India's water availability is predicted to be miserable if proper steps are not undertaken to deal with management of the available water resources in the country. Implementing good watershed management practices and approaches can go a long way and help India potentially better manage and increase its water resources. Hence, Watershed Development & Management interventions have always been a core of AFARM’s work almost for last 30 years.
AFARMs approaches & strategies for the planning & implementation of watershed management are aimed at following.
| Promote and nurture community driven decision-making systems for water resources planning & management |
| Enhance the physical access of water on the farm and expand cultivable area under protective irrigation through improved on-farm water use efficiency |
| Achieve drinking water security for the population in project villages |
| Achieve soil moisture security for the rainfed crops |
| Reduce the risk of extreme climate events on agriculture production. |
| Project villages selection based on community needs for addressing water issues for drinking and agricultural purposes. |
| Village meetings, trainings, exposure visits, village camps, Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) etc. were conducted for community mobilization in planning and implementation. |
| Intensive Engineering survey conductedfor site selection for construction of new water harvesting structures.Supply side augmentation interventions are planned based on the availability of surface runoff. |
| Identification of the recharge potential areas based on detailed geological mapping on the geological conditions. Identified recharge potential areas were selected for implementation of watershed measures to enhance the groundwater recharge & optimal use of available financial resources. |
| Existing water conservation structures located in potential recharge zone were taken up for desilting for enhancing its water storage capacities and the area treatments were executed in catchment of these structures to ensure sustainability of water harvesting structures. |
| Moisture conservation treatments have been restricted to only those fields which are suffering from sheet and/or rill erosion to a greater extent. |
| Moisture security to rainfed crops have been provided to the land owned by the small and marginal farmers not having access to irrigation water. |
| Water User Groups have been formed around each of the water harvesting structures and built their capacities for effective operation and maintenance of created structures for aiming towards Effective Water Management. |
