The Green Revolution that transformed irrigated agriculture elsewhere in India had little effect in the rainfed, semi-arid regions. Agricultural productivity remained low, natural resources were degrading, and the people were poor. In the 1980s and 1990s, planners turned to watershed management to develop rainfed agriculture while conserving natural resources. By the late 1990s, India was spending US$500 million a year on watershed development projects. Strategies ranged from the purely technical to those that emphasized social organization. Little systematic analysis exists, however, on the success of the different approaches. This study, based on a survey of 86 villages in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra states, attempts to fill that information gap by evaluating the projects' relative success in raising agricultural productivity, improving natural resource management, and reducing poverty. In looking at the question of what approaches enable a project to succeed, it uses both quantitative and qualitative analysis to compare project and nonproject villages before and after the projects were implemented. The authors find that projects involving the villagers in planning and decisionmaking performed better than their technocratic, top-down counterparts, but projects that combined participation with sound technical input performed best of all. All projects faced difficulties in ensuring that poor people shared the benefits of watershed development.

This book provides diverse information and critical know-how to implement appropriate methodology and cost-efficient monitoring and evaluation systems better suited to assess the impacts of soil conservation and wastershed multi-sectoral development activities. It draws on a worldwide experience of specialists and a large array of ground-truthing projects and programmes. This book will meet its objective if it contributes to convince financing institutions and project managers that integrated watershed management activities have the potential to generate highly desirable impacts for the society at large, which have to be accurately measured by adequate M&E systems.

On the occasion of the International Year of Mountains-2002, FAO and its partners undertook a large-scale assessment and global review of the current status and future trends of integrated and participatory watershed management. The overall objectives were to promote the exchange and dissemination of experiences in implementing watershed management projects in the decade from 1990 to 2000 and to identify the vision for a new generation of watershed management programmes and projects. This resource book represents a summary and critical analysis of the rich discussions and vast materials that emerged during the review, as well as the review's findings and recommendations. It presents the state of the art in watershed management, promotes further reflection and creative thinking and proposes new ideas and approaches for future watershed management programmes and projects. This publication has been written primarily for field-level watershed management practitioners and local decision-makers involved in watershed management at the district or municipality level. It will also be a useful source of information for other readers such as senior officers and consultants specialized in other areas, evaluators, policy-makers and students of watershed management

This book provides a comprehensive presentation of the realization of improved rainfed agriculture yield in semi-arid and dry land areas. The incentive of watershed programs is to increase the return on investment with over 20% for 65% of the projects that are currently underperforming. Besides techniques to improve the livelihood of the many small

Since 1995, Danish International Development Assistance Has Been Organising International Workshops On Watershed Development Every Alternate Year. During The Course Of This Workshop, Numerous Papers, Including A Variety Of Case Studies, Were Presented. This Publication Is A Comprehensive Compilation Of All The Papers Presented At The Workshop, Along With The Group Reports And Task Force Recommendations.

This edited book focus on highlighting the evolution of Indian agriculture over the past 75 years of independence, covering every sector, viz. crop science, horticulture, management of biotic & abiotic stress, post-harvest quality management, livestock, fisheries, mechanization, marketing and human resource development. The book has 30 chapters from most experienced researchers and academicians who are actively engaged in research work on the subject area of the book. The book is in line with the strategy for new India @ 75’ brought out by NITI Ayog. It highlights India’s success stories in innovation, technology, enterprise and efficient management together to achieve overall growth while making available food, required nutrition and others ecological services. It also asses the India’s preparedness in terms of commitment toward sustainable development goal SDG). The book is a relevant reading material for both students and researchers and policy makers.

The Proceeding contains the following sections: i) Groundwater Exploration and Exploitation; (ii) RS&GIS Applications in Water Resources; (iii) Watershed Management: Hydrological, Socio-Economic and Cultural Models; (iv) Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies; (v) Rainwater Harvesting and Rural and Urban Water Supplies; (vi) Floods, Reservoir Sedimentation and Seawater Intrusion; (vii) Water Quality, Pollution and Environment; (viii) Irrigation Management; (ix) Water Logging and Water Productivity in Agriculture; (x) Groundwater Quality; (xi) Hydrologic Parameter Estimation and Modelling; (xii) Climate Change, Water, Food and Environmental Security; (xiii) Groundwater Recharge and Modelling; (xiv) Computational Methods in Hydrology; (xv) Soil and Water Conservation Technologies.

In response to increasing concerns about the degradation of natural resources and the sustainability of agriculture, many research programmes have been established in natural resource management (NRM). However, although methods for evaluating the impacts of crop improvement technologies are well developed, there is a dearth of methods for evaluating the impacts of NRM interventions. This is partly due to the complexity of interactions among natural resources, spatial and temporal dimensions of impact, and the valuation of direct and indirect environmental costs and benefits. This book discusses the unique features and methodological difficulties of NRM impact assessment. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of various impact assessment approaches, including econometric, bio-economic, and more direct methods. It also assesses and identifies data requirements for developing impact indicators and recommends suitable methodologies for assessing the impacts of NRM technologies on issues such as soil and water conservation and watershed and biodiversity management.