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HomeGrassrootsCommunities that became stewards of their own water in rural Maharashtra

Communities that became stewards of their own water in rural Maharashtra

Many agrarian states in India are over exhausting their groundwater because they grow water-guzzling crops on a large scale. A majority of farmers rely on flood irrigation, a traditional method, where they let water flow all over the surface of their fields. Maharashtra, the fourth-highest groundwater extracting state in India, withdrew 77 billion cubic metres for irrigation in the past decade, an amount that could fill over 30 million swimming pools! Towards Sustainable Agriculture Livelihoods through Community-based Water Stewardship in Drought Prone Maharashtra was a project launchedin 2019 by theWatershed Organisation Trust to solve the problem. Operational until June 2024, the project covered 16 villages in Jalna and Beed Districts in Maharashtra. This is a story by Vandana K. about the project and how it helped change lives

Five years ago, Bhagirathi Purshottam Joshi had just one thing on her mind – finding enough water to get through the day. On a warm May afternoon, seated below a tree, she recalled summer days when she lugged buckets back and forth between the only hand pump in the village and her home. The 33-year old farmer and mother of two, lives in the small village of Borgaon Math in Jalna District in Maharashtra. Before 2019, she did have a tap at home. But it ran dry. The hand pump, which served 60 families, always had a long line in front of it. “Women would argue and fight to get ahead. Sometimes those who lived close to the hand pump would finish all the water,” she said.

Bhagirathi would make her four-year old daughter stand in the line while she did household chores. Often she and other women had to walk three kilometres to a baori (well) to fetch water. “I cooked our meals late because I first had to find clean water,” she said, explaining how the long hours spent in finding and collecting water forced many children to miss school. Underlying Bhagirathi’s woes is a far more extensive crisis. India extracts the highest amount of groundwater in the world, a majority of which is used for irrigation. Many agrarian states in India are over exhausting their groundwater because they grow water-guzzling crops at a large scale. A majority of farmers rely on flood irrigation, a traditional method, where they let water flow all over the surface of their fields.

Bhagirathi Purushottam Joshi and other women would walk three kilometres to fetch
water from a well.

Maharashtra, the fourth-highest groundwater extracting state in India, withdrew 77 billion cubic metres (bcm) for irrigation in the last decade, an amount that could fill over 30 million swimming pools! To solve the problem, theWatershed Organisation Trust (WOTR) launched the project, Towards Sustainable Agriculture Livelihoods through Community-based Water Stewardship in Drought Prone Maharashtra,in 2019. Operational until June 2024, the project covered 16 villages in Jalna and Beed Districts in Maharashtra.

WOTR’s approach to finding solutions in these areas is based on the concept of water stewardship – it believes that if rural communities become stewards of their own water by taking full responsibility for their water resources, they can have enough water for their farms, homes and livestock. To achieve this, it introduced a range of activities in these villages during the past five years – training farmers and teams of villagers in water-saving methods, enabling them to use efficient irrigation techniques, training them in organic farming methods and constructing rainwater harvesting structures.

In 2020, Bhagirathi signed up to be a volunteer and member of the village water management team (VWMT), a locally-appointed team that works on implementing the solutions proposed by WOTR. She received training, attended a farmers’ field school and went on exposure visits to other villages that have succeeded in saving their water. “I learnt how much water crops need and how often to water them for a good harvest,” said Bhagirathi. Soon, she began growing more jowar (sorghum), desi chana (chickpea) and chillies instead of cotton and maize, which consume more water. She replaced chemical fertilisers and pesticides on her land with organic formulations made with easily available natural materials like cow dung, which cut her costs on farm inputs. And then, she installed a drip irrigation system in her farm.

Pandarinath Shinde is one of the five jal sevaks who act as a bridge between
WOTR and local communities by organising meetings, visiting farms, doing
demonstrations and leading water-budgeting sessions.

Over the years, WOTR also engaged the villagers of Borgaon Math to measure rainfall and groundwater levels, create a water budget, desilt the local ponds and construct structures that would prevent rainwater from running off. This rainwater then percolated through the ground and brought up the water table. In four years, by practising a new way of farming, Bhagirathi’s income has grown by 25 per cent. She is one of the 1,050 farmers who have learnt about water management and climate resilient agriculture through this initiative. “Today every house has a tap with flowing water,” she said.

Making local youth and communities water-wise
Pandarinath Shinde is a jal sevak (water steward) who practises what he preaches. He is one of the five jal sevaks in the area, who act as a bridge between WOTR and local communities by organising meetings, visiting farms, doing demonstrations and leading water budgeting sessions. The jal sevak’s main goal is to make every villager water-literate. “Half the farmers use conventional farming methods. Our job is to make them resilient and increase their income by sharing knowledge,” he said. Pandarinath’s very first training was in water budgeting, where he learnt how to measure rainfall, soil moisture, runoff, water storage capacity of structures, and water requirement for irrigation, household use and livestock in a village. “When water is scarce, the village needs to decide what crops to sow and what structures to construct and repair.”

A water-budgeting training exercise under way.

Pandarinath’s family struggled to irrigate their crops in the past. Their seven-acre farm’s yield was very low despite digging a well and using flood irrigation. The 50-feet well, which is the height of a five-storey building, had run dry. Being a jal sevak, he learnt a number of valuable lessons – how micro-irrigation methods such as sprinkler and drip system use less water and release it gradually into soil, how mulching retains soil moisture, how testing the soil reveals what is missing, which nutrients to use to restore its health and which crops to sow that consume less water. He also learnt about various kinds of organic formulations such as Amrutpani, Jeevamrut, Dashparni Ark etc that can protect crops from pests and increase soil fertility.

Over the years, as Pandarinath began to share these lessons with farmers, he applied them in his farm. He installed a sprinkler system and began to grow chana instead of maize. He also tested the soil on his farm. “We used a lot of urea before. There was too much nitrogen in the soil and there was little phosphorus and potassium left,” he said. For good soil health, a farm needs all the three nutrients mentioned above. Pandarinath stopped using urea and reintroduced essential macro and micronutrients to the soil. Today, his farm’s income has grown by four times. In Kukdi Village, after a soil test, farmer Waluba Dalvi added phosphorus to the soil on Pandarinath’s advice and saw a 50 percent increase in maize yield.

VDC members of Borgaon Budruk.

A village that manages its water together
As a volunteer rolled out mats in a temple in the village of Borgaon Budruk, men and women streamed in. They were members of the village development committee (VDC). A VDC is a voluntary association formed by village residents to solve local problems. The members of these VDCs also became a part of VWMTs formed by WOTR. Each of the 16 villages where the project was implemented has a VDC and VWMT. Four out of every ten members of VWMTs are women.

Seated in a circle on the floor, one by one the women recounted how water shortage created rifts in their community a few years ago. “I fought many times with women in my street because they would skip the queue to fill water from the water tanker,” said Panchfula Dinkar Chavan, recalling the summers from 2017 to 2019, when the public taps received water only once a week. The government sent tankers to the village but even those were not enough. It was a very difficult time for my daughters. I would go to work as a labourer and they had to skip school to fetch water. We had no time to relax,” she said. “The women who couldn’t get water from the tanker travelled three hours daily to get water,” added Suvarna Kisan Fadat. Both Panchfula and Suvarna are VWMT members, who convinced their community members to give permission to build water-saving structures on their land.

Five years ago, when WOTR began work in Borgaon Budruk, the locals were sceptical. “There was talk of making farm bunds and constructing other structures but people didn’t want to do these things on their land out of the fear of losing fertile soil,” said Lata Prakash Fadat, another member of the VWMT. To start with, VWMT members received training in the A to Z of water-saving methods, right from farm bunding, de-silting ponds, deepening nallahs, using drips and sprinklers to making vermin-compost. Ten members went on exposure visits to Darewadi, Hivre Bazaar and Patoda to see how these villages were using their water with care. “We came back and told our community how well the others were doing,” said Lata.

Samadhan Himmatrao Pable, director of the Krushiputra FPO. A decade ago, when WOTR began work in the village, farmers were following
traditional farming methods. Since then, there has been a sea change.

Ever since, Borgaon Budruk has made 496 compartment bunds (small square-shaped basins in a field that hold water and prevent soil from eroding), ten check dams (a small dam built across a drainage ditch which reduces rainwater runoff and erosion), 11 nullah bunds (an embankment built across a stream that slows runoff and improves percolation and soil moisture) and deepened four nullah (small streams). “Nowadays even though we have less water in the summer, we have enough water for our needs,” said Panchfula, adding that the fights over water in the community have stopped. “We were inspired to do the work by visiting other villages. Today, other villages look up to us,” said Dinkar Mahipat Chavan, Panchfula’s husband and a VWMT member.

The power of a farmers’ collective
On a hot, dry afternoon, Samadhan Himmatrao Pable sat in the front yard of his house with other farmers. All the people present are a part of Krushiputra Farmers’ Producer Organisation (FPO), which was formed in 2019. A decade ago when WOTR began work in the village, farmers followed traditional farming methods. “We didn’t have a system to measure water. There were no devices,” said Pandurang Devrao Gadhe, a 65-year old member of the FPO.

“Since the water used to run off, there was none left in the wells. WOTR helped us understand the importance of rainwater and how to store it in the ground,” said Samadhan, a director of the FPO. The members of the FPO, who are from Subhanpur and other villages, learnt about soil health, groundwater conservation and organic farming, through demonstrations by the local jal sevak, exposure visits to successful farms and training from the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra. “We have seen many droughts. So we asked our members to switch to drip and sprinkler techniques. Today 90 percent of our 521 members use these methods. WOTR connected them to government policies that subsidise these systems,” said Sominath Bhimrao Shinde, a director of the FPO. FPO members who adopted micro irrigation saw 30 to 40 percent growth in crop yield, said Samadhan.

The FPO also started an input centre, a one-stop shop for farm inputs located in Bhokardan market nearby. The shop stocks high-yielding seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, drip equipment, etc, where FPO members can pick up these goods themselves or request a delivery to their villages. For each cropping season, the FPO also procures seeds for its members, finds buyers for their harvest and sells crops collectively to get better rates and cut costs. Through monthly meetings and WhatsApp groups, they advise farmers on the use of less water-intensive seeds, soil testing on farms and organic farming.

“Last year, the soil in every farm in Subhanpur was tested. We found high levels of potassium and low organic carbon in the soil. We advised everyone to use fertilisers with less potassium after that,” said Samadhan. “In the first two years, we had less public support. Now the awareness and knowledge among farmers has grown. When there was less rain, the village didn’t even have drinking water. But now we have enough water.” In 2023, Krushiputra FPO made a profit of Rs 1,70,000. Parts of this money were invested into the Input Centre and the purchase of a cold storage van which now helps members to bring their produce to the market without spoilage. WOTR’s project ended in June but the FPO is determined to carry forward its work. “WOTR held our hand. Now we have collective knowledge and we can walk on our own,” said Pandurang, with a twinkle in his eye.

Shyam Motirao Jadhav went on an exposure visit to Jalgaon with other farmers from his village where he saw how a sprinkler system could solve
his water worries. He signed up for a lucky draw by the VDC to get support to install sprinklers and he won.

When a little water goes a long way
Maharashtra is one of the few states making good progress in irrigating its farms efficiently. It had the fourth-highest adoption rate for micro-irrigation across India in 2020-21, which covered more than half of its net irrigated area. The jal sevaks in Jalna and Beed have facilitated the adoption of drip and sprinkler systems for 189 farmers. A narrow, bumpy road leads to the small village of Bori Khurd. Behind a temple, lies a farm. On a small patch in the middle, the waist high crops have glossy green brinjals hanging off them. A pipe connected to a nearby well is placed at one end of the field, which supplies water to 22 nozzles planted among the brinjals. In the mid-morning sunlight, the water from these rotating sprinklers glistens as they spray the crops, using only a fraction of pumped water typically used in farms across India.

This summer, Shyam Motiram Jadhav and his wife Vaishali Shyam Jadhav are growing brinjals, a crop that takes far less water and fetches a higher price than maize, a common crop in the area. Four years ago, the 40-year old farmer relied on an 80-feet deep well for irrigating the farm until it emptied completely. The chana (chickpea) he sowed last year did not get enough water. Soon, with the help of a jal sevak, Shyam went on an exposure visit to Jalgaon with other farmers from his village where he saw how a sprinkler system could solve his water worries. He signed up for a lucky draw by the VDC to get support to install sprinklers and he won.

“This is our first time growing brinjal,” he said as his wife Vaishali walked around the farm, with a big steel vessel resting on her waist, picking brinjals with thorny stems. The couple had already harvested 40 quintals of brinjals, which they sold at Rs 30 per kilo, earning Rs 120,000. “We expect to harvest a total of 100 quintals. If we had sown maize, we would have produced only 40 quintals. It would have used more water and fetched only Rs 20 per kilo [amounting to Rs 80,000],” he said. The couple had already made 50 per cent more money than what they would have earned with maize. “I was able to use just two acres of my seven acre-farm before. Now I can grow crops on all of it. The subsidy from WOTR and the government is a helping hand that has given a new life to farmers like me,” said Shyam. This year the water level in his well has risen because of WOTR’s work on groundwater restoration in his village.

With subsidies from the government and WOTR, farmers such as Shyam Motiram Jadhav in Bori Khurd have taken a small yet important step in becoming water stewards. Back in Borgaon Math, villagers feel that they will sustain the work done by WOTR through continued meetings, water budgeting and regular maintenance of water-saving structures. As for Bhagirathi, she is relieved that the children and women in her village no longer face the daily drudgery of arranging water. “Now the school bus comes here every day because our children attend school regularly,” she said.

(Courtesy: WOTR/ wotr.org)

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