Resource appraisal of Garhkundar Dabar watershed in Bundelkhand region of central India

Knowledge of resources is pre-requisite for planning and management strategy. The study pertains to Garhkundar-Dabar watershed in Distt. Tikamgarh (M.P.), a part of Bundelkhand region in central India. Primary data on resource base was collected through PRA and detailed survey of 30% households. Soil resource is poor to support healthy crop. Majority of soil belongs to red soil category which is low in soil organic carbon, N, P and medium in K, Water resource situation is grim as out of 107 wells 63 were completely dry in June 2006 and wet wells had very low water yield. Although, forest occupies more than 54% area in the watershed but it is highly degraded with predominance of coppiced growth of Anogeissus peadula and Butea monosperma. Only 70 ha agricultural land (total agricultural area 296 ha) is cropped in kharif and 135 ha in rabi. Cereals dominate in crop land followed by pulses and oilseeds. Amongst animal resources, goats are prominent followed by buffaloes and cows Animal population per family worked out to be 13.9 or 2.9 per person, Majority of fodder comes from cultivated land (48%) where fodder requirement is 5.06 kg/day/family. As regards to fuelwood. mean consumption per family per day worked out to be 4,88 kg. Dense forest, a major sources of fuel wood meets 49% of the requirement. Based on resource appraised considering state of degradation of land, water and vegetative resources and gap in demand and supply of fuel wood and fodder resources there is an urgent need for planning development management of the watershed involving agroforestry to sustain resource.