LAND RESOURCE INVENTORY SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS FOR WATERSHED PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT HULLUR-2 (4D4A3F2e) MICRO WATERSHED Shirahatti Taluk, Gadag District, Karnataka

Abstract

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The land resource inventory of Hullur-2 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 these 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 boundries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characterstics, classification and use potentials of the soils in the microwartershed. The present study covers an area of 448 ha in Shirahatti taluk of Gadag district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought-prone with an average annual rainfall of 633 mm, of which about 363 mm is received during south –west monsoon, 165 mm during north-east and the remaining 105 mm during the rest of the year. An area of about 96 per cent is covered by soils, four per cent by waterbodies, settlements and others. The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 11 soil series and 15 soil phases (management units) and 8 land use classes.  The length of crop growing period is about 150 days starting from the 3rd week of June to 1st 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 major agricultural and horticultural crops were assessed and maps showing the degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  About 96 per cent area is suitable for agriculture and 4% is not suitable for agriculture.  About 13 per cent of the soils are shallow (25-50 cm) to moderately shallow (50-75 cm) and about 83 per cent are moderately deep (75-100 cm) to very deep (>150 cm) soils.  About 93 per cent of the area has clayey soils at the surface and 3 per cent of the area has loamy soils.  About 32 per cent of the area has non-gravelly soils, 56 per cent gravelly soils (15-35 % gravel) and 2 per cent very gravelly (35- 60% gravel) soils.  About 22 per cent medium (101-150 mm/m), 62% is very high (>200mm/m) and 11 per cent low (51-100 mm/m) to very low (<50mm/m) in available water capacity.  Entire area in the microwatershed has very gently sloping (1-3%) lands.  An area of about 79 per cent has soils that are moderately eroded (e2) and 17 per cent slightly eroded (e1).  An area of about 9 per cent has soils that are moderately alkaline (pH 7.8 to 8.4), 76 per cent strongly alkaline (pH 8.4 to 9.0) and 18 per cent very strongly alkaline (pH>9.0).  About 95 per centhas soils are non saline ( <2 dsm-1) and <1 per cent low (2-4 dsm- 1) in electrical conductivity (EC) of the soils.  About 25 per cent of the soils are medium (0.5-0.75%) in organic carbon and low (<0.5%) in about 71 per cent.  Entire micro watershed area is low (<23 kg/ha) in available phosphorus.  About 21 per cent medium (145-337 kg/ha) and 75 per cent high (>337 kg/ha) in available potassium.  Available sulphur is high (>20 ppm) in about 30 per cent, medium (10-20 ppm) in about 46 per cent area and about 20 per cent area is low (<10 ppm).  Available boron is low (0.5 ppm) in about 66 per cent, medium (0.5-1.0 ppm) in 28 per cent and high (>1.0 ppm) in 2 per cent area.  Available iron is deficient in about 92 per cent area and sufficient in 4 per cent area.  Available zinc is deficient in about 95 per cent area and sufficient in <1 per cent area.  Available manganese and copper are sufficient in all the soils.  The land suitability for 23 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 200 (45) 193 (43) Sapota - 50 (11) Maize 13 (3) 37 (8) Jackfruit - 4 (1) Cotton 181 (40) 213(47) Jamun - 4(1) Sunflower 181 (40) 192(44) Musambi 37 (8) 195 (44) Onion 46 (10) 4(1) Lime 37(8) 195 (44) Groundnut 13 (3) 37(8) Cashew - 17(4) Chilli 13 (3) 401(89) Custard apple 320 (71) 73(16) Sugarcane - 50 (11) Amla 320(71) 73 (16) Pomegranate - 394 (88) Tamarind - 4 (1) Tomato 46 (10) 368(82) Marigold 50 (11) 344 (77) Guava - 150 (33) Chrysanthemum 50(11) 344 (77) Mango - 4(1) Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the 8 identified LCUs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fibre 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 that would help in supplementing the income, provide fodder and fuel and generate lot of biomass. This also helps in maintaining an ecological balance and contributes 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: Hullur 2 Microwatershed (Hullur sub-watershed, Shirahatti taluk, Gadag district) is located in between 1503’ – 1505’ North latitudes and 75034’ – 75036’ East longitudes, covering an area of about 448 ha, bounded by Fatagoan Badani village on north, Amarapur village on the west, Jirmahadapur on the south, Nilogal village on the east with an length of growing period (LGP) 150-180 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 Hullur 2 micro-watershed (Hullur subwatershed, Shirahatti taluk, Gadag district) are presented here. Social Indicators;  Male and female ratio is 65 to 35 per cent to the total sample population.  Younger age 18 to 50 years group of population is around 60 per cent to the total population.  Literacy population is around 79 per cent.  Social groups belong to scheduled caste (SC) is around 9 per cent.  Fire wood is the source of energy for a cooking among 55 per cent.  About 18 per cent of households have a yashaswini health card.  Majority of farm households (80 %) are having MGNREGA card for rural employment.  Dependence on ration cards for food grains through public distribution system is around 73 per cent.  Swach bharath program providing closed toilet facilities around 55 per cent of sample households.  Institutional participation is only 9 per cent of sample households.  Women participation in decisions making for agriculture production among all households was found. 2 Economic Indicators;  The average land holding is 2.32 ha indicates that majority of farm households are belong to medium and semi-medium farmers. The dry land of 69.7 % and irrigated land 30.3 % of total cultivated land area among the sample farmers.  Agriculture is the main occupation among 30 per cent and agriculture is the main and agriculture labour is subsidiary occupation for 51 per cent of sample households.  The average value of domestic assets is around Rs. 11127 per household. Mobile and television are popular media mass communication.  The average value of farm assets is around Rs. 111040 per household, about 82 per cent of sample farmers owen plough and sprayer.  The average value of livestock is around Rs. 24750 per household; about 90 per cent of household are having livestock.  The average per capita food consumption is around 731.4 grams (1589 kilo calories) against national institute of nutrition (NIN) recommendation at 827 gram. Around 64 per cent of sample households are consuming less than the NIN recommendation.  The annual average income is around Rs. 16407 per household. Among all sample farm households are below poverty line.  The per capita average monthly expenditure is around Rs. 1125. 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. 1033 per ha/year. The total cost of annual soil nutrients is around Rs. 441031 per year for the total area of 571.40 ha.  The average value of ecosystem service for food grain production is around Rs. 4718/ha/year. Per hectare food production services is maximum in onion (Rs. 17422) followed by maize (Rs. 5715), horse gram (Rs. 5424), cotton (Rs. 2723) sorghum (Rs. 653), groundnut (Rs. 429) and sunflower (Rs. 653).  The average value of ecosystem service for fodder production is around Rs. 2239/ ha/year. Per hectare fodder production services is maximum in groundnut (Rs. 4803) followed by sorghum (Rs. 1647), horse gram (Rs. 1214) and maize (Rs. 1290).  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 cotton (Rs. 49758) followed by sorghum (Rs. 37643), groundnut (Rs. 25959), maize (Rs. 23066), horse gram (Rs. 22416), sunflower (Rs. 12227) and onion (Rs. 10628). 3 Economic Land Evaluation;  The major cropping pattern is maize (68.7 %) followed by sunflower (6.2 %), onion (6.2 %), horse gram (6.2 %), sorghum (4.7 %), groundnut (4.9 %) and cotton (3.0 %).  In Hullur 2 Microwatershed, major soil series is soil of Yelisirunj (YSJ) series is having shallow soil depth cover around 4.4 % of area. On this soil farmers are presently growing maize (50 %) and horse gram (50 %). Attikatti (ATT) are having moderately shallow soil depth cover 4.7 % of area, the crops are groundnut (42.9 %) and maize (57.1 %). Jelligeri (JLG) soil series having moderately shallow soil depth cover around 1.4 % of areas, crops are onion. Mahalingapur Tanda (MPT) soil series having deep soil depth cover around 37.1 % of area, crops are maize. Hullur (HLR) soil series are having very deep soil depth cover around 8.2 % of area; the major crops grown are maize. Narasapura (KPR) soil series are having deep soil depth covers around 0.81 % of area, the major crop grown is cotton (6.6 %), maize (59.8 %), groundnut (3.3 %), onion (6.6 %), sorghum (10 %) and sunflower (13.6 %).  The total cost of cultivation and benefit cost ratio (BCR) in study area for maize the range between Rs. 24782/ha in ATT soil (with BCR of 1.18) and Rs.18845/ha in KPR soil (with BCR of 1.07).  In horse gram the cost of cultivation Rs. 20065/ha in YSJ soil (with BCR of 1.33).  In groundnut the cost of cultivation ranges between Rs. 51669/ha in KPR soil (with BCR of 1.20) and Rs. 36120/ha in ATT soil (with BCR of 1.03).  In onion cost of cultivation range between is Rs.39707/ha in JLG soil (with BCR of 1.79) and Rs 30948 in KPR soil (with BCR of 1.20).  In cotton the cost of cultivation is Rs 40502/ha in KPR soil (with BCR of 1.07).  In sorghum the cost of cultivation is Rs.24042/ha in KPR soil (with BCR of 1.10) and sunflower the cost of cultivation is Rs.17509/ha in KPR soil (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 in deeper soil to maximize returns. Suggestions;  Involving farmers is watershed planning helps in strengthing institutional participation. 4  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 horse gram (25.4 %), maize (82.1 to 70.7 %), groundnut (48.6 to 42.2 %), onion (87.3 to 80.6 %), cotton (27.7 %), sorghum (56.0 %) and sunflower (77.7 %).