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DAM-L Nimbi, INDIA: Rainwater harvesting "novel" way to combat drought <fwd>
----- Forwarded message from Eco-list----------------------------
>To: Eco-list <Eco-list@isb.sdnpk.org>
>Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2001 10:38 AM
>Subject: [Eco-list] Village hits on novel way to fight drought
>
>
>Village hits on novel way to fight drought
>By Ranjit Devraj
>http://www.dawn.com/2001/04/26/int12.htm
>
>NIMBI (Rajasthan): Dire predictions that arid Rajasthan in faces this year
>one of the worst droughts in living memory hold no terror for the people of
>this surprisingly green and prosperous village. Their secret? Nothing more
>than the folk wisdom to harvest and store what the heavens have showered on
>them as abundant seasonal rainfall.
>
>Radhu Gujjar proudly shows off the simple earthen check dam that is the
>source of his confidence and the relative prosperity of his large 35-member
>extended family. "Before we built the check dam a few years ago, my large
>family used to survive on an income of $1,000 that each harvest season would
>bring in," says Gujjar.
>
>Last year, the Gujjar family reaped more than $4,000 from a harvest of not
>only wheat and pulses but also various vegetables that need more water like
>cucumber, watermelon, pumpkin, peas and potatoes.
>
>In fact Nimbi village is a veritable oasis ablaze with fruits, vegetables
>and commercially grown flowers amidst the desertified landscape of Rajasthan
>and even draws agricultural workers from as far away as West Bengal and
>central Madhya Pradesh.
>
>It all began in 1994, when the Tarun Bhagat Sangh (TBS), an NGO that has
>been promoting water harvesting in Rajasthan's Alwar district, stepped in
>with plans to repair an ancient water-harvesting system based on check dams.
>Somewhere in the early part of the last century the main dam built by local
>rulers developed cracks and before long the whole system had collapsed and
>fallen into complete disuse.
>
>With funds for repair growing scarcer with each passing year, farming became
>unviable and the able-bodied were forced to migrate to the cities of Jaipur,
>capital of Rajasthan and to the national capital of New Delhi looking for
>work as construction labourers.
>
>It cost TBS just $125,000 to reverse that trend. The amount was used for the
>construction of two check dams, while labour and soil for the earthwork,
>both of which were readily available, were provided by the village folk, who
>agreed to bear 25 per cent of the other costs.
>
>The results were dramatic even if it took a few years to become truly
>apparent. The water table began to rise, the wells in the village got
>recharged and no longer was irrigation needed to keep the vegetables
>growing. As fertility returned to the soil it no longer became necessary for
>the villagers to resort to backbreaking construction labour in the cities
>and farming rapidly revived.
>
>In fact, such is the fame of Nimbi these days that some of the villagers can
>actually afford to sit back and lease out farming land to contractors who
>bring in their own labour from other states and still make a profit.
>
>Farmers like Radhu Gujjar now lease out a third or more of the land they own
>to contractors who grow vegetables and get in return hard cash which goes
>into building proper brick and mortar house that mark out Nimbi. -Dawn/The
>Guardian News Service.
>
>
>
----- End of forwarded message from owner-dam-l@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca -----
----- End of forwarded message from owner-dam-l@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca -----