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| View of Thottiyapatty lands before watershed project |
Thottiyapatty and
Dasilnaicanoor villagers transformed 412 acres of unproductive land into a
self-sufficient Agriculture farm as supported by Society General through OFI,
implemented by SEVAI.A
visit to Thottiyapatty and Dasilnaickanoor farms near Thogamalai in Tamilnadu,
provides an exciting model of the efforts made by the villagers of
Thottiyapatty and Dasilnaickanoor to transform 412 acres of unproductive land
into a lush green farm through their constant efforts of creating four tanks,desilting
existing tanks, making contour and farm bunding,gully plugging with watershed
components such as understanding the area of land
that contributes water to a particular watercourse.,
Dividing marks the high point of land that separate one watershed from
another, Headwaters as the upper limits of the
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| View of the Check dam constructed |
watershed, Tributaries as smaller branches of
watercourse that join together
to make larger sections of the water flows to
the tanks,
Floodplain as the area on either side of
the watercourse that may be covered by water in times of high flow,
Confluence as
where
a branch of the watercourse joins the main channel,
Mouth
marks the end of the watercourse at a body of water, usually a lake or the sea,
Groundwater exists in the spaces of bedrock and gravel which
has not only transformed the surrounding area, but has also helped in improving
the water table in the surrounding wells as they were deepened, besides helping
in the development of a self sufficient farm for the marginal and small
farmers.30 wells have been deepened and trees have been planted in the area and
they are grown with optimum care. Training of farmers are being
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| Red gram cultivation |
conducted
regularly especially women farmers participate with keen interest as they
promote women self help Groups. The watershed works are very constructive and
not without its share of challenges, but persistence and constant optimism and
hard work to overcome challenges has reaped.The land was earlier considered as
barren and of no use because of lack of water and the hard rock structures
making it very difficult for holding water and for the vegetation to grow.
People thought I was taking a great risk when SG-OFI-SEVAI shared the plan of
developing this land and thought that it was impossible. However, SG-OFI-SEVAI
was
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| Cultivation of Brinjal vegetable |
determined to do something about it and that is how I gradually came upon
the idea of first working on developing
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| Ground nut harvesting |
the water resources in the area. It
took a lot of financial resources and time
to create a tank that gradually
startedfilling up with water that is used for irrigating the land as the wells
deepened get recharged by these newly constructed tanks. This has not only
helped in creating and developing greenery in the area, but has also helped in
increasing the water table in thesurrounding areas of the Agricultural land.
There is plenty of water in the 30 wells in the surrounding areas in the farm.
SG//OFI/SEVAI
plans has already started working, springs have already started appearing in
the area. It is very difficult to believe that this was a land that was three
years back uncultivable and now these 412 acres of land
food grains, tubers and vegetables.-
Govin
