Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture Santoshnagar, Hyderabad-500059
This paper examined the performance of 37 watershed programmes in different agro-ecological regions of India. The watershed programmes were implemented by different agencies such as ICAR, Ministry of Rural Development, International donor agencies, NWDPRA and NGOs. The results showed that the programmes had positive impact on different biophysical and socio-economic variables. No significant differences in the impact could be attributed to the agencies implementing the projects. The success of the programmes was significantly influenced by the extent of augmentation of ground water and access to markets. The participation of people had a weak but significant relationship to the success of the watershed programme. It was further observed that the watershed structures were more likely to be maintained when more ground water recharge was created and in watersheds implemented by NGOs. It was observed that the ICAR implemented watershed received more attention on technical aspects.
