For centuries, the Bhils have been dependent on a traditional irrigation system where water from a tributary is diverted to a field through small, temporary channels.
Rojanimal, Guradpani, Bhalabedi and Palashpani villages of the Balwadi cluster, Sendhwa block of Barwani district of Madhya Pradesh are rejoicing over the uninterrupted water supply available for irrigation and their homes after the tweaking of their traditional water system by the Aga Khan Rural Support Programme (AKRSP) India. With an uninterrupted supply of what seems like manna from heaven, these villages have taken their first baby steps to a new economic horizon.
In this rain-dependent tribal pocket of Central India’s Nimar region, for centuries the Bhils and other tribals have been dependent on a traditional irrigation system called pat, where water from a nalla or tributary is diverted to a field through small, temporary open channels. It was not a satisfactory system and women and cattle had to walk long distances to collect water and quench their thirst. In the absence of sustained water supply, the returns from the fields were inadequate and there was considerable migration.
In 2016, the AKRSP stepped in and drawing on traditional tribal knowledge as well as the gradients of the hilly terrain, developed a “diversion based irrigation” (DBI) system in the four villages, and lives have been transformed. PVC pipes now carry the water instead of an open channel. The system is permanent, does not require electricity or pumping sets for water flow, there is no maintenance cost and zero wastage of water. With DBI, water can reach fields located far from the source through water pressure, the flow generated and through sprinklers and drip irrigation. It’s a system that enables “water to walk” and the farmers, excited over water availability, contributed with their labour. For each DBI system, the labour contribution was estimated at over Rs 1 lakh. At Guradpani village alone, three DBI systems were installed. They dug tanks and laid the network of pipes. In the four villages, 6,730 metres of pipelines have been laid with 56 water outlets irrigating the fields of 42 farmers.
The Azim Premji Foundation and the Jamshedji Tata Trust supported AKRSP on the DBI initiative. Benevolent eyes turned to Guradpani, and with support of villagers three tanks were constructed, each with capacity to hold 1,200 litres of water and these in turn were connected to PVC pipelines snaking out to irrigate the fields. The gush of water is controlled by valves and taps to ensure there is no wastage. With water came the boom in the economic prosperity of the village. The PVC pipelines at Rojanimal village were provided by the Tata Trust.
Presently, 10 such schemes have been implemented and 64 farmers and around 300 acres have benefited from the diversion based irrigation system. In all, AKRSP is working in 22 villages in the Balwadi cluster of 35 km of Barwani district. Though the DBI system’s work began in 2016, integrated watershed management programme began in 2013 with government support. Earthen dam, stop dams, gabion and gully plugs were constructed to rejuvenate the area to reduce soil erosion and run off velocity.
Dharam Singh of Guradpani village has two acres of land and two wives and nine children to feed. Earlier he harvested just one crop of channa (gram) in a year. With water availability doubling with DBI, in addition to channa, he is now harvesting cotton, wheat and vegetables. Crops are cultivated on both sides of the pipeline. For the first time in 2017 and again this year, he did not have to migrate for work. Earlier three months in a year, he travelled to Maharashtra for work as agricultural labour.
Ever since he can remember Dharam Singh has been in debt. For the last two years, however, he has been able to save Rs 5,000 a year. An added benefit was the improvement in the education of his four school going children because he no longer migrates. Dharam Singh is able to sleep through the night, leaving the valve in the pipeline open for irrigating the fields. Buoyed by his economic growth he has become a member of the Farmers’ Interest Group to improve his prospects
further.
There are 20 other farmers at Guradpani who have been able to irrigate 57 acres of land and harvest three to four crops in a year through the DBI system. Most of them have one or two acres of land. A few have five acres. Sakaram, Gaja Baida and Chennai Baida have just one acre each and were completely dependent on rain. Though Sakaram’s field is at the tail end of the pipeline network, cotton production has doubled over the last two years. He has also been growing vegetables and no longer goes to Balwadi to buy them. With home grown greens, he is saving Rs 100 a week and the nutrition of the family has improved. He is also inter-cropping cotton with two varieties of lentils—tur and urad. He is saving Rs 4,000 a year and has no loans to settle.
Bindabai, the articulate wife of Sakaram, said the women had worked shoulder to shoulder with the men in digging and laying the pipelines. Earlier, with open channels, a third of the water would dry en route to her fields. With the constant availability of water now, the fertility of the soil has improved. She has constructed two mud huts with bamboo roofs and is seeking an extra metre of pipeline to her house. “I am willing to pay 50% of the cost,” she says persuasively.
Somibai, Dharam Singh’s first wife, holds the family together. After the birth of six daughters, the couple felt the family was incomplete without a son, so Somibai found him a second wife and they now have three sons too. This meant there were more mouths to feed. Though some of the neighbours sniggered about Dharam Singh having two wives, there is harmony in the large family and they find strength in their numbers. All homes in the village where the pipeline has reached have been able to reap benefits from the abundance of water, but Somibai’s engagement went beyond improved agriculture. With the help of a daughter she has made 12,000 bricks and hopes to make more to construct the village’s first pucca house.
Her kitchen garden is another source of joy. She revels in the brinjals, spinach, coriander, bitter gourd and bottle gourd growing in her backyard. My life has changed, she says. No more treks of half an hour, thrice a day, to get a bucket of water. She has also constructed a tank for water for cattle.
Some 1,500 women in the Balwadi cluster have formed self-help groups. In addition to farming they are in animal husbandry, maintaining goats and poultry. Maize, jawar and soya beans have been the traditional crops. Now farmers are growing organic cotton and many of them are shareholders in the Farmers Producer Company.
In all, the villages where the DBI is in place, later this year, user groups will be formed and with each farmer depositing Rs 500, a fund will be created to look after repair and maintenance of the new irrigation system.