Livelihood and socio-economic development through watershed management - An impact assessment of Lachhaputraghati tribal catchment

Abstract

Livelihood and socio-economic development are the most important indices of development of tribal agrarian community particularly those of rainfed areas. A model watershed in the tribal dominated areas of southern Odisha was developed using diverse treatments implemented by ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre, Koraput. A comprehensive assessment of watershed was taken up to gauge socio-economic impacts of various technological interventions. The overall watershed productivity increased from 4962 kg ha-1 (pre-project) to 6126 kg ha-1 (19%) post-project period. The average human population carrying capacity of crops increased from 4.0 to 4.4 with an increase of 9.3%. The overall People Participation Index was found to be 56% indicating that the stakeholders' overall participation was above the medium level. Income and expenditure analysis revealed that due to project implementation, large farmers showed interest in initiating large scale enterprises i.e., poultry and livestock. Among medium and small farmers, agricultural activities registered an increase of 15% which shows their diversification from labour work and their engagement in their own activities. A significant decrease of 5% in fuelwood sales shows the changing attitude as well as dependency on forests. Among economic parameters, BC ratio at 10% discount rate was found to be 1.16 with an internal Rate of Return of 19.5%.