LAND RESOURCE INVENTORY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS FOR WATERSHED PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT GUDIGERI-5 (4D4A2N2e) MICRO WATERSHED Alavandi Hobli, Koppal Taluk and District, Karnataka

Abstract

The land resource inventory of Gudigeri-5 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 boundries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characterstics, classification, behavior and use potentials of the soils in the microwartershed. The present study covers an area of 355 ha in Koppal taluk and district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought - prone with an average annual rainfall of 662 mm, of which about 424 mm is received during south –west monsoon, 161 mm during north-east and the remaining 77 mm during the rest of the year. An area of about 96 per cent is covered by soils, four per cent by waterbodies, settlements and others. The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 8 soil series and 18 soil phases (management units) and 4 land use classes.  The length of crop growing period is 150 cm).  Entire area has clayey soils at the surface.  About 25 per cent of the area has non-gravelly soils, 53 per cent gravelly soils (15-35 % gravel) and 19 per cent very gravelly to extremely gravelly (35- 80% gravel) soils.  About 50per cent of the area has very low (200mm/m) available water capacity.  An area of about 5 per cent has nearly level (0-1%) slopes and maximum area of about 92 per cent has very gently sloping (1-3%) lands.  An area of about 11 per cent is slightly eroded (e1) and 83 per cent has moderately eroded (e2) lands and an area of about 2 per cent has severely eroded (e3)lands.  An area of about 4 per cent has soils that are moderately alkaline (pH 7.8 to 8.4),38 per cent strongly alkaline (pH 8.4 to 9.0) and 54 per cent soils very strongly alkaline (pH>9.0).  The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the soils are dominantly <2 dsm-1indicating that the soils are non-saline.  Organic carbon is low (<0.5%) in about 23 per cent, 45 per cent of the soils are medium (0.5-0.75%) and 29 per cent of the soils are high (>0.75%) in organic carbon.  Available phosphorus is low (<23 kg/ha) in the entire area of the microwatershed.  About 13 per cent area has soils that are medium (145-337 kg/ha) and 83 per cent high (>337 kg/ha) in available potassium.  Available sulphur is low (<10 ppm) in 55 per cent area, medium (10-20 ppm) in about 18 per cent area and about 24 per cent area is high (>10 ppm).  Available boron is low (0.5 ppm) in about 53 per cent area and medium (0.5-1.0 ppm) in 44 per cent area.  Available iron is sufficient (>4.5 ppm) in the entire area.  Available zinc is deficient (<0.6 ppm) in 88 per cent and sufficient in 8 per cent area.  Available manganese and copper are sufficient in all the soils.  The land suitability for 24 major crops grown in the microwatershed was 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, market 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 suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Highly suitable (S1) Moderately suitable (S2) Sorghum 26(7) 226(64) Sapota - - Maize - - Jackfruit - - Bajra - - Jamun - 80 (23) Groundnut - 85 (24) Musambi 14 (4) 152 (43) Sunflower 14(4) 152(43) Lime 14 (4) 152 (43) Chilli - - Cashew - - Tomato - - Custard apple 26 (7) 225 (64) Drumstick - 166(47) Amla 252(71) Mulbery 252 (71) Tamarind - 80 (23) Pomegranate - 166 (46) Marigold - 252 (71) Guava - - Chrysanthemum - 252 (71) Mango - 34 (9) Jasmine - 85 (24) Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the six identified LUCs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fodder, fibre and other horticulture crops.  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. That would help in supplementing the farm income, provide fodder and fuel, and generate lot of biomass which inturn would help in maintaining the ecological balance and contribute to mitigating the 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: The Gudigeri-5 micro-watershed is located in between 15017’ – 15018’ North latitudes and 75055’ – 75057’ East longitudes, covering an area of about 355.37 ha and bounded by Kavalura, and Gudigeri villages in Koppal taluk and district. It falls under Agro Ecological Region (AER)–3: (Deccan plateau, hot arid ecosubregion) Karnataka Plateau (Rayalseema as inclusion), hot arid ESR with deep loamy and clayey mixed red and black soils, low to medium AWC and LGP 60-90 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 for each watershed. Results: We found that Social Indicators;  Male and female ratio is 50 to 50 per cent to the total sample population.  Younger age groups of population is around 48 per cent to the total population.  Literacy population is around 77 per cent.  Wood is the source of energy for a cooking among 67 per cent.  About 17 per cent of households have a yashaswini health card.  Majority of farm households (75 %) are having MGNREGA card for rural employments.  Dependence on ration cards through public distribution system is around 67 per cent  Swach bharath program providing closed toilet facilities around 58 per cent of sample households.  Institutional participation is only 6.3 per cent of sample households.  Rural migration to unban centre for employment is prevent among 42 per cent of farm households.  Women participation is decisions making are around 12 per cent of households were found. Economic Indicators;  The average land holding is 3.7 ha indicates that majority of farm households are belong to marginal and small farmers.  Agriculture is the main occupation among 95 per cent and Diary farming is predominant subsidiary occupation for 2.7 per cent of sample households. 2  The average value of domestic assets is around Rs 21479 per household. Mobile and television are mass popular mass communication media.  The average farm assets a value is around Rs 90330 per household, about 21 per cent of sample farmers are owing tractors.  The average livestock value is around Rs 30967 per livestock; about 33 per cent of household are having livestock.  The average per capita food consumption is around 799 grams (1921 kilo calories) against national institute of nutrition recommendation at 827 gram. Around 56 per cent of sample farmers are consuming less than the NIN recommendation.  The annual average income is around Rs 38608 per household. About 50 per cent of farm households are below poverty line.  The per capita monthly expenditure is around Rs 1069 per household. 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 12946 per ha/year. The total cost of annual soil nutrients is around Rs 4414535 per year for the total area of 355.57 ha.  The average value of ecosystem service for food production is around Rs 3139/ ha/year. Per ha food production services is maximum in green gram (Rs 7992/ha) followed by wheat (Rs 5270/ha), bengal gram (Rs 4275/ha), groundnut (Rs 2964/ha), sorghum (Rs 2936/ha), Bajra (Rs 2881/ha), onion (Rs 1473/ha) and sunflower (Rs 1786/ha).  The average value of ecosystem service for fodder production is around Rs 533/ ha/year. Per ha fodder production services is maximum in sorghum (Rs 1263 /ha) followed by maize (Rs 1235 /ha), groundnut (Rs 419/ha) and green gram (Rs 14/ha).  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 bajra (Rs 52814) followed by green gram (Rs 40870), sorghum (Rs 20034), bengal gram (Rs 17058), sunflower (Rs 14268), ground nut (Rs 10482), maize (Rs 7546) and onion (Rs 6718). Economic Land Evaluation;  The major cropping pattern is sunflower (41.1%) followed by green gram (25.2%), sorghum (16.9 %), onion (5.8 %), bengal gram (5 %), groundnut (4.3 %) and maize (1.7 %). 3  In Gudigeri-5 micro watershed, major soils are Ravanaki (RNK) series are having moderately shallow soil deep cover around 29.4 % of area. On this soil farmers are presently growing sunflower (41.9 %) sorghum (20.9%), green gram (19 %) and Bengal gram (17.9 %). Narasapura (NSP) and Dambarahalli (DRL) soil series are having moderately deep soil depth cover around 3.13 % and 20.98 per cent of area, respectively. The major crops grown are green gram (33.7 %), onion (10.7 %), sorghum (33.7 %) and sunflower (21.7 %). Muttal (MTL) soil series are having very shallow soil depth covers around 19.7 % of area, the major crop grown is maize. Kavalur (KVR) soil series having deep soil depth cover around 9.45 % of area, crops are green gram (6.84 %), groundnut (2016 %) and sunflower (73 %) and Belagatti (BLT) soil series having very deep soil depth cover 0.46 % of area, crops are wheat.  The total cost of cultivation in study area for green gram ranges between Rs.36247/ha in KVR soil (with BCR of 1.42) and Rs.12773/ha in RNK soil (with BCR of 1.15).  In sorghum the cost of cultivation range between Rs 12768/ha in RNK soil (with of 0.93) and Rs.6890/ha in DRL soil (With BCR of 1.64).  In sunflower the cost of cultivation range between Rs. 13032/ha in RNK soil (with BCR of 1.20) and Rs. 10194/ha in NSP soil (with BCR of 1.09).  In maize the cost of cultivation in MTL soil is Rs.13677/ha (with BCR of 0.99).  In bengal gram the cost of cultivation in RNK soil is Rs.4370/ha (with BCR of 1.98).  In onion the cost of cultivation in NSP soil is Rs 12112/ha (with BCR of 1.26) and wheat cultivation in BGT soil is Rs 72994/ha (with BCR of 0.89). Suggestions;  Involving farmers is watershed planning helps in improving 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 strengthen 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 bengal gram (72.2 %), green gram (16.7 to 43.3) groundnut (57.6%), maize (89.1%), onion (88.9 %), sorghum (68.9 to 77.1 %), sunflower (54.9 to 68.7 %) and wheat (50 %)