From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network - Bangalore
Bangalore, Sep 8: World Bank has approved $ 60 million credit to the Karnataka Watershed Development Project II (KWDP II) to further improve watershed planning and management in project areas.
The project would improve watershed operations in 930 micro-watersheds covering 4.65 lac hectares and 1.60 lac farmers across seven districts: Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Koppal, Gadag, Davanagere, and Chamarajangar.
The project is aimed at building on the successful experience of earlier Bank-supported Karnataka Watershed Development Project I (2001-2009), also known as Sujala.
Under Sujala, Karnataka was able to improve lives of 2.30 lac farmers by increasing crop yields by about 25 percent and raising household incomes of small and marginal farmers by 40 percent.
The project would be financed by the International Development Association, the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm, which provides interest-free loans with 25 years to maturity and a grace period of five years.
KWDP II would focus on improving the performance and results of Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) by introducing new tools and approaches for integrated watershed planning, incorporating information about water resources into the planning process, facilitating better convergence of IWMP with other government programmes such as rural job scheme, and helping farmers increase agricultural productivity.
“This project will build on the earlier Bank-supported KWDP-I and initiate innovative pilots which will help increase agricultural production in rain fed areas, lead to better use of scarce water resources and raise household incomes of farmers,” said Onno RËhl, World Bank Country director for India.
The focus of the project is on supporting the implementation of IWMP in the seven selected districts through better planning, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, and post-harvest value addition.
Focus will also be on understanding local needs, like location specific soil crop water interactions; expanding the scope of rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge, by partly converging the MGNREGS with the IWMP; and developing agro climatic zone specific technology to enable rural communities to better adapt to the effects of climate change, the release said.