Short description of the best practice

The treatment of the watershed area is basically through Soil & Water conservation work, the treatment planned is based on the available material and resources available within watershed.
The Best Practice adopted in watershed is to ensure the community participation since beginning of the project. Right from starting the intervention, every resident household of the watershed area had to do the 4 days voluntary labour for any common work / cause. This ensured participation of every community participant in the development process. The community participation is further ensured through formation of small community based Institutions.
The soil & water conservation work is based on net planning which has been done well in advance of whole watershed from ridge to vally, later on soil work is supported by vegetative coverage and other interventions directly related with the social and economic upliftment of the watershed community.
The one of other practices adopted in watershed is to introduce the new technology related to agriculture and non agriculture as well, Technologies like terrace vegetable cultivation, introduction of better agriculture equipments, implements and technologies like seed multiplication, SRI technology etc.  

Location

There is multiple locations in Gujarat. Jhalod & Garbada Talukas of Dahod District and in Goghamba Taluka of Panchmahal District of Gujarat.

If the location has well defined boundaries, specify its extension in hectares:

6754.0

Estimated population living in the location:

30941.0

Brief description of the natural environment within the specified location.

The area falls in the semi arid rainfall area. This area receives its rains from southwest monsoon starting from the middle of June up to the end of September. The average rainfall is 650 mm.
The arable lands normally are between land classes I to IV as per the capability classification of land and non-arable lands are between land classes V to VIII. The majority of area of watershed falls under class IV, where the Drainage and Gullies are in existence due to continuous erosion.  |
The topography of the area is undulating to rolling with varying slopes. The slope ranges from 3 to 20 per cent. Most of the land is having 3 to 10 per cent slope. Nearly 30-35 per cent area is covered with medium and deep gullies and soil erosion is perceptible.

Prevailing socio-economic conditions of those living in the location and/or nearby

Almost 80 per cent of the total area is agricultural land 20% is other land. The average land holding is below 2 hectare. Maize & Paddy is main crop in Kharif season while Gram, Maize & Wheat in Rabi season. The Government lands are highly degraded with hardly any tree cover.|
Out of total families of watershed 5% are landless, 26% farmers hold 0 to 01 ha land, 30% hold 01 to 02 ha land, 31.5% hold 02 to 04 ha land and 11% farmers hold more than 04 ha land. Average annual income per household is around Rs 26850.00.   |
The main income sources are Agriculture, Income from agricultural labour, seasonal migration to Urban area for wage labour, live stock and micro enterprises are very minimal. The income from all sources. 8 % income come from Agriculture labour, 17% income from Non Agriculture employment and 75% income from Agriculture.|

On the basis of which criteria and/or indicator(s) (not related to The Strategy) the proposed practice and corresponding technology has been considered as 'best'?

In the tribal area the major cause of low productivity is that the tribal farmers are not using the proper seed because of so many reasons like lack of awareness, no timely availability of seed.  The production can be increased  to 25% by only replacing the local seed by improved quality of seed. The introduction of Seed Production Technology in Tribal area has number of benefits like
• Timely availability of seed to all project area farmers.
• Introduction of new technology and practices.
• Increase in Agriculture Production and Productivity.

Main problems addressed by the best practice

Low Productivity : By introducing the seed production practices/ technology the two major problems could be addressed, the agriculture productivity was increased and by getting improved and appropriate seed at time farmer could take more crop which would be of support to the marginal farmer of small land holding.|Low Profitability of Agriculture : By introducing the techniques like terrace vegetable cultivation with locally available variety only, the profitability of agriculture could have increased because vegetable is the cash crop.  More is the production of vegetable; more is the chance to have profit in agriculture.
|In land development/ reclamation related programmes, the active community participation is a major problem. The contribution of 4 days voluntary labour from every Household ensured the active participation of community at all level of implementation.  Watershed Implementation Committee (WIC) formed at watershed level to monitor every step of Programme implementation.                 

Outline specific land degradation problems addressed by the best practice

The land holding was between 1-2 Ha,.  degraded and fragmented in 3 to 4 parts. This kind of land allocation leads to low production and make agriculture less profitable, The area treatment work through soil and water conservation ensured the check of soil erosion and availability of water in maximum part of the year.
In every small pieces of land the technology of terrace cultivation of vegetable gave good result in terms of regular income to farmer and seed production technology ensured timely availability of improved variety to farmer which led to over all increase in crop production.         

Specify the objectives of the best practice

1. To enable the project area community for maximum utilization of available natural resources in sustainable way
2. To build up the capacity of community to adopt new practices with the traditional practices they are used to.
3. To increase the overall productivity of the area
4. To build up the capacity of community for joint action.   

Brief description of main activities, by objective

1. To Save the rain water in to well or    under ground constructed tank.
2. Transfer of Technology  
1. To make the agriculture more profitable even in adverse circumstances like small and fragmented land holding.
2. To provide better nutrition to farmers family through out the year
   
1. To protect the upper fertile layer of soil for protecting the fertility of land.
2. To recharge the rain water in to the wells and ponds.
3. To ensures the water availability for drinking and irrigation purpose through out the year
1. To ensure the good quality seed available timely to farmer
2. To reduce the dependency of farmer for quality seed from sources of uncertainty.
3. To increase the over all productivity   of the area

Short description and technical specifications of the technology

• Seed Multiplication programme of GVT is aimed at to introduce effective interventions to provide resource-limited farmers with the seed security that they require in achieving food security. Seed Production in village itself is the participatory process, the small Farmer Group produces the seed with the help of GVT and the produced seed is being certified by State Seed Certification Agency. The parent seed provided to farmers group by GVT and farmers produce the seed as per technical specifications and standard set by Seed Registration Authority. In order to ensure greater access and control over seed production and marketing of the same, it was planned to bring the seed producers presently engaged in seed multiplication progarmme under the aegis of Seed Producers groups. These Groups would be transformed in to a Seed Producers Group Company and to be registered under amended Company Act of 2002 under which the proposed company would be a hybrid model of both cooperative sprit and corporate efficiency.
• This is the new technology of vegetable cultivation in small pieces of land (0.25 Acre 0.5 Acre), by this technology farmer can take two vegetable crop at a time, one is field vegetable crop and other is climber vegetable crop.  
• This technology is simple technique to collect the roof water release from the terrace of house in to under ground water tank or in near by well of house.    
Seed Production Technology has its own technical specification for different crops according to the standards fixed by Seed Certification Agency.

Name and address of the institution developing the technology

Gramin Vikas Trust (GVT)|State Office
Kanchan Kunj, Anand Bhawan, Chakaliya Road, Dahod-389151, Gujarat, India

Was the technology developed in partnership?

Yes

List the partners:

1. NABARD

Specify the framework within which the technology was promoted

• Local initiative
• National initiative – non-government-led
• Programme/project-based initiative

Was the participation of local stakeholders, including CSOs, fostered in the development of the technology?

Yes

List local stakeholders involved:

1. GVT
2. Community
3. Institutions like NABARD and ICAR etc

For the stakeholders listed above, specify their role in the design, introduction, use and maintenance of the technology, if any.

GVT: Implementer of the Activity with the application of defined technology.
Community: For whom and with the help of whom the technology is developed.
NABARD & ICAR: Strategy, Design and funding for Programme and Technology.

Was the population living in the location and/or nearby involved in the development of the technology?

Yes

By means of what?

• Participatory approaches
• Other (please specify)

Specify:

Community is the mode of application and testing of the technology, by addressing the community we can estimate the adoptability of the community

Describe on-site impacts (the major two impacts by category)

The programme area community has become habitual for Joint action for development work, due to this the mutual harmony within the community has increased and also the pattern of socio economic status of community is improving step by step as they are more involving themselves in development process.|
Under existing cropping pattern the crop production has been increased by the activities like conservation measures of soil & Moisture, by providing the improved quality of seeds. |
The new activity/ technologies also conserves the interests of traditional practices used by the community for years. The new technologies have nothing adverse impact on environmental front and there is continuous effort of undertaking development programme with out any environmental imbalance.
The farming has become more productive through introduction of new cash crops by replacing existing crops and also the production of vegetables has been increased by introduction of technologies like Terrace cultivation
The new technologies have nothing adverse impact on environmental front and there is continuous effort of undertaking development projects without any environmental imbalances.

Describe the major two off-site (i.e. not occurring in the location but in the surrounding areas) impacts

The Seed produced under Seed Production Programme naturally disseminated to near by area through relatives and other networks.
The concept of joint action is disseminated naturally from the activity area to off site area.  

Impact on biodiversity and climate change

Explain the reasons:

All technologies/Practices/ activities explained above have their technical value but all these are adaptive since all are natural and also related to social and economical ambience of the Programme area. Community, like wise plantation conserve the environment with having a balanced  correlation with the income of individual or group of individuals. Easy adaptation  makes this activity sustainable in nature. The other applications like Chullaha and Fibre sheet are directly addressing conservation of energy.  |
Beside effort of increasing the vegetative coverage (which has become already a climate mitigation practice) as explained above there is many social aspects on which work is being done. Many energy conservation interventions done like construction of improved chullaha (traditional cooking stove), and through adoption of this technique the fuel requirement has become half. Other activity like introduction of fibre sheet (for use of sunlight inside the house) offsets need of electricity consumption and Kerosene for light purpose inside the home in day time. These all activities are explicitly the positive impact on climate change mitigation.        |
Under the Seed Production Technology the varieties of the seed produced are well accepted varieties and all the varieties developed through Participatory Plant Breeding (PPB) e.g. the variety of Maize i.e GM-6 is developed by the partnership of Gujarat agriculture University (GAU), Local Community and GVT. GM-6 variety is appropriate to local needs of the community and suiting to other environmental conditions prevailing in the area.
The Soil and water conservation work later on supported by proper vegetation on bunds and on field provided green coverage. This vegetation and plantation work is also done with the participation of the community and in the identification of  tree species to be planted, the equal participation of the community has been ensured and the planting material has been prepared through nursery raising within the programme village (to the possible extent) and species planted with this process is the traditional species of the area. Hybrid seed and other things are being avoided.    

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

Has a cost-benefit analysis been carried out?

No

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Was the technology disseminated/introduced to other locations?

Yes

Where?

Seed is disseminated to various near by locations, terrace vegetable is also disseminated by various other stake holders|

Were incentives to facilitate the take up of the technology provided?

Were incentives to facilitate the take up of the technology provided?

Yes

Specify which type of incentives:

• Financial incentives (for example, preferential rates, State aid, subsidies, cash grants, loan guarantees, etc)

Can you identify the three main conditions that led to the success of the presented best practice/technology?

In Technology, nothing is new only innovative application of best practices is there. The technology provided is not a costly technology and it is easily being adopted since it is available in nature  |
Adaptation level of community is very good, technology has direct effects on the livelihood of the community. |
Technology is providing solutions to the problems of the community and addressing the development need of the community.

Replicability

In your opinion, the best practice/technology you have proposed can be replicated, although with some level of adaptation, elsewhere?

Yes

At which level?

• Local
• Sub-national

Related to human resources

Before introducing any new practice or technology it is necessary to create awareness within the community about the Practice/Technology before application of the same.  
|The equal participation of all stake holders  should be ensured before application of the Practices/Technology  |All stakeholders should have clarity on the objective and expected out comes of the Practice/Technology before the application of the Technology.  

Related to financial aspects

Technology application should be financially feasible in all aspects so as to make it self-sustainable  after introduction.  

Related to technical aspects

Technical adaptability of Technology/Practice should be assessed before application/introduction.
|Technical viability should be checked through pilot before application of technology/Practices in wider scale