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MICRO-WATERSHED DEVELOPMENT IN SUKHOMARJRI VILLAGE
Sukhomajri village located near Chandigarh; hill resources management
society is a village level institution with one member per household to
ensure collective responsibilities and rights in the micro-watershed development
and protection of the heavily degraded forest land that lies within the
catchment of the minor irrigation tank; the multiple benefits of this project
include - increased water harvesting, ground water recharge, and reduced
soil erosion leading to three times increase in crop production, increased
grass/fodder availability, increased milk production, increase in annual
household incomes.
Problems of Sukhna Lake
- Massive soil erosion
- Loss of the hill forests
- Over grazing
Watershed development techniques adopted 
- Building small earthen dams raised agricultural output
- Dam tripled
crop yields
- Economic benefits of rehabilitating the hills
- In Nada village, production
of crops went up from a dismal 40 kilograms per hectare
- in the 1970s
to over 2,000 kilograms in 1986
Benefits obtained from watershed development schemes
- Wheat production increased from 40.6 tonnes in 1977 to 63.6 tonnes
in 1986
- Maize production increased from 40.9 tonnes in 1977 to 54.3 tonnes
in 1986
- Increased grass production: From 40 kg per hectare in 1976
to 3 tonnes per hectare in 1992
- Increased availability of fodder led to a transformation in the livestock
composition.
- The number of buffaloes went up from 79 in 1975 to 291 in
1986
- This led to increased milk production, which increased from 334
litres per day in 1977 to 579 litres per day in 1986
- Tree density
increased from 13 per hectare in 1976 to 1,292 per hectare in 1992
- The
400 hectare Sukhomajri forest today has over 0.3 million, highly valuable
khair (Acacia catechu) trees
- If the villagers were to set up a small
village enterprise, they can produce and market katha directly and
hope to earn Rs.3.6 crore (US$0.84 million)
- Watershed protection has
also resulted in increased production of a highly fibrous grass that
is commonly found in the region called bhabhar (Eulialopsis binata)
- Villagers
of Sukhomajri use bhabhar both as fodder and for sale to paper mills
- In
just five years, from 1979 to 1984, its household income went up from
about Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 15,000
- A survey conducted in 1998 revealed
that the income distribution in Sukhomajri matches the income distribution
of rural Haryana, which is one of the most agriculturally prosperous
states of India.
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