LAND RESOURCE INVENTORY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS FOR WATERSHED PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ADKI (4D5B4E1d) MICROWATERSHED Sedam Taluk, Gulbarga District, Karnataka

Abstract

The land resource inventory of Adki 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 the 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 boundaries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characteristics, classification, behavior and use potentials of the soils in the microwatershed. The present study covers an area of 874 ha in Sedam taluk of Gulbarga district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought-prone with an average annual rainfall of 839 mm, of which about 639 mm is received during south-west monsoon, 109 mm during north-east and the remaining 91 mm during the rest of the year. An area of 821 ha (94%) in the microwatershed is covered by soils and about 52 ha by others (habitation and water bodies). The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 6 soil series and 17 soil phases (management units) and 5 land use class.  The length of crop growing period is about 120-150 days starting from 2nd week of June to 3rd week of October.  From the master soil map, several interpretative and thematic maps like land capability, soil depth, surface soil texture, soil gravelliness, available water capacity, soil slope and soil erosion were generated.  Soil fertility status maps for macro and micronutrients were generated based on the surface soil samples collected at every 250 m grid interval.  Land suitability for growing 19 major agricultural and horticultural crops was assessed and maps showing the degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  About 94 percent of area in the microwatershed is suitable for agriculture  About 542 ha area of the microwatershed has soils that are moderately deep (75- 100 cm) to very deep (>150 cm) and 13 per cent soils are very shallow (<25 cm) to shallow (25-50 cm).  Whole area in the microwatershed has clayey soils at the surface  About 46 per cent area is non gravelly (<15%), 34 per cent is gravelly (15-35%), 9 per cent is very gravelly (35-60%) and 5 per cent soils of the microwatershed is extremely gravelly (60-80%)  About 57 per cent area of the microwatershed is very high (>200 mm/m) in available water capacity, 23 per cent area is medium (101-150 mm/m) and 13 per cent area is very low (<50 mm/m) in available water capacity  About 81 per cent area of the microwatershed has nearly level (0-1% slope) to very gently sloping (1-3% slope) lands and 13 per cent area is gently (3-5% slope) to moderately sloping (5-10% slope) lands  An area of about 26 per cent has soils that are slightly eroded (e1) and 67 per cent area is moderately (e2) to severely eroded (e3)  An area of about 61 per cent soils are slightly (pH 7.3-7.8) to strongly alkaline (pH 8.4-9.0), 17 per cent soil are moderately (pH 5.5-6.0) to slightly acid (pH 6.0-6.5) and 16 per cent soils are neutral (pH 6.5-7.3) in soil reaction.  The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the soils in 71 per cent area is dominantly <2 dsm-1indicating that the soils are non-saline and low (2-4 dSm-1) in 23 per cent area of the microwatershed  About 9 per cent of the soils are low (<0.5%), 78 per cent medium (0.5-0.75%) and 8 per cent high (>0.75) in organic carbon.  About 88 per cent of the area is low (<23 kg/ha) in available phosphorus and small area of 6 per cent medium (23-57 kg/ha) in available phosphorus.  About 5 per cent of the soils are low (<145 kg/ha), 30 per cent medium (145-337 kg/ha) and 59 per cent is high (>337 kg/ha) in available potassium.  Available sulphur is medium (10 -20 ppm) in an area of about 66 per cent, low (<10 ppm) in an area of about 11 per cent and high (>20 ppm) in 16 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available boron is low (0.5 ppm) in maximum area of about 84 per cent and medium (0.5-1.0 ppm) in 10 per cent.  Available iron is sufficient (>4.5 ppm) in 94 per cent area and deficient (<4.5 ppm) in <1 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available manganese and copper are sufficient in all the soils of the microwatershed.  Available zinc is deficient (<0.6 ppm) in 77 per cent and sufficient (>0.6 ppm) in 17 per cent of the soils in the microwatershed.  The land suitability for 19 major crops grown in the microwatershed were 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 507(58) 198(23) Sapota - - Maize - - Jackfruit - - Redgram - 705(81) Jamun - 542(62) Sunflower 507(58) 198(23) Musambi 467(53) 75(9) Cotton 507(58) 198(23) Lime 467(53) 75(9) Sugarcane - - Cashew - - Soybean 507(58) 198(23) Custard apple 507(58) 198(23) Bengal gram 671(78) 45(5) Amla 507(58) 198(23) Guava - - Tamarind - 542(62) Mango - - Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the identified LUCs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fiber and 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. This would help in not only supplementing the farm income but also provide fodder and fuel, generate lot of biomass which would help in maintaining an ecological balance and also 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: Adki micro-watershed (Adki sub-watershed, Sedam taluk and Gulbarga district) is located in between 1705’ – 1709’ North latitudes and 76021’ – 76024’ East longitudes, covering an area of about 873.94 ha, bounded by Adki, Telangana state, and Kotanpalli villages with length of growing period (LGP) 120-150 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. Results: The socio-economic outputs for the Adki Microwatershed (Adki sub-watershed, Sedam taluk and Gulbarga district) are presented here. Social Indicators;  Male and female ratio is 56.1 to 43.9 per cent to the total sample population.  Younger age 18 to 50 years group of population is around 65.5 per cent to the total population.  Literacy population is around 74.5 per cent.  Social groups belong to other backward caste (OBC) is around 90.0 per cent.  Fire wood is the source of energy for a cooking among 60.0 per cent.  About 20.0 per cent of households have a yashaswini health card.  Only 10.0 per cent of the farm households are having MGNREGA card for rural employment.  Dependence on ration cards for food grain through public distribution system of all the sample households.  Swach bharath program providing closed toilet facilities around 50 per cent of sample households.  Women participation in household in reported among all the sample households. Economic Indicators;  The average land holding is 0.9 ha indicates that majority of farm households are belong to marginal and small farmers. The total land among the sample farmers in dry lands. Agriculture is the main occupation among 18.5 per cent and agriculture labour is predominant subsidiary occupation for 54.6 per cent of sample households. 2  The average value of domestic assets is around Rs.44781 per household. Mobile and television are popular media mass communication.  The average value of farm asset is around Rs. 6396 per household, about 80 per cent of sample farmers having weeder and plough.  The average value of livestock is around Rs.31250 per household. Around 66.7 per cent of households are having livestock.  The average per capita food consumption is around 900.1 grams (2149.4 kilo calories) against national institute of nutrition (NIN) recommendation at 827 gram. Around 50 per cent of sample farmers are consuming less than the NIN recommendation.  The annual average income is around Rs.15499 per household. About 100 per cent of farm households are below poverty line.  The per capita average monthly expenditure is around Rs.2057 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.1259 per ha/year. The total cost of annual soil nutrients is around Rs.1035071 per year for the total area of 873.94 ha.  The average value of ecosystem service for food grain production is around Rs 4754/ ha/year. Per hectare food grain production services is maximum in red gram (Rs.8879) and black gram is (Rs. 630).  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 red gram (Rs.62285) followed by black gram (Rs 25587). Economic Land Evaluation;  The major cropping pattern is redgram (92.6 %) followed by green gram (6.8 %) and black gram (0.6 %).  In Adki micro-watershed, major soil of Tonsanhalli (TNH) series is having moderately shallow soil depth cover around 18.4 % of area. On this soil farmers are presently growing redgram. Dhandothi (DDT) are having very deep soil depth cover 23.4% of area, the main crops are black gram (64.5 %) and redgram (35.5 %). Dargah (DRG) soil series having deep soil depth cover around 34.0% of areas, main crops are redgram and Mathimuda (MTM) soil series having moderately shallow soil depth cover around 4.6 % of area, crops are red gram.  The total cost of cultivation and benefit cost ratio (BCR) in study area for red gram ranges between Rs.61027/ha in DDT soil (with BCR of 0.83) and 28852/ha in TNH soil (with BCR of 1.76). 3  In black gram the cost of cultivation in DDT soil is Rs. 16042/ha (with BCR of 1.04).  The land management practices reported by the farmers are crop rotation, tillage practices, fertilizer application and use of Farm Yard Manure (FYM). Due to higher wages farmer are following labour saving strategies is not prating soil and water conservation measures. Less ownership of livestock limiting application of FYM.  It was observed soil quality influences on the type and intensity of land use. More fertilizer applications are deeper soil to maximize returns. Suggestions;  Involving farmers is watershed planning helps in strengthing 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 strengthing 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 red gram (0.2 to 24.1 %) and black gram (62.0 %).