Canour bunding helps watershed for Poor

Contour bunding in SEVAI Watershed

In Thottiyapatty SEVAI Watershed project, Contour bunding is one of the simple methods of soil and water conservation measures applied. Bunding is an embankment of earth. It plays an important role in soil and water conservation in the field with medium slope. In between two contours agriculture is practisised. Along bunds trees which fix nitrogen in to the soil are planted with grass along the bunds. Contour bunding helps in soil and water conservation. When there is rainfall, contour bund acts as a barrier to the water flow and checks the velocity. This reduces chances of soil erosion. When water starts flowing along the fields bund becomes obstruction for it. Due to the obstruction velocity reduces and water percolates behind the bunds. This allows infiltration of water into the soil. Thus bunding on the fields with moderate slopes helps in soil and water conservation. In Thottiyapatty and Dasilnaickanoor region percentage of barren land along the sloppy agricultural land is quite large. Due to slope, soil and nutrients erode fast which makes agriculture on this land very uneconomical. People having such type of land adopt this technique. Also this technique is adopted on common land. Instead of uneconomical agriculture farmers construct bunds along the fields and grow trees on the bunds. Marginal farmers start small primary unit of compost with trees on the bunds and grass along the bunds are used for cattle. Thus the farmer gets some economic returns from the land with improved fertility. Soil and water conservation due to bunding work increases water availability in their wells and to stop further degradation of the land. Plantation on the bunds satisfies basic need of fuel wood, fruits and fodder. As slope increases distance bet two rows is less and vice versa. Along the bunds grassland is developed along with tree plantation. Trees which will satisfy basic needs of a village

Dry-land farming and forestry in SEVAI Watershed

are planted along the down stream side of a bund. Water stored behind the bund for few days, infiltrates into the earth increasing well water level. The results can be mentioned as under: Soil along the sloppy fields is protected from erosion caused by flowing water. Thus work of soil conservation is done without any special hi-tech technique. Huge biomass is generated along the bund which is used for cattle as fodder and compost used as organic manure. It is very difficult to convince people for bunding. The main reason is that people feel that land under bund goes as waste and so crop out put is reduced. The advantage of bund is shown to the farmers. Thotiyapatty and Dasilnaicknaoor village meetings with the people were useful for contour bunding, in the area privately owned. People are aware about increased yield and rise of water level due to contour bunding; they did all work without hesitation. The people are ready to adopt technique when they see overall increase in the crop yield due to increased water level; increased percentage of organic matter in the soil; improved fertility of the soil and reduced requirement of Factors contributing success can be stated Local technique, easy to adopt. Low cost technique. External input to the village is zero. Participation of villagers in each and every stage of implementation of the programme. Some financial assistance to the villagers from state government Huge employment is generated. Whole work is done considering village as a unit. Where rain falls on sloping land with bare earth it tends to run off rapidly either as overland flow or as rill or gully flow. This removes particles. A number of aims to reduce the erosion by either reducing the slope or reducing the length of slope.-Govin