Assessment of Mastihalla Watershed in Bellary DistriGtof Kamataka State, India

Abstract

An attempt has been made to assess the long-term impact of watershed development programme in Mastihalla watershed of Bellary district in Karnataka State, and to project the period during which incremental benefits of watershed development programme are likely to accrue. The evaluation was based on the data collected through household survey in the watershed. Various indicators as production/ economicbenefits, socialimpact, employment generation and environmental impact were assessed. The study revealed that with adoption of soil and water conservation measures and improved package of practices, productivity of different crops in the watershed increased over pre-project period by 12-53%.The economics of soil conservation on watershed-basis reveals viability of the programme. The benefit-cost ratios for agriculture as a whole were 3.0, 2.8 and 2.5 with 10, 15 and 20% discount rates for 15 years' benefit flow and 3.7, 3.5 and 3.2 considering the project life as 20 years at the same discount rates. Payback period was 8 years and the internal rate of return was 53-62%,which was much higher than the market rate of interest. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the economic parameters were stable considering the fluctuations in costs and benefits. The watershed development programme in rainfed areas increased the crop productivity, which ultimately increas~d the income of the resource-poor farming communities and induced favorable environmental and social impacts in this region. Key words: Watershed, benefit-cost ratio, rainfed agriculture, employment generation, environmental impact, social benefits.