Integrated Natural Resource Management(INRM) under MGNREGS in Kandhamal District

The initiative The pilot project “INRM under MGNREGS” launched on 10 th Nov’09 in the district Plan was to take up 300 villages in 7 blocks All the stakeholders have been sensitized and oriented on INRM Involvement of 8 NGOs as facilitating agency and PRADAN is the nodal NGO

Kandhamal context Annual rainfall is high ( mm), but the distribution is uneven Undulating land with low soil fertility, erosion of top productive soil Upland-66%, medium-22%, lowland-12% High forest coverage(72%), degrading stage Low productivity of crops(paddy-1.6t/Ha), paddy grain produced per capita kg Average food sufficiency-4-6 months, 78% families are below poverty line Contd….

Farm based livelihoods are monsoon dependent Low productivity of Agriculture and animal husbandry. High dependence on forest: depleting forest resource. Poor land husbandry with reducing carrying capacity Lack of appropriate ideas to enhance carrying capacity of land whose quality varies widely Livelihood of the people are subsistence agriculture, NTFP collection and seasonal wage labour

The way forward to enhance acceptance and awareness under MGNREGS Given the endowment nobody should remain workless and should not go hungry. So family based integrated NRM to enhance overall productivity looks to be a potential option. In-situ water harvesting has to be the beginning.

Requirement of in-situ water harvesting In-situ harvesting and recycling ensure better access/control and address issues of equity Though this area receives fairly good (1600mm) rainfall per annum, still paddy fails due to frequent dry spells. About 850 mm of monsoon rain runs off, leading to degraded land resource Run-off volume is much higher at the valleys causing submergence Water holding capacity of the soil is low. Appropriate treatment can enhance absorption of water by soil and improve productivity Around 10% land under water bodies can facilitate percolation of 50% of runoff

An approach to Natural Resource Management

Process involves: Locating the position of the individual plots of a holding in the micro watershed Their treatment with appropriate technology matching with purpose and needs of the family

Ridge Line Lowland Drainage point Upland Medium upland Medium Lowland

In medium uplands and medium lowlands we identify places for constructing small water harvesting structures like 5% model pits Lands at the upper catchments of these are treated with in-situ soil and moisture conservation measures like 30 x 40 These 30 x 40 model patches are covered under plantation for: 1.Better soil & moisture conservation 2.Generating income and sustaining the interest if these poor people in these patches The gullies are either plugged or transformed to water harvesting structures To recycle the seepage water at the valleys tanks are constructed in the lowlands

Agro-horticulturelink Other plantationslinklink 5% WHSlinklink Seepage tanklink A typical treatment Fisherieslinklink Sabai + 30X40linklink Gully plugginglinklink Big tanklinklink

Purpose of upper catchments’ Treatment Checking degradation Diversifying land use to reduce vulnerabilities Enhance income of poor families through timber/fruit tree or grass plantation Checking siltation of the harvesting structures at the down stream Enhancing percolation to enrich moisture regime

Purpose of In-situ Water Harvesting Structures 5% model: To save paddy crop from dry spells providing life saving irrigation Increasing moisture regime Seepage tank: Tapping sub surface run-off / recycling harvested water upstream to irrigate second crop after paddy

Progress made System has been streamlined relating to planning, execution and monitoring All the BDO, AE, JE, GRS, EO and GS have been given training on INRM The GP and PS members are sensitized around INRM and given exposure for further execution under MGNREGA Work has been initiated in 220 villages and about 1.3 crore rupees has been spent.

Current senario In these 7 blocks the expense from INRM has become significant in terms of total block’s expenses under MGNREGS. Acceptance of people for INRM work has been enhanced after the first payment The villagers are now more involved in pallisabha and panchayat decisions. In the INRM villages more job card holders are now involved in work in comparison to previous year. Now more demand is coming from the people from nearby villages. Contd…

People in these vilages have taken SRI in their treated plots Productivity from wasteland has improved through agro-forestry or agro-horticulture (Mango plantation in 300 Ha) PRI persons like block president, Sarpanchas, Zillaparsad members etc have been given exposure to INRM work Now block officials from other blocks are coming to these blocks to see the work and replicate the same.

Keys to success People with shared concern at the core Comprehensive and long term programme Equitable distribution of benefits with plan for all the resources and families of the village Utilization of farmers’ knowledge in developing micro-plan Involvement of NGOs with rigorous monitoring at different level Focus on capacity building of all the stake holders

Ways forward Saturation of Panchayat under INRM Training of villagers and youth around different farm based livelihoods Strengthening the existing village level plans with taking new villages in the existing and new blocks Strengthening the existing monitoring system and processes timely payment

Seepage tank

Land degradation Bund strengthening with soil from the pit 5 % -pit

Barren Upland 5 % pit5%-with SRI Fruit tree plantation

Land deteriorationFarm pond GulliesLoose boulder check

Process of INRM Implementation Submitted to block Plan preparation JE, AE, BDO approval Work order issue Village- Work starts District for FS District for TS, > 10 lakh PRADAN Payment through bank/PO Bill preparation, MR submission Measure ment by JE MR issue to GS

Village level planning

Work order issue and work in progress Work order issued by BDO of village DedimahaWork-in-progress in the village dedimaha

Awareness and Trainings

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