Evaluation of Soil and Water Conservation Interventions Impact on Water, Crop and Economic Resources Development: A Case Study of Karma Micro-Watershed in Eastern Plateau of India

Strategic management of soil and water conservation measures for water resources generation through small farm pond reservoirs to harvest rainfall-runoff from agricultural land for crop irrigation are the focal points for enhancing agricultural productivity and economic profitability in semiarid Karma micro-watershed of Bankura, West Bengal, India under IWMP were evaluated for impact of technological interventions on improvement of water, crop and economic resources. The increased pond-water availability augmented irrigated areas by 40.23-46.94% in kharif, 30.53-38.46% in rabi and 23.08-33.33% in summer season after the programme, which encouraged the beneficiary farmers to grow diversified crops across the year. In lowland ecosystem with sporadic stressed water regime, imposition of conservation tillage, stubble mulching, draught-resistant varieties use and low-water consuming short duration crops were advocated. The marginal increase in productivity for Aman paddy (1.75%) and a greater increase for maize (14.16%) after programme were observed. Net income and BCR for Aman paddy increased from 6165/ha and 1.23 during pre-programme to 40124/ha and 2.41 during post-programme, respectively due to adoption of specific soil and water conservation technologies.