainy season crop production are suffering from low incomes and food insecurity, the hydraulic ram pump scheme installed has changes life of people. It is used not only for irrigation but it is used for drinking water purpose as well where people don't able to fetch water with other options. In the end, six hydrams were installed one for irrigation and five for drinking water. It had been anticipated the majority would be installed for irrigation but there was a greater demand in those areas with difficulty to access drinking water. Engineers from RVWRMP and the district government officers have also been visiting the sites to learn about this new technology. The impact assessment noted changes noticed in the farmer's field during evaluation. Farmer's expected to increase productivity of wheat by 100%. The user aims to start off-season vegetable farming from this season. Similarly, drinking water schemes increased access over water at their house. These schemes are able to save on an average 1 hour each household per day for other productive uses. Tthere were delays. This was partly due to problems with the water flows measured in the feasibility studies. During the dry season it was found that there was insufficient water in some sites to proceed. In addition, it took longer than anticipated to raise the community contribution for the hydrams. Hydram pump in Sirsha, Dadeldhura. The hydram pump installed with the support of REFEL (Nordic Climate Fund) and RVWRMP, is raising water approximately 42 metres, for irrigation use. It can theoretically move litres (50 cubic metres) over a 24 hour period though the discharge measured during the visit (dry season) was litres per day. RVWRMP was at that time planning the construction of an irrigation recharge pond (now completed see photos below). The water is collected from a natural spring and conveyed to the pump via a small channel. The plan is that the pond will use drip irrigation to service 1.5 hectares of irrigated land for vegetable production. At present the water is being used for irrigation of vegetables and wheat by moving the hose.

3 We met with the home garden group originally supported by RVWRMP who are benefitting from the irrigation. There are 10 households 4 Raute (ethnic minority), 1 Dalit and 5 other households. They heard about the opportunity to get the hydram from one of the Field Assistants contracted by REFEL and began work in July This is a technically good choice as they don t need any fuel for a pump, and it is easy to maintain. However, it will also be good in socioeconomic terms. Earlier they had no water for irrigation, but now they can grow crops to sell to the market. They plan to grow vegetables and wheat on the land they are aware of the importance of growing high value crops. Last year they used 10 kg of potato seed on the land and got only 20 kg of potato crop. With the irrigation (even just from the hose) they planted 13 kg of seed this year and got 100 kg of potato crop. They also used some water for paddy rice, but will try to focus on vegetables in future. Earlier they bought some vegetables from the market to eat as they could produce very little of their own, but now their nutrition is improving. A committee has been organized to manage the irrigation. The value of the land has also increased (in theory, as no one is selling) by 2-3 times. There has been one person from every household trained in irrigation, but there is one main Village Maintenance Worker. Earlier there was a little conflict with the neighbours, who were jealous but now it seems to be resolved. While in the community, we visited one household to examine their ICS and discuss the results with the owner. In addition we chatted with some other household owners with ICS. All were extremely positive regarding the ICS. It appears that they are consistently using less firewood (approximately half the amount) that earlier with the three stone stove. Most women get their firewood from the Community Forest, and this implies a decreased cost as well as less labour and time. They also all commented that they can cook much faster now (the stove has the option for two burners). And of course, the obvious benefit that they are healthier and more comfortable when cooking as there is no smoke in the kitchen any more. 2

4 Ms Dhana Devi Joshi has an ICS as part of REFEL. She is very happy with the results. Earlier she used 4-5 pieces of firewood to cook a meal and now it takes 2-3 small pieces. She believes that the food is also tastier. Obviously there is a big reduction in smoke in the kitchen. She heard about the ICS through the awareness-raising by the promoter. The impact assessment team noted that: The Hydraulic ram pump scheme at Sirsha-6 has been utilized to irrigated wheat farm projected to increase productivity by double that increase food sufficiency for additional 6 months. The farmers previously cultivated only one crop in a year and now after installation of the ram pump scheme they are taking 3 crops from the same piece of land. Wheat without irrigation near by the village Wheat with irrigation facility in the village The land value with irrigation has also increased significantly. The land value after irrigation increased by 10 times. The respondent at Sirsha-6 said that the land price before irrigation was NPR. 15, , but now it ranges from NPR. 150, , per ropani of irrigated land. Changes can seen on the ground: the difference between rain-fed and irrigated land after hydram scheme in Sirsha VDC 3

5 Ms. Janaki Devi Rawat- 35, Sirsha-6, Rajauda, Dadeldhura belongs to the Raute (indigenous) community. There are five members in her family with three Ropani of farm land. The productivity is quite low and they faced difficulties to get sufficient food earlier. She is illiterate and does hard labor work to feed her family. Now she is benefiting from irrigation facilities via the hydram scheme constructed with support from the REFEL project. She has expanded her kitchen garden for vegetable farming of potato, cabbage and onion. During last season, she produced 70kg potato, 40 kg cabbage and 50kg onion and sold them for the value of NPR She invested the entire earnings to meet household food needs. She has further planned to expand vegetable farming in the rest of her land. She heartily thanked to REFEL project whose contribution become instrumental to meet her family food security needs. Similarly, Ms. Dausara Bhattarai - 40, Sirsha-6, Rajauda in Dadeldhura has five members in her family. She has similar problems and suffered from food insufficiency. Her husband seasonally migrates to India to search labour work in feeding their family. She got irrigation after the hydram project and for the first time cultivated improved varieties of paddy in her half Ropani of land. She sowed one kg of seed and harvested 100 kg of paddy. In the same land, she produced 10 kg of paddy during last year. She is happy with increased production and value of land by 10 times. Following the construction of the tank and irrigation system attached to the hydram in Rajauta (also written as Rajeuda), the RVWRMP team took the following photos. 4

6 Reservoir tank/ Irrigation pond Uplift water/delivery pipe Supply/Distribution pipe Offtake/Irrigation tap Micro-irrigation Sprinkler Irrigation Drip irrigation Hydraulic Ramp Pump 5