LAND RESOURCE INVENTORY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS FOR WATERSHED PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT BABULGAON-1 (4E6E2D2d) MICROWATERSHED Humnabad Taluk, Bidar District, Karnataka

Abstract

The land resource inventory of Babulgaon-1 microwatershed was conducted using village cadastral maps and IRS satellite imagery on 1:7920 scale. The false colour composites of IRS imagery were interpreted for physiography and these physiographic delineations were used as base for mapping soils. The soils were studied in several transects and a soil map was prepared with phases of soil series as mapping units. Random checks were made all over the area outside the transects to confirm and validate the soil map unit boundaries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characteristics, classification and use potentials of the soils in the microwartershed. The present study covers an area of 519 ha in Babulgaon-1 microwatershed in Humnabad taluk of Bidar district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought prone with an average annual rainfall of 811 mm of which about 609 mm is received during south–west monsoon, 109 mm during north-east and the remaining 93 mm during the rest of the year. Entire area is covered by soils. The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to seven soil series and 17 soil phases (management units) and six Land Use Classes.  The length of crop growing period is about 150 days starting from the 1st week of June to 2nd week of October.  From the master soil map, several interpretative and thematic maps like land capability, soil depth, surface soil texture, soil gravelliness, available water capacity, soil slope and soil erosion were generated.  Soil fertility status maps for macro and micronutrients were generated based on the surface soil samples collected at every 250 m grid interval.  Land suitability for growing major agricultural and horticultural crops were assessed and maps showing degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  Entire area is suitable for agriculture.  About 58 per cent of the soils are moderately deep to very deep (75- >150 cm) and 42 per cent are moderately shallow to very shallow (25-75 cm) soils.  Entire area has clayey soils at the surface.  About 89 per cent of the area has non-gravelly soils and 11 per cent gravelly soils (15-35 % gravel).  About 44 per cent of the area has soils that are very high (>200mm/m) in available water capacity, 2 per cent medium (100-150 mm/m) and about 54 per cent low (50- 100 mm/m) and very low (<50 mm/m).  About 97 per cent of the area has nearly level (0-1%) to very gently sloping (1-3%) lands and about 3 per cent area is gently (3-5%) sloping lands.  An area of about 58 per cent has soils that are slightly eroded (e1), 24 per cent moderately eroded (e2) and 18 per cent severely eroded (e3).  An area of about 18 per cent has soils that are moderately acid to slightly acid (pH 5.5 to 6.5), about 31 per cent is neutral ( pH 6.5-7.3) and about 50 per cent area is slightly to strongly alkaline soils (pH 7.3-9.0).  The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the soils are dominantly <2 dsm-1indicating that the soils are non-saline.  Entire area is high (>0.75%) in organic carbon.  Major area of 83 per cent has soils that are low (<23 kg/ha), 14 per cent medium (23- 57 kg/ha) in available phosphorus and high (>57 kg/ha) in about 2 per cent area.  About 2 per cent area is low (<145 kg/ha), 82 per cent medium (145-337 kg/ha) and 16 per cent high (>337 kg/ha) in available potassium.  Available sulphur is low (<10 ppm) in about 43 per cent area, medium (10-20 ppm) in 55 per cent and 2 per cent high (>20 ppm).  Available boron is low (<0.5 ppm) in about 23 per cent area, 66 per cent medium (0.5-1.0 ppm) and high (>1.0 ppm) in about 10 per cent area.  Entire area is sufficient (>4.5 ppm) in iron.  Available manganese and copper are sufficient in all the soils.  About 30 per cent area has soils that are deficient (<0.6 ppm) in available zinc and 70 per cent sufficient (>0.6 ppm).  The land suitability for 19 major crops grown in the microwatershed were assessed and the areas that are highly suitable (S1) and moderately suitable (S2) are given below. It is however to be noted that a given soil may be suitable for various crops but what specific crop to be grown may be decided by the farmer looking to his capacity to invest on various inputs, marketing infrastructure, price and finally the demand and supply position. Land suitability for various crops in the microwatershed Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Crop Suitability Area in ha (%) Highly suitab le (S1) Moderately suitabl e (S2) Highly suit abl e (S1) Moderately suitabl e (S2) Sorghum 228 (44) 43 (8) Sapota - 18 (3) Maize - 43 (8) Jackfruit 58 (11) - Red gram - 256 (49) Jamun 10 (2) 277 (53) Sunflower 228 (44) 44 (8) Musambi 10 (2) 277 (53) Cotton 166 (32) 91 (17) Lime 10 (2) 277 (53) Sugarcane - 28 (5) Cashew 17 (3) - Soybean 228 (44) 58 (11) Custard apple 17 (3) 311 (60) Bengalgra m 228 (44) 18 (3) Amla 17 (3) 311 (60) Guava - 18 (3) Tamarind 10 (2) 269 (52) Mango 10 (6) - Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the 6 identified LUCs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fibre and horticulture crops that helps in maintaining the ecological balance in microwatershed.  Maintaining soil-health is vital to crop production and conserve soil and land resource base for maintaining ecological balance and to mitigate climate change. For this, several ameliorative measures have been suggested to these problematic soils like saline/alkali, highly eroded, sandy soils etc., Soil and water conservation treatment plan has been prepared that would help in identifying the sites to be treated and also the type of structures required.  As part of the greening programme, several tree species have been suggested to be planted in marginal and submarginal lands, field bunds and also in the hillocks, mounds and ridges.  This would help in supplementing the income, provide fodder and fuel, generate lot of biomass, of which would help in maintaining ecological balance and help in mitigating climate change. Baseline socioeconomic characterisation is prerequisite to prepare action plan for program implementation and to assess the project performance before making any changes in the watershed development program. The baseline provides appropriate policy direction for enhancing productivity and sustainability in agriculture. Methodology: Babulgaon-1 Microwatershed (Raipalli sub-watershed, Humnabad taluk, Bidar district) is located in between 17040’ – 17042’ North latitudes and 77012’ – 77015’ East longitudes, covering an area of about 519.22 ha, bounded by Mustari, Udbal, Chitgoppa and Bilkhera villages with length of growing period (LGP) 120-150 days. We used soil resource map as basis for sampling farm households to test the hypothesis that soil quality influence crop selection, and conservation investment of farm households. The level of technology adoption and productivity gaps and livelihood patterns were analyses. The cost of soil degradation and ecosystem services were quantified. Results: The socio-economic outputs for the Babulgaon-1 Microwatershed in Raipalli sub-watershed, Humnabad taluk and Bidar district are presented here. Social Indicators;  Male and female ratio is 55.4 to 44.6 per cent to the total sample population.  Younger age group of 18 to 30 populations is around 71.4 per cent to the total population.  Literacy population is around 92.0 per cent.  Social groups belong to scheduled caste (SC) and scheduled tribe (ST) was around 20 per cent.  Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is the source of energy for a cooking among 60 per cent.  About 40 per cent of households have a yashaswini health card.  Dependence on ration cards for food grains through public distribution system is around 70 per cent.  Swach bharath program providing closed toilet facilities around 50 per cent of sample households.  Institutional participation is only 7.1 per cent of sample households.  Women participation in decisions making of agriculture production of households was found. Economic Indicators;  The average land holding is 2.0 ha indicates that majority of farm households are belong to small and medium farmers. The irrigated land account for 62.8 per cent and rainfed land is 42.1 per cent of total cultivated land of the sample farmers. 2  Agriculture is the main occupation among 54.2 per cent and agriculture is the main and agriculture labour is subsidiary occupation for 33.3 per cent of sample households.  The average value of domestic assets is around Rs.18843 per household. Mobile and television are popular media mass communication.  The average value of farm assets is around Rs.250 per household, only 10 per cent of sample farmers are having weeder.  The average value of livestock is around Rs.40033 per household; about 61.5 per cent of household are having livestock.  The average per capita food consumption is around 810.2 grams (1637.0 kilo calories) against national institute of nutrition (NIN) recommendation at 827 gram. Around 70.0 per cent of sample households are consuming less than the NIN recommendation.  The annual average income is around Rs 26634 per household. About 90.0 per cent of farm households are below poverty line.  The per capita average monthly expenditure is around Rs. 1451. Environmental Indicators-Ecosystem Services;  The value of ecosystem service helps to support investment to decision on soil and water conservation and in promoting sustainable land use.  The onsite cost of different soil nutrients lost due to soil erosion is around Rs. 1080 per ha/year. The total cost of annual soil nutrients is around Rs. 487243 per year for the total area of 519.28 ha.  The average value of ecosystem service for food grain production is around Rs. 4530/ ha/year. Per hectare food grain production services is maximum in red gram (Rs. 11328) followed by soybean (Rs. 2924), bengal gram (Rs. 2547) and sunflower (Rs. 1320).  The data on water requirement for producing one quintal of grain is considered for estimating the total value of water required for crop production. The per hectare value of water used and value of water was maximum in redgram (Rs. 58317) followed by bengal gram (Rs. 45420), sunflower (Rs. 32457) and soybean (Rs. 21202). Economic Land Evaluation;  The major cropping pattern is red gram (74.3 %) followed by bengal gram (14.4 %) sunflower (7.1 %) and soybean (4.2 %).  In Babulgoan 1 micro watershed, major soils are soil of Hindupur (BGN) series are having very deep soil depth cover around 43.9 % of area. On this soil farmers are presently growing red gram (69.5 %), bengalgram (17.1 %), sunflower (8.4 %) and soybean (5.1 %). Devarahalli (KDM) are also having shallow soil depth 3 cover around 27.8 % of area, main crops is red gram. Kallipura (RMP) soil series having very shallow soil depth cover around 5.8 % of areas, in these area main crops is red gram.  The total cost of cultivation and benefit cost ratio (BCR) in study area for red gram ranges between Rs. 55182/ha in RMP soil (with BCR of 1.20) and Rs. 30326/ha in BGN soil (with BCR of 1.37).  In bengal gram the cost of cultivation in BGN soil is Rs. 25076//ha (with BCR of 1.10)  In soybean the cost of cultivation in BGN soil is Rs 29680/ha (with BCR of 1.10) and sunflower the cost of cultivation in BGN soil is Rs28572/ha (with BCR of 1.05).  The land management practices reported by the farmers are crop rotation, tillage practices, fertilizer application and use of farm yard manure (FYM). Due to higher wages farmer are following labour saving strategies is not prating soil and water conservation measures. Less ownership of livestock limiting application of FYM.  It was observed soil quality influences on the type and intensity of land use. More fertilizer applications in deeper soil to maximize returns. Suggestions;  Involving farmers is watershed planning helps in strengthing institutional participation.  The per capita food consumption and monthly income is very low. Diversifying income generation activities from crop and livestock production in order to reduce risk related to drought and market prices.  Majority of farmers reported that they are not getting timely support/extension services from the concerned development departments.  By strengthing agricultural extension for providing timely advice improved technology there is scope to increase in net income of farm households.  By adopting recommended package of practices by following the soil test fertiliser recommendation, there is scope to increase yield in red gram (0 to 20.7 %), bengal gram (55.1 %), soybean (49.4 %) and sunflower (40.7 %)