Potential of Rain Water Harvesting Farm Ponds for Raising Farm Income in Rainfed Regions of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana

This study has analysed the impact of adopting farm ponds in three districts-Anantapur and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh and Adilabad in Telangana on productivity, cropping pattern and income by selecting a sample of 100 ponds in each district. In Anantapur, more than 80 per cent of farm ponds generated additional returns up to 1500 per year. In Chittoor, the additional returns generated by 80 out of 100 ponds fell in the range of 500020000. In Adilabad, the majority of farm ponds generated returns of more than 20000. The net present values were computed by assuming a life of 15 years for each farm pond. The profitability was found to vary across the three districts and was higher in Adilabad district because of relatively higher rainfall and larger farm ponds. The profitability of farm pond was influenced by the size of plot where pond was located. These findings imply that designing of farm ponds should be location-specific taking into consideration the rainfall and run off possibilities. If the pond and plot are too small, the economic returns may be too small, as was seen in Anantapur. In some cases, adoption of farm ponds was found to double the income, especially when the income before farm pond was relatively low.