Evaluation methodology for Post-facto assessment of watershed development project

Abstract

Watershed Development Program that had been implemented in India since the 5th Five Year plan (FYP) (1974-79), has been the accepted strategy for agricultural development in rainfed regions in India. To assess and evaluate the impact of watershed development projects on agricultural sustainability in rainfed regions, a study was undertaken in four treated and four untreated micro-watersheds in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh falling under hot and moist semi-arid climate in Peninsular India. In view of the divergent conclusions published based on earlier impact studies on several watersheds, it was deemed fit to undertake the study of a few treated watersheds in this region to understand the critical issues that determine the sustainability of watershed projects. Selected micro-watersheds were located in four villages in the districts of Rangareddy and Nalgonda in Andhra Pradesh. The study used tools of Geomatics – GIS (Geographical Information System), remote sensing and DGPS (Differential Global Positioning system) along with conventional methods like soil survey and analysis, PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) and socio-economic survey, etc. to assess and evaluate sustainability of Watershed Development Programme (WDP). In all, fiftyone sustainability indicators (SI) were constructed to assess the impact of WDP and a methodology was developed to enable a quantitative evaluation of various aspects of sustainability of agricultural production system, viz., agricultural productivity, economic viability, livelihood security, environmental protection and social acceptability. This publication covers a detailed account of methodology and results of case studies. Application of GIS and remote sensing techniques has facilitated analysis of interand intra- temporal variations in the impact of WDP across the selected watersheds. The study was carried out under the ICAR National Fellow scheme awarded to the first author in February 2005. Authors strongly feel that the evaluation methodology described in this publication would be highly useful to the watershed project implementation agencies for development of watersheds and undertaking corrective measures as and when required. Further, funding and evaluating agencies will also find this book very useful to undertake an objective evaluation of ongoing and concluding projects.