sukhomajri

SUKHOMAJRI WATERSHED
District Panchkula, Haryana, INDIA

Pre Project conditions

� No source of irrigation.
� 52 ha agricultural land under rain-fed single cropping.
� Frequent crop failures due to erratic distribution of rainfall.
� A large nos. of sheep, goat and cows.
� Indiscriminate grazing, felling of trees for fuel.
� Bare, naked hill slopes; even a blade of grass was to be seen.

Why this Project was initiated

� Continuous problem of silting of the prestigious man-made Shukhna Lake.
� The reconnaisance survey conducted by the Centre, revealed that the major source of sediment was about 26 % of the catchment area located in the close proximity of Sukhomajri and near by village.

Initial Treatments

� Top most 85 ha catchment area was treated first by mechanical and vegetative measures.
� Planting of tree species like khair, shisham in the pits and Bhabbar grass at the mounds of trenches.
� Agave americana and Ipomoea cornea in critical eroded area.
� *** BUT not successful --- over grazing. People not concerned.
� BECAUSE silting of Sukhna lake was prime concern to Research Centre, the same was of last significance to the people of Sukhomajri.

Four water harvesting structures were created

� Constitution of village society (1979) (Water Users Association)
� Which later emerged as �Hill Resource Management Society(HRMS)�

Beneficial Effect

� Denuded catchment was covered with grasses and trees within a period of 10-15 years.
� Grass production increased from 3.82 t/ha to 7.72 t/ ha

Economic Analysis

� The Net Present Value (NPV) from about 40 ha of cultivated area in kharif and about 35 ha in rabi in 1977 was obtained as Rs. 1,02,153 at 1999-2000 price.the same shot up to Rs. 5,69,668 in May ,2000.
� B:C ratio = 1.6 (1977) and 2.5 (1999-2000)

Replicability

� Till 1996, the Forest Department Haryana built approximately 93 rain water harvesting dams covering 53 villages and about 70 such dams were built by Department of soil conservation, Punjab. The IWDP (Kandi Project) has adopted this model on a massive scale in North- West Shivalik states.

Lessons from Sukhomajri

1. People's participation must be ensured right from the beginning.
2. The needs and the problems of the people must be identified at the outset.
3. Unless a project is aimed at the meeting their needs, solving their problems and mitigation their hardship, it may not be succeed.

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