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Journalism of Courage
Four years ago we had gone to Visnagar in north Gujarat and studied farmer-managed irrigation systems in the Dharoi command. Walking in areas fed by lower-level canal systems in drought years, we found farmer societies had taken loan, given their own contributions and had rebuilt the distributaries. The result was that almost all farms in the command could get water whenever it was available.
Unconstructed or damaged minor channels, original construction defects and damaged outlets are the rule and not exceptions. Planning Commission-sponsored studies in different parts of the country have shown that between two-fifths and two-thirds of farmers don’t get water and that’s often because of construction and design defects. This had been set right in these areas but the results were only partial as the reservoirs had not filled up. But all that’s history.
Kiyadar is about 8 km from the taluka town of Visnagar. Haribhai is a pioneer of the farmer managed irrigation system here. It started from the tail end of Dharoi Branch 1 and by now has spread to a number of villages—Khatola, Gunja, Paldi, Thalota, Kesempa, among others. In fact there are 27 villages in the command of Dharoi Branch 2.
The positive results are visible. Farming has improved considerably. The traditional bajri, jowari or wheat rotation in Kharif and Rabi, with sometimes land left uncultivated on account of rainfall failures after Kharif, now gives way to guar, castor and mung. Cash crops are common with around a fifth of the area under cotton. Cereals are more often than not grown for self-consumption. There is area under the cash crop of the region, variyali or saunf, marketed at the Unjha market.
Almost every farm has cattle. Some have more and sell milk. Some green fodder is grown. From all accounts, the pains of dryland agriculture have given way to prosperity of the kind made possible by a limited assured water supply. Shankar seeds are giving way to Bt and there is talk of drips.
Farmer managed irrigation systems are asking for more. Federations of village-level systems want to take over maintenance of higher-level systems. In fact the forbidden word is also being uttered—namely, ‘Can’t we run the reservoir better? Drinking water is obviously the highest priority, but can we meet it and use more water when needed?’.
These farmer managed irrigation systems have from the beginning collected their share of the reconstruction and maintenance costs of minor channels (Rs 600 per hectare), but have from the beginning collected more than charges to be given to the state, so that adequate maintenance and repair can be done.
Originally there was a grant and loan component in the reconstruction. Now the federations of societies of farmer managed irrigation systems collect a fee and the idea is that the desilting work can be done by the federations, with the state’s resources added on.
The change is in the mindset. When you do things yourself, even the problems at higher levels, say at the Branch level, also seem solvable. As a young man a yield of three tonnes of wheat or paddy on a farm was a great achievement and seemed so far away as an average and it is there now. The day must also come when water in everyone’s field will also be taken for granted, for we would have acquired the capability to solve the myriad problems on the way.
It would be the only fitting tribute to my friend Anil Shah, who started all this and who turned 80 last week, and Vijay Mahajan, who still has his heart in all of this.
