Examining farm-level perceptions, costs, and benefits of small water harvesting structures in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh

Water productivity and water footprint: misguided concepts or useful tools in water management and policy?

“…Sharma, Rao, Vittal, Ramakrishna, & Amarasinghe (2010) showed that many arid districts in India can benefit through such a water management scheme, and that there is also sufficient surface runoff in the rainy season that can be captured and used as supplemental irrigation. This was also corroborated through evaluation of the impact of a large number of small ponds in Madhya Pradesh (Malik, Giordano, & Sharma, 2014). Policies should promote and support implementing such water management practices, from capturing surface runoff to supplemental irrigation.…”

“…However, the benefits outweigh the costs, as better water management can even double crop yields in many arid rainfed districts . These interventions will ensure food and livelihood security for millions of people who are dependent on agriculture in many developing countries (Amarasinghe, Malik, & Sharma, 2010a;Malik et al, 2014).…”

Governance and management of local water storage in the Hindu Kush Himalayas

“…These include augmenting natural systems of water storage such as glacial melt and snow melt, mountain springs, soil moisture and high-altitude wetlands through initiatives such as wetlands conservation and watershed management in the hills and mountains, groundwater aquifer recharge through infiltration ponds and others in the foothills, and even creation of small artificial glaciers (Andermann et al, 2012;Sudhalkar, 2010;Trishal & Kumar, 2008). They also include construction of artificial systems such as small ponds and tanks for rainwater harvesting, which can be built on farms, and small reservoirs that can be constructed on mountain streams and along natural drainage channels in the hills (Cai, Cui, Dai, & Luo, 2012;Malik, Giordano, & Sharma, 2014). Depending upon the geophysical characteristics of a specific location, a combination of natural and artificial systems could be selected to meet the water needs of a community.…”

Enabling sustainable, productive smallholder farming systems through improved land and water management

“…In southern Niger, farmer-managed natural land regeneration-using improved, local agroforestry practices on nearly 5 million ha of land-has increased cereal production and improved the livelihoods of an estimated 2.5 million people (Reji et al 2009). Farm ponds in Madhya Pradesh, India, have allowed farmers to produce more staple crops, extend the cropping area, increase dry-season cropping, diversify activities and increase incomes by as much as 70% (Malik et al 2014). And longterm studies on integrated watershed management programs in dryland areas of India document multiple, positive livelihood and environmental benefits (e.g., Wani et al 2008;Singh et al 2014;Karlberg et al 2015).…”