LAND RESOURCE INVENTORY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS FOR WATERSHED PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT INDANKAL-3 (4D5B3K1e) MICROWATERSHED Chitapur Taluk, Gulbarga District, Karnataka

Abstract

The land resource inventory of Indankal-3 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 713 ha in Chitapur taluk of Gulbarga district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought prone with an average annual rainfall of 762 mm, of which about 571 mm is received during south –west monsoon, 99 mm during north-east and the remaining 92 mm during the rest of the year. An area of about 699 ha (98%) in the microwatershed is covered by soils and 15 ha (2%) is covered by railway and others. The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 4 soil series and 12 soil phases (management units) and 3 Land Use Classes.  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.  An area of about 98 per cent of the microwatershed is suitable for agriculture.  An area of about 96 per cent of the soils are moderately deep (75-100 cm) to very deep (>150 cm) and moderately shallow (50-75 cm) soils of only 2 per cent area cover the microwatershed.  Entire area of the microwatershed has clayey soils at the surface  An area of about 85 per cent of the soils are non gravelly (<15%) and 13 per cent of the soils are gravelly (15-35%)  An area of about 18 per cent medium (101-150 mm/m), an area of 76 per cent has very high (>200 mm/m) and an area of 4 per cent has low (51-100 mm/m) in available water capacity.  About 90 per cent of the area has very gently sloping (1-3% slope) lands and about 8 per cent of the area is gently sloping (3-5%).  An area of about 49 per cent has soils that are slightly eroded (e1), 44 per cent moderately eroded (e2) and 5 per cent of soils are severely eroded (e3).  An area of about 58 per cent soils that are moderately alkaline (pH 7.8-8.4), 35 per cent area have strongly alkaline (pH 8.4-9.0) to very strongly alkaline (pH >9.0) and very small area of 5 per cent soils are slightly alkaline (pH 7.0-7.8).  The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the soils are dominantly <2 dsm-1indicating that the soils are non-saline.  About 6 per cent of the soils are low (<0.5%), 82 per cent area of the soils are medium (0.5-0.75%), and 10 per cent sols are high (>0.75) in organic carbon.  About 90 per cent of the area is low (<23 kg/ha) in available phosphorus and small area of 8 per cent area is medium (23-57 kg/ha).  About 6 per cent of the soils are low (<145 kg/ha) and medium (145-337 kg/ha) in 92 per cent area in available potassium.  Available sulphur is medium (10 -20 ppm) in an area of about 44 per cent, low (<10 ppm) in maximum area of about 54 per cent.  Available boron is low (< 0.5 ppm) in an area about 46 per cent area, medium (0.5- 1.0 ppm) in 51 per cent area and high in 1 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available iron is sufficient (>4.5 ppm) in 95 per cent area and deficient in only 3 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 96 per cent and sufficient (>0.6 ppm) in 2 per cent of soils of 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 257 (36) 440(62) Sapota - 643(90) Maize - - Jackfruit - - Redgram - 698(98) Jamun - 643(90) Sunflower 257 (36) 426(60) Musambi 540(76) 112(16) Cotton 257 (36) 440(62) Lime 540(76) 112(16) Sugarcane - - Cashew - - Soybean 257 (36) 440(62) Custard apple 643(90) 56(8) Bengal gram 566(79) 133 (19) Amla 643(90) 56(8) Guava - 643(90) Tamarind - 643(90) Mango - - Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the 3 identified LUCs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fodder, 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 and generate lot of biomass, thus helping in maintaining an ecological balance and also in 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: Indankal-3 micro-watershed (Mattimadu sub-watershed, Chitapur taluk, Gulbarga district) is located in between 17014’ – 17016’ North latitudes and 7703’ – 7706’ East longitudes, covering an area of about 713 ha, bounded by Mopti, Muchkhed, Totanhalli and Invi 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 Indankal-3 Microwatershed (Mattimadu subwatershed, Chitapur taluk, Gulbarga district) are presented here. Social Indicators;  Male and female ratio is 64.9 to 35.0 per cent to the total sample population.  Younger age 18 to 50 years group of population is around 56.2 per cent to the total population.  Literacy population among all sample households.  Social groups belong to other backward caste (OBC) is around 40.0 per cent.  Fire wood is the source of energy for a cooking among 80 per cent.  About 10 per cent of households have a yashaswini health card.  Farm households (10 %) are having MGNREGA card for rural employment.  Dependence on ration cards for food grains through public distribution system is around 90 per cent.  Swach bharath program providing closed toilet facilities around 40 per cent of sample households.  Women participation in decisions making for agriculture production are among all sample households was found. Economic Indicators;  The average land holding is 2.0 ha indicates that majority of farm households are belong to small and medium farmers. The total cultivated land of dry land area among the sample farmers. 2  Agriculture is the main occupation among 28.1 per cent and agriculture is the main and agriculture labour is subsidiary occupation for 64.9 per cent of sample households.  The average value of domestic assets is around Rs.12486 per household. Mobile and television are mass popular mass communication media.  The average value of farm assets is around Rs.8200 per household, about 10 per cent of sample farmers having plough and sprayer each.  The average value of livestock is around Rs.40000 per househol; about 20.0 per cent of household are having livestock.  The average per capita food consumption is around 799.2 grams (2044.1 kilo calories) against national institute of nutrition (NIN) recommendation at 827 gram. Around 70.0 per cent of sample households are consuming less than the NIN recommendation.  The annual average income is around Rs. 28416 per household. About 90.0 per cent of farm households are below poverty line.  The per capita monthly average expenditure is around Rs.4176. 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.917 per ha/year. The total cost of annual soil nutrients is around Rs. 640830 per year for the total area of 713.2 ha.  The average value of ecosystem service for food grain production is around Rs 9160/ha/year. Per hectare food grain production services is maximum in red gram (Rs. 14415) and sorghum (Rs. 3905).  The average value of ecosystem service for fodder production is around Rs. 1211/ ha/year is sorghum.  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 57946) and sorghum (Rs. 36905). Economic Land Evaluation;  The major cropping pattern is red gram (95.9 %) and sorghum (4.1%).  In Indankal-3 Microwatershed, major soil is soil of Mathimuda (MTM) series is having moderately deep soil depth cover around 18.9 % of area. On this soil farmers are presently growing redgram (84.5 %) and sorghum (15.5 %). Dhrgah (DRG) and Dhandothi (DDT) soils series are having deep and very 3 deep soil depth cover 19.9 per cent and 57.0 per cent of area, respectively; the main crops are redgram.  The total cost of cultivation and benefit cost ratio (BCR) in study area for red gram ranges between Rs.25274 /ha in MTM soil (with BCR of 1.59) and Rs. 21108/ha in DRG soil (with BCR of 1.66).  In sorghum the cost of cultivation in MTM soil is Rs. 27660/ha (with BCR of 11.14).  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 in 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 redgram (24.6 to 11.4 %) and sorghum (56.9 %).