Equity in watershed development: Imperatives for property rights, resource allocation, and institutions

• Published in: Integrated Watershed Management in Rainfed Agriculture pp. 111 - 152
• Main Authors: Wani, Suhas P., Rockstrom, Johan, Sahrawat, Kanwar Lal
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom CRC Press 2012; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: Agricultural science; ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY; The hydrosphere; Watershed Development; Woman SHGs; Valley Portion; Common Pool Resource; Income Generating Activities; Ralegaon Siddhi; Common Property Resources Regime; Madhya Pradesh; Watershed Committee; Potential Equity; Tamil Nadu; Watershed Development Program; Rural Poor; Percolation Tanks; Common Property Resources; Water Harvesting Structures; Land Re-distribution; Watershed Treatments; Watershed Program; Farm Ponds; WDPs; Watershed Projects; Aga Khan Rural Support Programme; Kerr 2002b
• ISBN: 041588277X; 9780415882774
• DOI: 10.1201/b11424-8

Juxtaposed with the conventional thrust on irrigated agriculture, the watershed development program with their central focus on dryland farming, is a major policy initiative in India for striking a balance between the two broad categories of farming systems, viz., irrigated and dryland. In that sense, the watershed development project (WDP) is an important initiative to attain equity across regions, farms, and farmers operating under different agroclimatic conditions in India. However, there are natural, agronomic, and fiscal constraints that may limit the potential equity in the WDPs. Also, the equity concerns in WDPs, till now, have focused mainly on the intracommunity and intra-households, especially in a micro setting rather than dealing with the inter-regional inequities and/or upstream-downstream issues in the context of a larger watershed.