The Kinchumanda watershed is hard to find on a map. Nestling in the Eastern Ghats, in Dumbriguda Revenue Mandal in Visakhapatnam District, a few miles from the Orissa–Andhra Pradesh border, it’s a remote place. It’s heavily eroded, too. The hills have been denuded of their trees, allowing rainstorms to wash precious topsoil down the slopes. The declining soil fertility lowers the crop yields, and the loss of trees means that people find it harder to collect enough of the forest produce they used to rely on for much of their livelihood.
The Kinchumanda watershed is achieving national prominence, though. Chosen by the Indo-German Bilateral Project for attention because of its severe erosion and strategic location in the Sileru/Machkund river catchment, the watershed is now focus of a joint effort by the government and Vikasa, an NGO based in Visakhapatnam District, to control erosion, enhance the soil fertility and help local people improve their lives.
The watershed covers 1033 hectares at altitudes of 1300–1680 m. It is home to 766 people, or 155 households, belonging to five indigenous tribal communities known as the Nookadora, Khotiya, Konda Kammari, Bhagata and Valmiki. They follow their traditional customs diligently and are proud of their festivals. The households own an average 1.55 hectares of farmland each, but much of the land is poor – it is stony, or on steep slopes.
Twenty-eight of the families have no land, but in a unique tribal practice, families that have land traditionally let landless families cultivate it for no financial remuneration. This means that people are not forced to migrate away in search of a job elsewhere.
Local people used to practise shifting cultivation in the watershed. They would leave land fallow for many years before clearing fields and growing crops for a few seasons. They would grow sorghum, rice, millets, red gram, cowpea, kidney beans, niger and other beans. They would then move on to clear a new patch of forest, allowing the soil in the old fields time to regenerate. They would also go into the forest to collect items to use, eat or sell: wood, leaves (used to make plates), tamarind, nuts, medicinal herbs, and so on.
But recently, people have started cultivating the same fields permanently. They still grow the same crops, keep sheep, cows and chickens, and go into the forest to gather what they can find. But more intensive cultivation has brought with it the problems of erosion, declining soil fertility and over-exploitation of the forest.
Some of the land in the watershed area is owned by the people who live there; the rest is classified as forest land, and is managed by the State Forest Department. This department has the mandate to protect the forest, but had no power to prevent local people trying to make ends meet from cutting trees.
About Vikasa
Vikasa has worked in 4 mandals (blocks) of Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh, since 1988. It is involved in community-based watershed, agroforestry, micro-watershed, and community forest management programmes.
Vikasa has received accolades from the central and state governments and civil society for its efforts to green wastelands and develop agroforestry. In 1997, it was given the Rajiv Gandhi Patri Bhumi Mitra Award constituted by the Ministry of Rural Development, New Delhi, for its contribution to wasteland development.
NGO–government coordination
A key aspect of the Indo-German Bilateral Project was collaboration between NGOs and governments. As part of this larger project, Vikasa shared responsibility for activities in the Kinchumanda watershed with two Andhra Pradesh government departments: forestry and soil conservation. It was necessary for these various institutions to agree on a framework for activities, so first they met without the villagers present so they could determine who would be responsible for what aspect of the work. The government departments agreed to focus on areas in the watershed officially classified as forest lands – where they would reforest the hills, build masonry structures to manage runoff, and work to control gullies. Meanwhile Vikasa, with its strong community organizing skills, would work on privately owned land, organize local people to take part in the conservation works, and coordinate the implementation of activities in the villagers’ fields.
At first, the government departments decided what to plant on the forest lands without consulting the villagers. When Vikasa started its work a little later, it made sure to keep the villagers informed about the government’s work, and more involved in it. As a result, relations and cooperation between the government staff and the community improved. After the forest had recovered somewhat, local people were permitted to cut some branches for fuelwood. They were not allowed to cut trees.
Vikasa and the government departments operated a combined monitoring system and held regular monthly meetings and quarterly field visits to monitor activities in the community. The IGBP and the Ministry of Agriculture held joint review meetings at national level twice a year involving all partner state government departments and NGOs participating in the project. IGBP provided technical inputs to both the NGOs and the Forest Department. This enabled the IGBP to act as a catalyst to improve coordination between Vikasa and the government.
Just after the Vikasa–government project began, a separate programme on joint forest management, funded by the World Bank and the Forest Department, started in the same watershed. This programme established forest protection committees in the communities, and granted local people the right to all of the produce from the forest. The committees also took charge of monitoring and maintenance activities. It was a coincidence that this programme started almost at the same time as the Vikasa project. By the time it got under way, Vikasa was well involved in its community work in the villages, and was able to help organize local people to become involved in the programme.
Planning and training
Vikasa had not worked in this community before, so the first task was to get to know local people and to build rapport with them. Vikasa organized regular meetings with the community and started discussing the concept of a watershed approach with them. It used participatory appraisal and village-level planning methods to enable the villagers to decide what should be done.
The NGO also organized a range of activities to raise residents’ awareness and knowledge of watershed issues. These included cultural programmes, community meetings, street plays, and exposure visits for local people to various organizations working on natural resource management, vegetable cultivation, wasteland development, etc. Vikasa also arranged training sessions on composting, cultivation of different kinds of vegetables, joint forest management, watershed structures, as well as on capacity building, leadership, accounting and bookkeeping.
Promoting good practices
In consultation with the communities, Vikasa introduced a range of improved practices to improve agricultural production in the watershed.
Soil and moisture conservation works:
These included graded bunds, staggered trenches and contour stone bunds, land levelling and loose-boulder structures. The gullies were treated with rock-fill dams, check dams and spillways, reducing erosion. Over a period of 4 years, all the villagers’ farmland was treated. The work started out with trials in a couple of villages, but there was so much interest that it was later possible to involve all the farmers across the eight villages in the watershed.
Compost:
Traditionally the farmers would take cow dung out to their fields in baskets, then spread it on the soil in a haphazard way. But heavy rains would wash away the dung before any seed could be sown. The project introduced composting as an alternative. It supported 60 families to dig compost pits, and another 30 families did so after seeing the benefits.
Soak pits. Stagnant water around the village allows malaria-carrying mosquitoes to breed. Every year the malaria season starts with the monsoon rains; people are too ill to work on their farms, so cannot grow as much food. To address this problem, Vikasa encouraged local people to dig soak pits to allow the stagnant water to seep into the ground. Forty pits were dug for the use of 70 families.
Soak pits. Stagnant water around the village allows malaria-carrying mosquitoes to breed. Every year the malaria season starts with the monsoon rains; people are too ill to work on their farms, so cannot grow as much food. To address this problem, Vikasa encouraged local people to dig soak pits to allow the stagnant water to seep into the ground. Forty pits were dug for the use of 70 families.
Tapping spring water:
Local people used dirty water from ponds and streams for drinking, washing, watering animals, and so on. Vikasa encouraged them to build walls to protect the springs, so ensuring the water is uncontaminated. Animals were allowed to drink lower down the stream. Five springs were protected in this way, benefiting five of the eight villages. In the other three, the government dug wells to provide drinking water.
Vegetable cultivation. The farmers used to grow only grains and pulses, which can be dried and stored easily. They did not grow vegetables, which are perishable, so their diets were limited. The project introduced vegetable cultivation in a big way: it provided all local families with seeds of carrot, cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, chillies, and eggplant. That enabled them to grow a reasonable amount of vegetables to eat, as well as some surplus to sell. This vegetable seed was provided out of a revolving fund: farmers borrow and repay their loans so the funds can be used to benefit other families in the watershed.
Trees and fences. Nearly 80 farmers planted mangoes on land that had been fallow before the project began. This land was highly eroded, but after conservation methods were applied and the trees were planted, it revived amazingly. The farmers have started intercropping maize, sorghum, and other crops between the young trees. Other farmers have planted amla (Indian gooseberry), guava, and sapota trees.
The farmers used to fence their land with tree and shrub branches. That damaged trees in the forest, and the fences had to be replaced periodically. The project introduced live fencing using agave, a spiny plant that produces a fibre in good demand in the market.
Treadle pumps:
It is difficult to irrigate fields in the area because there is no electricity and diesel engines are expensive to buy and run. Vikasa provided local people with four pedal-operated treadle pumps that can lift water to irrigate small areas.
Developing village institutions:
Strong village institutions are vital to ensure that watershed activities are sustained. A watershed committee was formed to maintain the conservation works and to manage the watershed fund created through community shramadan (voluntary labour). The committee is composed of men and women from the eight villages, and includes landless people.
Women have formed savings-and-credit self-help groups in all eight villages. The government provided them with some monetary support, and the project also gave financial support to some of the groups, as well as training them in accounting and bookkeeping.
Vikasa took up livelihood activities with various vulnerable groups: local women engaged in sheep rearing, while the watershed fund provided landless people with bullocks they could use to earn some money by ploughing.
The NGO also collaborated with the Integrated Tribal Development Agency to help local people approach other government bodies for services such as education and health, and to promote the status of women.
Impacts
Soil and water conservation. The gully treatment and bunds on farmland slowed down the flow of water and stemmed erosion, leaving clear water running in the streams. Groundwater levels improved considerably, and streams now flow for a longer period during the year. Overflow tanks at the natural springs now hold clean drinking water. There is more drinking water for animals too.
Crop production:
The improved soil fertility and moisture levels raised crop and fodder production. Fallow land was brought into cultivation, resulting in more work for both farmers and landless people.
Table 1. Increase in yields due to soil and water conservation in watershed villages
Crop
Before project (kg/ha) After project (kg/ha)
Paddy 625 1000–1250
Coarse grains 500–750 1250
Samalu 250 500
Table 1. Increase in yields due to soil and water conservation in watershed villages
Crop
Before project (kg/ha) After project (kg/ha)
Paddy 625 1000–1250
Coarse grains 500–750 1250
Samalu 250 500
(little millet)
Pulses 250 500
Pulses 250 500
Niger 125 250
Vegetable production:
There was no significant vegetable cultivation in the project area before the project. During the project, vegetable production was given greater importance and trainings and inputs were provided to almost all the families. At present, around 60% to 70% families are engaged in production of cabbage, carrot, tomatoes, chillies and other crops besides turmeric, and ginger and with vegetable cultivation, the average income of each family increased to about 15000.
Forestry:
The tree cover has risen considerably as a result of the community forest programme in the reserve forest area. Local people say that there are now slightly more peacocks, other birds and monkeys in the area.
Economic benefits:
Local people now earn more because their yields are higher and they have planted more types of crops. As a result of the increased demand for labour, the wage rate has risen from Rs 30 to Rs 40 per day.
The watershed fund amounts to Rs 308,823, or Rs 2000 for each of the 155 families in the villages. This was possible because the people decided themselves to save Rs 10 out of their daily earnings and use the money for post-project activities. The funds revolve among the farmers of the eight villages. The fund aims to enable its members to maintain the soil-conservation works and to invest in crop production.
Twelve farmers used to practise shifting cultivation, which damages the environment as it involves indiscriminate cutting of trees. This has stopped completely, as the project interventions have taken care of the land and monetary needs of the farmers through watershed works and other incentives.
Some farmers have made enough money from their plots to lease extra land – some of which was previously unused. The project provided sheep to some landless farmers, who have earned enough to lease land to cultivate.
Social benefits: The common fencing, the seed bank and the various other activities begun under the project have resulted in more interaction, social cohesion and unity within the community. Traditionally women play a vital role in the community; they control money and decide what to buy for the family. Women’s role has increased with their membership of the village committees. Their confidence has risen considerably now they meet with staff of various government departments and banks to obtain services and financial support. It was important to include landless people in the project to ensure that these poorer members of society also benefited from an apparently land-based project.
Other benefits: The number of pucca (tiled) houses has risen as people have become better off. Many families have bought farm animals, utensils, as well as items such as gold, wristwatches, radios and tape-recorders with their earnings.
The villagers (especially children) are healthier as a result of the better, more diverse nutrition and fewer malaria infections.
Sustainability and spread: People from neighbouring villages have started applying the soil and water conservation works in their fields, without any support from outside. To Vikasa’s knowledge, 57 families across four villages have done so. After the end of the project’s 5-year involvement, the community has taken over the management of the various activities.
Lessons
Various factors supported and hindered the project activities. The community is homogenous; local people rely on farming, and have no tradition of migrating in search of work. They work hard, and already knew something about soil conservation techniques. They were willing to try out and adopt the practices suggested through the project. There was some initial resistance (reportedly motivated by local political factions), but Vikasa’s transparent approach and frequent visits by the field team were able to overcome this.
Collaboration with the government departments was very good, despite some problems caused by the frequent transfer of staff and the lack of time that officials had to devote to project work. Without collaboration, it would not have been possible to do any conservation work in the forest land. The proximity of the government department office to the project area made for easy communication. The collaboration with the Forest Department’s soil conservation unit and other IGBP partners enabled Vikasa to promote new technologies (check dams, percolation tanks, spillways) with the participation of the local communities. Previously unknown locally, Vikasa was also able to gain recognition through its work with the government in the area. Vikasa is still collaborating with the government in activities other than the IGBP project.
More information: P Viswanadh or K Srinivas Kumar, Vikasa, vikasa_india@yahoo.com or vikasa@rediffmail.com
The work of the Vikasa in the Indo-German Bilateral Project was supported by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and the KfW Development Bank
www.vikasaindia.org
www.gtz.de
www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de
