LAND RESOURCE INVENTORY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS FOR WATERSHED PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT ADAVALLI-4 (4D4A2O3a) MICROWATERSHED Koppal Taluk and District, Karnataka

Abstract

The land resource inventory of Adavalli-4 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 boundaries. The soil map shows the geographic distribution and extent, characteristics, classification, behaviour and use potentials of the soils in the microwatershed. The present study covers an area of 474 ha in Koppal taluk and district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought - prone with an average annual rainfall of 662 mm, of which about 424 mm is received during south –west monsoon, 161 mm during north-east and the remaining 77 mm during the rest of the year. An area of about 98 per cent is covered by soils, two per cent by water bodies, settlements and others. The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 8 soil series and 11 soil phases (management units) and 5 land use classes.  The length of crop growing period is <90 days and starts from 2nd week of August to 2nd week of November.  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 24 major agricultural and horticultural crops were assessed and maps showing the degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  Entire area is suitable for agriculture.  About 27 per cent of the soils are shallow to very shallow (<25 cm) to moderately shallow (50-75 cm) and about 70 per cent are moderately deep to very deep soils (75- >150 cm).  Entire area has clayey soils at the surface.  About 70 per cent of the area has non-gravelly soils, 26 per cent gravelly soils (15-35 % gravel) and 2 per cent extremely gravelly (60- 80% gravel) soils.  About 27 per cent of the area has very low (<50mm/m) to low (51-100 mm/m), 41 per cent medium (101-150 mm/m) and 29 per cent area very high (>200mm/m) available water capacity.  Entire area has very gently sloping (1-3%) lands.  Entire area has moderately eroded (e2) lands.  An area of about 28 per cent has soils that are strongly alkaline (pH 8.4-9.0) and 69 per cent very strongly alkaline (pH>9.0).  The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of the soils are dominantly <2 dsm-1indicating that the soils are non-saline.  Organic carbon is low (<0.5%) in about 34 per cent, 39 per cent of the soils are medium (0.5-0.75%) and 25 per cent of the soils are high (>0.75%) in organic carbon.  Available phosphorus is low (<23 kg/ha) in about 96 per cent and medium (23-57 kg/ha) is 2 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available potassium is medium (145-337 kg/ha) in entire microwatershed area.  Available sulphur is low (<10 ppm) in 60 per cent area, medium (10-20 ppm) in about <1 per cent area and about 37 per cent area is high (>10 ppm).  Available boron is low (0.5 ppm) in about 56 per cent area, medium (0.5-1.0 ppm) in 2 per cent and 40 per cent is high (>1.0 ppm).  Available iron is sufficient (>4.5 ppm) in the entire area.  Available zinc is deficient (<0.6 ppm) in the entire area.  Available manganese and copper are sufficient in all the soils.  The land suitability for 24 major crops grown in the microwatershed was 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, 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 260 (55) 91 (19) Sapota - - Maize - - Jackfruit - - Bajra - - Jamun - 139 (29) Groundnut - 26 (6) Musambi 139 (29) 187 (39) Sunflower 139 (29) 187 (39) Lime 139 (29) 187 (39) Chilli - - Cashew - - Tomato - - Custard apple 260 (55) 91 (19) Drumstick - 326 (69) Amla - 351 (74) Mulbery 351 (74) Tamarind - 139 (29) Pomegranate - 326 (69) Marigold - 351 (74) Guava - - Chrysanthemum - 351 (74) Mango - - Jasmine - 26 (6) Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the 5 identified LUCs by considering only the highly and moderately suitable lands for different crops and cropping systems with food, fodder, fibre and other 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 farm income, provide fodder and fuel, and generate lot of biomass which inturn would help in maintaining the 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: The Adavalli-4 micro-watershed (Koppal taluk and district) is located in between 15019’ – 15021’ North latitudes and 75055’ – 75057’ East longitudes, covering an area of about 473.70 ha, bounded by Kavalura village and Yelburga taluk. It falls under Agro Ecological Region (AER)–3: (Deccan plateau, hot arid ecosubregion) Karnataka Plateau (Rayalseema as inclusion), hot arid ESR with deep loamy and clayey mixed red and black soils, low to medium AWC and LGP 60-90 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 for each watershed. Results: We found that Social Indicators;  Male and female ratio is 51 to 49 per cent to the total sample population  Younger age groups of population is around 64 per cent to the total population  Literacy population is around 75per cent  Wood is the source of energy for a cooking among 89 per cent.  Around 33 % of farmers have taken yeshaswini health cards  Majority of farm households (89 %) are having MGNREGA card for rural employments  Dependence on ration cards through public distribution system is around 89 per cent  Swach bharath program providing closed toilet facilities around 11 per cent of sample households.  Institutional participation is only 14 per cent of sample households.  Women participation is decision making is found. Economic Indicators;  The average land holding is 2.47 ha indicates that majority of farm households are belong to marginal and small farmers.  Agriculture is the main occupation only among 32 per cent and agricultural labours is predominant subsidiary occupation for 59 per cent of sample households. 2  The average value of domestic assets is around Rs 8091 per household. Mobile and television are mass popular mass communication media.  The average farm assets values is around 5 lakhs, about 11 per cent of sample farmers are owing tractors.  The average livestock values are around Rs 16917 per livestock. The average milk produced is 1680 litter per lactation per animal.  The average fodder availability is 1044 kg/ha on season for the livestock feeding.  The average per capita food consumption is around 584 grams (1628.7 kilo calories) against national institute of nutrition recommendation at 827 gram. Around 100 per cent of sample farmers are consuming less than the NIN recommendation.  The annual average income is around Rs 98238 per household. About 56 per cent of farm households are below poverty line.  The per capita monthly expenditure is around Rs 715 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 7004 per ha/year. The total cost of annual soil nutrients is around Rs 3309315 per year for the total area of 473.7 ha.  The average value of ecosystem service for food production is around Rs 10177/ ha/year. Per ha food production services is maximum in Red gram (Rs 26171/ha) followed by Sorghum (Rs 13486/ha), Green gram (Rs. 9269/ha), sunflower (Rs. 8763), Bengal gram (Rs. 2578) and Maize (Rs. 1525).  The average value of ecosystem service for fodder production is around Rs 1805/ ha/year. Per ha a fodder production service is maximum in maize (Rs 2947) and followed by Sorghum (Rs. 663)  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 67233) followed by green gram (Rs 51173), bengal gram (Rs 45488), sorghum (Rs. 36719), sunflower (Rs 26257) and maize (Rs 998). Economic Land Evaluation;  The major cropping pattern is sunflower (29.97 %) followed by sorghum (20.64 %), Bengal gram (20.44 %), green gram (15.33 %), Maize (8.51 %) and red gram (5.11 %).  In Adavalli-4 Microwatershed, soil major soil series is Muttal (MTL) soil series are having shallow soil depth cover around 22 per cent of area. On this soil farmers are presently growing is sunflower. Handrala (HDL) soil series are 3 having deep soil depth cover around 7 per cent of area, major crop grown are bengal gram (50 %), Red gram (25 %) and Green gram (25 %). Bardur (BDR) soil series are very deep soil depth cover around 18 per cent area, crop grown are maize (53 %) and Sunflower (47 %). Narasapura (NSP) and Dambarahalli (DRL) soils series moderately deep soil depth cover around 27 % and 14 % of area respectively. The major crop grown is Sorghum, Sunflower, Bengal gram and Green gram.  The total cost of cultivation in study area for sunflower ranges between Rs. 21372/ha in MTL soil (with BCR of 1.69) and Rs. 12514/ha in DRL soil (with BCR of 1.11).  In green gram the cost of cultivation range between Rs. 27561/ha in HDL soils (with BCR of 1.08) and Rs. 19249/ ha in NSP soil (with BCR of 1.62).  In bengal gram the cost of cultivation range between Rs. 30120/ha in HDL soil (with BCR of 1.03) and Rs. 23566 /ha in NSP soils (with BCR of 1.03).  In sorghum the cost of cultivation range between Rs Rs. 14565/ha in DRL soils is (with BCR of 1.66) and Rs. 11171/ha in HDL soils (with BCR of 1.7).  In red gram the cost of cultivation in HDL soil is Rs 19857/ha (with BCR of 2.24) and maize cultivation in BDR soils of Rs. 17224/ha with BCR of (1.13). 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 Sunflower (8.9 %), bengal gram (16.7 to 35. %), maize (85.6 %), red gram (9.1 %), sorghum (20 to 50.5 %) and sunflower (44.4 to 57.1 %).