Thottiyapatty and Dasilnaicanoor villagers transformed 412 acres of unproductive land into a self-sufficient Agriculture farm: Supported by Society General through OFI, implemented by SEVAI.

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

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

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

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

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