Impact of mid-himalayan watershed development project on its beneficiaries in North-Western Himalayas: A case of Himachal Pradesh

India's total farmers has 67.10 per cent marginal (below 1 ha.) followed by 17.91 per cent small (1-2 ha.). Indian agriculture thus dominated by marginal and small farmers who have very low holdings, therefore raising productivity has been found to be the most important factor for increasing the income levels of farmers. Watershed management has been found to besuch programmefor achieving this target. HP Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project - an integrated multisectoral Watershed Development Project has been operative in Mid Hills of Himachal Pradesh in 10 districts of the state since October, 2005. The study has been carried out in the purposively selected Solan, Sirmour and Mandi districts of the state by selecting randomly a sample of 270 respondents comprising of 180 beneficiaries + 90 non-beneficiaries, in terms of 2:1 ratio for the comparison of both the categories of respondents. This study emphasis on land use pattern, cropping pattern, productivity, income and benefit cost ratio. Results revealed that beneficiaries have put more area under cultivation (0.56 ha.) and have more irrigated land (0.36 ha.) as compared to non-beneficiaries (0.20 ha) which lead to increase in cropping intensity (196.51%) on their farms. Productivity of all the crops has been found to be increased due to creation of water resources, soil conservation structures, assistance for vermi composting, distribution of farm implements and high yielding crops. Beneficiaries” net income from agricultural and non-agricultural activities has found to be 59.58 and 4.74 per cent more than non-beneficiaries, respectively. The study recommended positive impact to be recorded on farmers” benefit cost ratio of important crops as of project and investigation should be intensified at the farm level for growers to benefit.