LAND RESOURCE INVENTORY AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS FOR WATERSHED PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT RAMASAMUDRAM-2 (4D5B1G1c) MICROWATERSHED Hatthakuni & Yadgir Hobli, Yadgir Taluk and District, Karnataka

Abstract

The land resource inventory of Ramasamudram-2Microwatershed 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 660 ha in Yadgir taluk & district, Karnataka. The climate is semiarid and categorized as drought-prone with an average annual rainfall of 866 mm, of which about 652 mm is received during south-west monsoon, 138 mm during north-east and the remaining 76 mm during the rest of the year. An area of 410 ha in the microwatershed is covered by soils, 175 ha by rock outcrops and 24 ha by others (habitation and water body). The salient findings from the land resource inventory are summarized briefly below.  The soils belong to 8 soil series and 9 soil phases (management units) and 6 land management units.  The length of crop growing period is about 120-150 days starting from 1st week of June to 4th 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 320 m grid interval.  Land suitability for growing 29 major agricultural and horticultural crops was assessed and maps showing the degree of suitability along with constraints were generated.  Entire area in the microwatershed is suitable for agriculture.  About 8 per cent area is very shallow (<25 cm), 6 per cent area is shallow (25-50 cm), 13 per cent area of the microwatershed has soils that are moderately shallow (50-75 cm) and 42 per cent area is deep to very deep (100 - >150 cm).  About <1 per cent area in the microwatershed has sandy soils, 55 per cent loamy soils and 14 per cent clay soils at the surface.  Maximum of 64 per cent area in the microwatershed is non gravelly (<15%) and 6 per cent is gravelly (15-35%).  About 27 per cent area of the microwatershed is very high (>200 mm/m) in available water capacity, 9 per cent is medium (101-150 mm/m), 20 per cent is low (51-100 mm/m) and 15 per cent area is very low (<50 mm/m).  About 10 per cent area in the microwatershed has nearly level (0-1% slope) lands and 60 per cent has very gently sloping (1-3% slope) lands.  An area of about 60 per cent is moderately (e2) eroded and 10 per cent area is slightly (e1) eroded.  An area of about 2 per cent area is slightly acid (pH 6.0-6.5) in soil reaction, 42 per cent area is neutral (pH 6.5-7.3) and 27 per cent soils is slightly to moderately alkaline (pH 7.3-8.4).  The Electrical Conductivity (EC) of entire soils of the microwatershed is dominantly <2 dsm-1indicating that the soils are non-saline.  About 48 per cent of the soils are medium (0.5-0.75%) in organic carbon and 22 per cent high (>0.75%) area.  38 per cent area is medium (23-57 kg/ha) in available phosphorus and 32 per area is low (<23 kg/ha).  About 66 per cent is medium (145-337 kg/ha) in available potassium and 4 per cent is low (<145 kg/ha).  Available sulphur is low (<10 ppm) in an area of about 16 per cent and medium (10 - 20 ppm) in 54 per cent area of the microwatershed.  Available boron is low (<0.5 ppm) in the entire area of the microwatershed.  Available iron is sufficient (>4.5 ppm) in an area of about 55 per cent and deficient (<4.5 ppm) in 15 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 an area of 68 per cent and sufficient (>0.6 ppm) in 2 per cent area of the microwatershed.  The land suitability for 29 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 235 (36) 85 (13) Guava - 45 (7) Maize - 320 (48) Sapota - 45 (7) Bajra - 365 (55) Pomegranate - 280 (42) Groundnut - 90 (14) Musambi 214 (32) 66 (10) Sunflower 169 (26) 66 (10) Lime 214 (32) 66 (10) Redgram - 281(42) Amla 16 (10) 254 (39) Bengal gram 235 (36) 85(13) Cashew - - Cotton 235 (36) 85 (13) Jackfruit - - Chilli - 366 (55) Jamun - 280 (42) Tomato - 242 (37) Custard apple 235 (36) 85 (13) Brinjal 66 (10) 299 (45) Tamarind - 280 (42) Onion 45 (7) 151 (23) Mulberry - - Bhendi 179 (27) 186 (28) Marigold - 366 (55) Drumstick - 281 (42) Chrysanthemum - 366 (55) Mango - -  Apart from the individual crop suitability, a proposed crop plan has been prepared for the identified LMUs 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 for 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 for 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 which would help in maintaining an ecological balance and also contribute to mitigating the climate change. Findings of the socio-economic survey  The survey was conducted in Ramasamudram-2 is located at North latitude 160 48’ 11.216” and 160 46’ 19.928” and East longitude 770 15’ 22.793'' and 770 13’ 20.245” covering an area of about 660.07 ha coming under Ramasamudra and Ashinala villages of Yadagiri taluk.  Socio-economic analysis indicated that, out of the total sample of 35 respondents, - 17 (48.57%) were marginal, 8(22.86%) were small and 3 (8.57%) were semi medium and 2 (5.71%) were medium farmers.  The population characteristics of households indicated that, there were 97 (59.15%) men and 67 (40.85%) were women.  Majority of the respondents (48.78%) were in the age group of 35-60 years.  Education level of the sample households indicated that, majority there were 54.27 per cent illiterates and only 7.32 per cent attained graduation.  About, 45.71 per cent of household heads practicing agriculture and 40 per cent of the household heads were engaged as agricultural labourers.  Agriculture was the major occupation for 27.44 per cent of the household members.  In the study area, 74.29 per cent of the households possess katcha house and 5.71 per cent possess pucca house.  The durable assets owned by the households showed that, 82.86 per cent possess TV, 42.86 per cent possess mixer grinder and 91.43 per cent possess mobile phones.  Farm implements owned by the households indicated that, 42.86 per cent of the households possess plough and only 2.86 per cent sprayer.  Regarding livestock possession by the households and 8.57 per cent possess buffalo respectively.  The average labour availability in the study area showed that, own labour men available in the micro watershed was 1.67, women available in the micro watershed was 1.48, hired labour (men) available was 7 and hired labour (women) available was 11.68.  Out of the total land holding of the sample respondents (33.55 ha), 78.89 per cent of the area is under dry condition and the remaining 21.11 per cent area is irrigated land.  There were 8 bore wells among the sampled households.  Bore well was the major source of irrigation for 22.86 per cent of the households.  The major crops grown by sample farmers are Red gram, Cotton, Maize, Jowar and Paddy and cropping intensity was recorded as 98.27 per cent.  The sample households possessed 94.29 per cent bank account and 28.57 per cent of them have savings in the account. 2  About 40 per cent of the respondents borrowed credit from various sources.  Among the credit borrowed by households, 26.67 per cent have borrowed loan from commercial banks and 80 per cent from Cooperative bank.  Majority of the respondents (94.44 %) have borrowed loan for agriculture purpose.  Regarding the opinion on institutional sources of credit, 77.78 per cent of the households opined that credit helped to perform timely agricultural operations.  The per hectare cost of cultivation for Red gram, Cotton, Maize, Jowar and Paddy was Rs.23072.88, 47784.26, 39614.70, 58225.91 and 35410.88 with benefit cost ratio of 1:2.10, 1: 1.10, 1: 1.20, 1: 0.60 and 1:2.01 respectively.  Further, 22.86 per cent of the households opined that dry fodder was adequate and 8.57 per cent of the households have opined that the green fodder was adequate.  The average annual gross income of the farmers was Rs. 76985.71 in microwatershed, of which Rs. 43700 comes from agriculture.  The total number of horticultural trees grown (both field and backyard) by the sampled households were coconut and Mango (6) trees in the fields and forest species arwe grown 8 teak trees, 36 neem trees, 2 tamarind trees together in both field and backyard.  Households have an average investment capacity of Rs. 6171.43 for land development, Rs. 142.86 for creation of irrigation facility, Rs.3028.57 for adoption of improved crop production and Rs.200 adoption of improved livestock management.  Source of funds raised from own sources for land development was 60 per cent, for irrigation facility was 2.86 per cent, for improved crop production was 48.57 per cent and for improved livestock adoption was 5.71 per cent.  Regarding marketing channels, 20 per cent of the households have sold agricultural produce to the local/village merchants, while, 77.14 per cent have sold by Agents/Traders.  Further, 68.57 per cent of the households have used tractor for the transport of agriculture commodity.  Majority of the farmers (85.71 %) have experienced soil and water erosion problems in the watershed and 80 per cent of the households were interested towards soil testing.  Firewood connection was the major source of fuel for domestic use for 77.14 per cent of the households and 37.14 per cent households has LPG.  Piped supply was the major source for drinking water for 97.14 per cent of the households.  Electricity was the major source of light for 100 per cent of the households.  In the study area, 60 per cent of the households possess toilet facility. 3  Regarding possession of PDS card, 100 per cent of the households possessed BPL card. Cereals (85.71%), pulses (82.86%), oilseeds (48.57%) were adequate for consumption.  Farming constraints experienced by households in the micro watersheds were lower fertility status of the soil (85.71%) wild animal menace on farm field (85.71%), frequent incidence of pest and diseases (82.86%), inadequacy of irrigation water (74.29%), high cost of fertilizers and plant protection chemicals (85.71%), high rate of interest on credit (85.71%), low price for the agricultural commodities (85.71%), lack of marketing facilities in the area (68.57%), inadequate extension services (68.57%), lack of transport for safe transport of the agricultural produce to the market(82.86%).