Help villagers get access to a harvesting pond by Manuvikasa

During the period January to June 2022, we have developed total 97 farm ponds. In this 62 ponds are from other donors and 35 ponds are developed with Give India support.

We have developed ponds in Sirsi, Siddapur and Yellapur blocks of Uttara Kannada District, Karnataka state. We have covered 22 villages under this activity. Through 35 ponds, 150 farmers impacted directly and 200 farmers impacted indirectly. Initially we, MANUVIKASA have done survey of villages and studied the village situation. We have attended the Gramsabhas to identify the right beneficiary or needy. After that we have visited the beneficiary house and their farm land. Once the field staffs are satisfied with the beneficiary need for the farm pond, Project coordinator will further check the place and decide whether the beneficiary selected by the field staff is in need or not. After getting permission from Project coordinator and the organizational head, we will send excavators to the village with our own vehicle. Villagers have to clean the place where the pond has to be developed. We will provide the excavators and villagers has to take care of the food supplies for the hitachi operator. We will develop the pond without any transportation charges and any other expenses. The pond will developed in a day. In many ponds that we have developed spring arrived and farmers get water throughout the year. They use this pond water for their domestic use, animal husbandry and also for growing crops. Many farmers started second crops like vegetables and also started horticulture.

Identifying right beneficiary is quite challenging. We have study the village condition and water scarcity problem of the needy farmer. Hitachi machine maintenance is also a challenging. If one machine will stopped its work we have to send another machine immediately which costs more to the organization.

Shivanand Danappa Naik is a 60 year old farmer living in Shanavalli village of Yellapur Taluk. This village is covered with forest and most of the villagers are tribal and belonging to backward community. Villagers don't have proper basic facilities including transportation, electricity and water supply. Though this village is covered with forest, water scarcity has became the big problem for the villagers. In the summer season, they have to search water source for domestic use. Same situation was in front of Mr. Shivanand Naik last summer. They don't have water for drinking also. All their crops became reddish due to scarcity of water. In this situation, Mr. Shivanand reached MANUVIKASA for help. MANUVIKASA staffs examine the field situation and came to knew about the exact situation. After proper survey, we have decided to develop one pond in his land. Through excavators a farm pond of 30 feet length, 30 feet breadth and 10 feet depth was developed with which little spring water arrived. Farmers face was filled with happiness with tears in his eyes. At present this pond was filled with full water. Now this farmer will not suffer from water issues anymore.

Name: Shivanand Danappa Naik Age: 60 years Occupation: Agriculture Address: Shanavalli, Near Varadeshwara Temple, Taluk: Yellapur Dist: Uttara Kannada

During the last 5-6 months we have developed around 30 ponds. These ponds are 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 10 feet deep. We are conducting village-level meetings and attending grama sabhas with the villagers to tell them the importance of water harvesting. We have covered Sirsi, Siddapur, Yellapur blocks of Uttara Kannada district. Through these ponds, we are able to help 120 to 150 poor farmers. These farmers were suffering from water scarcity earlier. We are regularly in touch with these villagers through our Self Help Groups and other livelihood programmes.

COVID pandemic has affected our activities and we are unable to move the excavating machine at this time. Along with this, this years' long rainy season has made life difficult for the farmers.

Krishna R Naik is a 56-year-old poor farmer living in the Uppalekoppa village of Sirsi Taluk. He has 2 acres of dry land which is the only source of income for this family. Krishna's family includes 4 members. Agricultural activities depend only on the monsoon. During summer, scarcity of water ruins the family's livelihood. In this situation, Krishna was in search of a ray of hope to fulfil his water scarcity problem. MANUVIKASA members visited Uppalekoppa village and came to know about the field situation. We have decided to help these poor farmers in this regard. We have constructed one farm pond in Krishna Naik's farmland. Springwater came and he was able to cultivate his land.

We have developed 52 ponds and helped 220 farmers and provided irrigation facilities to 65 acres of land. We have made awareness programmes in the villages regarding the importance of water and rainwater harvesting. As a result, farmers are ready to give their piece of land for developing farm ponds. After pond construction, farmers are using pond water for irrigation, domestic purpose and animal husbandry. Initially, farmers are growing one crop in a year and now they can grow more than one crop. Sudden stop of rainfall and shortage of water farmers are facing lots of problem in watering their crops but farm ponds give them protective irrigation. Now greenery surrounding the farm ponds is increased and also moisture in the soil increased. These ponds are helped them to reduce the erosion of soil and also we noticed the diversification in the crops. several farmers from the surrounding areas approaching us to develop farm ponds in their area. This activity demonstrated the replication effect and sustainability. We have conducted this activity in the----- villages of Siddapur taluk.

We have a good rapport with the community through women empowerment and livelihood programme. We have not faced many problems in community mobilization and convincing farmers to develop the ponds. We faced some problems during COVID time. In both lockdown periods, our staff members and volunteers are not able to move from one place to other. Also facing problem with transporting machinery but we have got permission from the authorities to conduct the activity and achieved the target. This year we have faced uncertain rainfall and it has slow down our activity. We have planned to develop 100 farm ponds and help 450 farmers and 500 acres of land.

Stories from the ground: Shivu Rama Gouda is a 72-year-old poor farmer residing at Kulle Village in Siddapur Taluk, Uttara Kannada District. Shivu Rama Gouda is having only one acre of agricultural land in which he grew paddy, areca nut and banana. Earlier, due to water scarcity, he grew the only paddy. After the rainy season, slowly water in the well nearby them was decreasing. In the summer they have to borrow water from others for their daily needs. When MANUVIKASA entered Kulle village, We came to know about the water scarcity problem in the village. All areca nut trees were becoming red due to water shortage. We made a survey and selected needy farmers who are really poor and were not able to develop any farm ponds at their own cost. Mr Shivu Gouda is one of them. With the help of nearby farmers, we have selected the place so that after developing the farm pond at least 4-5 farmers who are nearby, get benefit from this pond. After getting permission from the head office, field staff shifted the excavating machine to the land and developed one farm pond free of cost. Springwater came out of the pond. Everybody is happy especially Mr Shivu Gouda. Now this pond is filled with water. His areca nut trees are becoming green once again. All nearby wells were also recharged. Last summer they don't have faced any water shortage problem. So many birds and insects came to drink the pond water with which pollination of crops is good and farmers get good crop yield as a result. Mr Shivu Gouda and the farmers nearby are thanking our organization for bringing happiness and prosperity to their life.

Water is a source of life. We can’t imagine the life of any organism in the world without water. Nowadays community is facing water scarcity and we all experienced the ill effect of the water scarcity. Water conservation is an urgent need of the hour.  We build 4 tanks per village in 2 weeks in places selected by farmers with  assistance of local water experts. Rejuvenation takes a month as we dry the soil.  We use JCB (brand name) drilling machines for tank work and use labors for finishing and other works. We select beneficiaries with poverty for this donation option.  First we conduct meeting with the beneficiaries and select the proper site for rejuvenation or construction of the work. Once we use JCB for one day, our staff or volunteers will take care of finishing work of the tank through local
labor. Before construction, two  to three labors will clean the site with removing weeds and shrubs. Then the water supply feeding channels – one for input and another for output are cleared. Both the activities take 5 days. One whole day is spent in digging with JCB. After this the bunds are strengthened
using rub stones which are locally available. This and the final finishing work takes  another week. The effort, time and cost  needed for rejuvenation and construction are same. In rejuvenation, we remove the silt that is clogging the tank. Local people will be take confidence to identify the site which should benefit more number of
beneficiaries after construction of tank. This selection of site, construction and finishing work completion required at least 15 days. The structure remains for more than 10 years and needs no maintenance.

Tanks developed to ease the difficulties of villagers

There were tanks developed in Hulimane, Hulibarkanjaddi, Bugadisara, Ummachagi and Belladda villages. In the beginning we were not able to develop ponds due to heavy rain. But now the program is running very well. The harvesting ponds are helping the villagers immensely.

Fieldsite images of harvesting ponds