Livelihood and socio-economic development through watershed management - An impact assessment of Lachhaputraghati tribal catchment

摘要

Livelihood and socio-economic development are the most important indices of development of tribal agrarian community particularly those of rainfed areas. A model watershed in the tribal dominated areas of southern Odisha was developed using diverse treatments implemented by ICAR-IISWC, Research Centre, Koraput. A comprehensive assessment of watershed was taken up to gauge socioeconomic impacts of various technological interventions. The overall watershed productivity increased from 4962 kg ha 1 (pre-project) to 6126 kg ha1 (19%) post-project period. The average human population carrying capacity of crops increased from 4.0 to 4.4 with an increase of 9.3%. The overall People Participation Index was found to be 56% indicating that the stakeholders' overall participation was above the medium level. Income and expenditure analysis revealed that due to project implementation, large farmers showed interest in , initiating large scale enterprises i.e., poultry and livestock. Among medium and small farmers, agricultural activities registered an increase of 15% which shows their diversification from labour work and their engagement in their own activities. A significant decrease of 5% in fuelwood sales shows the changing attitude as well as dependency on forests. Among economic parameters, BC ratio at 10% discount rate was found to be 1.16 with an internal Rate of Return of 19.5%.