SEVAI Watershed -Young and Marginal farmers show the way

Matha involved in Paddy cultivation process

Young and Marginal farmers show the way in food production. A young farmer, Mathanaickar residing in Thottiyapatty his home village near Kallai,an hours drive from Trichirapalli..This young marginal farmer had to take the lead in rice cultivation for self-sufficient noting that rice is the staple in his village in Tamilnadu; India.Mathanaickar took up rice farming on his on the Participatory Integrated Watershed Project of Thottiyapatty. Due to the effect of watershed his well gets recharged .due to the recent rains and this young farmer took up the cultivation process by tilling his land with his oxen. He is not able to afford to employ any labourers and these marginal farmers and his family members started cultivating rice in 2 acres of rice in the catchments area of Thottiyapatty the watershed. Helping farmers increase agricultural production and productivity is a priority of many SEVAI supported farmers in Thottiyapatty watershed. SEVAI empowers the marginal farmers’ communities to undertake and maintain integrated watershed management activities, with the aim of increasing their incomes and protecting their natural resources.SEVAI Watershed project objectives include: Strengthening the capacity of rural communities and their service providers to manage the watershed sustainable. Marginal farmers in SEVAI Thottiyapatty watershed generally produce rice for home. Been a school drop-out he did not give any room for despair, he proudly works to earn decent living. To him, what young people like him in the rural area need is more support to enable them make ends meet through engaging in projects. Many inhabitants of this village depend largely on agriculture in marginal land holding. Agriculture requires three major resources, land, water and energy. Land, being a fixed resource, agricultural productivity could be linked directly to the availability of water and energy inputs and Thottiyapatty watershed has promoted the farmers in sustainable agriculture such as Insitu moisture conservation and use of natural resources such as  Land water and vegetation, scientific management of land and water, Enhancement of production and productivity in rain fed areas, trained and to motivate the farmers for enhancing the productivity through the schemes of concerned departments and Promotion of Agriculture and allied enterprises. -Govin