Brief proposal: Samarthan- HUF

Empowering local governance institutions to ensure climate resilient agriculture by enhancing irrigation and production
capacities for sustainable livelihoods from farm sector in Ajaygarh block of Panna in MP

1. Problem Statement

 What are we trying to solve for through the proposed program (please detail out the problem statement)?

Problem 1: Block Ajaygarh of Panna district in Bundelkhand regions of MP is one of the 8 identified Atal Bhoojal
Yojana (ABY) blocks that have critical groundwater extraction and recharge issues. Under the JJM, commitment of
provision of 55 litres of water per day per person through piped water will generate demand for 8.45 million litre of
water daily in Ajaygarh block. Efficient rain water management and judicious use of ground water is a challenge to
mitigate climate change.

Problem 2: The less educated farmers in the remote block like Ajaygarh are not sufficiently oriented and supported
with scientific knowledge and technology for the most efficient use water to get maximum production and crop value
in different seasons. This results in low production and low profits leading to distress migration. The behavioural
change on cropping pattern and adoption of new methods will require intensive engagement at a scale and
handholding support at individual level using various participatory methodologies of training.

Problem 3: Various departments and programs have funds with specific objectives, however at the cutting edge level
i.e. village there is no convergence planning. Gram Panchayats have a mandate for comprehensive annual planning
known as GPDP does not happen keeping the water, agriculture, poultry, animal husbandry, etc. as an integrated
system for affecting livelihoods of the poor families. Moreover, the other tiers of GP viz. Block and District Panchayats
are also not involved. As a result, scientific yet participatory comprehensive planning at the landscape level is not
attempted brining all the departments together. Such ad-hoc planning leads to inefficient use of program resources.

Problem 4: Gram Panchayats and Gram Sabha have been constitutionally mandated to fulfil the core function of
“economic development and social justice”. Moreover, out of the 29 functions devolved to the GPs, promotion of
agriculture and management of water are the high priority areas. Due to weak capacities of the GP representatives
and functionaries, the mandated role of decentralised governance are not performed. Building capacities of the local
governance institutions will not only ensure economic development through sustainable agriculture but also promote
social justice for the small/marginal farmers, women farmers and landless labourers. The SHGs at the village level will
provide strong social capital in an organised form to ensure accountability and transparency using the powers of the
Gram Sabha.

Ajaygarh- high ground water distress block and drought prone area

Conventional agriculture practises without judicious use of water enhance water deficit

Weak capacities of administration for participatory landscape based planning and

convergence of resources

With weak instituional capacities,Gram Panchayats are unable to perform economic

development and social justice function

2. Rationale
 Given that you have been involved in the region and on the subject for many decades, why is this a good time to
take up such a program (why now)?

Samarthan previously collaborated in Ajaygarh block under the District Poverty Initiative Program, building Gram Panchayat
capacities to enhance rural livelihoods. Continuing this work, they focused on empowering local youth with smartphones to
access government portals and realize citizens' entitlements, thereby fostering significant social capital over the past
decade.

Ajaygarh is one of the aspirational blocks along with being Atal Bhoojal Yojana block. Moreover, the programs of
MGNREGS, Ken Betwa river linkage projects are also being implemented. This provides a useful opportunity to use the
resources and demonstrate a large scale block level model.
 3. Goals, Strategy and Broad Interventions
 What will the proposed interventions help us achieve in the local and larger context (what is the proposed
solution to address the problem statement identified)?

The overall goal of the project will the following:

“Improve the quality of life of the agriculture dependent families by improved livelihoods conditions through promotion
of sustainable practises and systems”

Project objective:
“Enhanced productivity and income though improved irrigation potential by augmentation and conservation of surface
water by strengthening local governance institutions and community based organisations”
Result Area 1:
Conserve XX litres of water by creating water retaining structures using a landscape approach to build a comprehensive
system of water augmentation and distribution though effective participatory cum GIS based planning ( Augmentation
of surface water storage for irrigation over the base line value of availability of water per hectare of cultivable land- target
50% increase over the baseline value).
Key action areas under the result will be the following:
 Identification of different landscapes in Ajaygarh on several indicators of NRM and socio-economic
connections/networks to identify homogeneity and differentiation
 Participatory situation analysis along with data of the GIS and performance of various programs in the block
 Preparation of landscape based plans and validation with the GP, CBOs, government officials for identification of
appropriate locations of watershed structures for inclusion in GPDP and other plans for mobilisation of resources
to implement landscape based plans.
 Periodic monitoring and capacity building support to the GPs and its relevant committees to ensure
implementation of the plans with greater engagement of women leaders
 Documentation of best practises and tangible results for regular sharing with the district administration and
other stakeholders.

Result Area 2:
Improve usage of water to ‘gain more crop per drop’ of water by behavioural change in using efficient scientific
irrigation practises with at least 17500 farmers ( reduction in water application in crop production by one-third over the
baseline)
Key action areas under the result will be the following:

 Identification of farmers in all the villages who can be early adopters and influencers
 Design orientation programs based on scientific knowledge blending with indigenous knowledge to organise
behavioural change program along with handholding support
 Build a cadre of educated youth as village level Jal Mitra/Kisan Mitras ( 50% women) to provide scientific
knowledge to the farmers on a regular basis with strong handholding support
 Design farmers’ diary to tract use of water in different crops and volume of production to measure impact of
water saving measures and consolidate data on monthly basis for macro understanding
 Train women farmers to practise scientific methods of seed management, crop management and build them as
lead farmers for sustainable agriculture
 Facilitate transfer of benefits of various schemes to the progressive farmers for efficient use of water viz.
sprinkler sets, low water consuming crop seeds, other entitlements, etc.
 Build case studies of progressive farmers for large scale dissemination in other blocks of the district and in other
districts

Result Area 3:
Mobilise resources for implementation of the bottom-up plans by strengthening mechanisms of convergence of
programs and institutional capacities at the district level and below ( 25% increase in allocation of resources for the
water and the agriculture sector through efficient pooling of resources over the baseline value).

Key action areas under the result will be the following:

 Participate in various meetings/platforms of the district administration ( district and Ajaygarh block) for planning,
monitoring and review of the programs with data emerging from the village level interventions- key platforms
will be DISHA, JJM and ABY district co-ordination committee, DPC and Departmental Weekly Review Meetings
known as TLC
 Institutionalise monitoring of the landscape plans for convergence of resources for water conservation and
building strong eco-system for the preservation of water resources
  Organise orientation programs/ multi-stakeholder level consultations for sensitisation and skill development for
participatory landscape planning
 Explore possibilities of replication of learnings/ standard operating procedures in other blocks with capacity
building support from the project experts

Result Area 4:
Strengthening capacities of the Panchayati Raj institutions viz. Gram Panchayats, Gram Sabha and building synergistic
linkages with the collectives of the farmers, women and youth at the grassroots
( at least 5 Elected representatives of GP and 5 members of SHGs or committees in all the 65 GPs will be trained to
improved water governance systems of water conservation, management and repair and maintenance of community/ local
government owned water bodies over the baseline).

Key action areas under the result will be the following:

 Develop training material and training design for the ERs and other grassroots level leaders to understand the
importance of landscape based planning and importance of water conservation/augmentation for climate
resilience.
 Conduct trainings with a concrete follow up plans by the field level teams to initiate actions based on the training
 Strengthen local level intuitional mechanism for sustaining the efforts of the project for long term continuity of
the design by building systems of planning, monitoring and actions to strengthen water governance within the GP
as well as by the block Panchayat
 Documentation of learnings for wider dissemination and replication in other blocks

Result Area 1:
Conserve XX litres of water by creating water
retaining structures using a landscape approach

Result Area 2:
Project objective:
Improve usage of water to ‘gain more crop per
“Enhanced productivity and income though drop’ of water by behavioural change for
improved irrigation potentialr by strengthening modern practises with at least 17500 farmers
local governance institutions and SHGs”

Overall Goal:Improve the quality of life of the

agriculture dependent families in Ajaygarh block
Result Area 3:
Mobilise resources for implementation of the
bottom-up plans by strengthening institutional
capacities at the district level and below

Result Area 4:
Strengthening capacities of the Panchayati Raj
institutions viz. Gram Panchayats, Gram Sabha
and building synergistic linkages with the
collectives of the farmers, women and youth at
the grassroots

4. Core areas and institutional mechanism

 How will the program be operationalised (what are the core areas/ institutional mechanism being proposed and
what will shift because of the program interventions)?

The institutional mechanism envisaged for the proposed intervention is at all the levels of local governance institutions viz.
district, block, Gram Panchayat and village ( Gram Sabha). In the core of the program is primarily to influence the planning
mechanism of the Gram Panchayat Development Plan ( GPDP) by making it more comprehensive for the water sector
planning.

JP/
ZP
GP and its
committees

Gram Sabha

SHGs/youth farmers/Bhoo Jankar

collective (Change Vectors)
 5. Activity and time schedule
 What are the key timelines?
The project is envisaged over a period of 3 years to demonstrate expected results in concrete terms. The year 1 will be
dedicated to build the environment, capacities of the PRIs at all the three levels to understand importance of landscape
based planning. The ongoing GPDP annual planning will be improved by enhancing participation of the primary
stakeholders farmers, women, agriculture labourers, migrants and youth. In year 2, more comprehensive planning exercise
at the landscape level will be initiated engaging the block and district Panchayats to pool in their resources for affecting the
eco-system of water production, conservation and use. The year will also be dedicated to work closely with the farmers to
change their behaviour towards the agricultural practises related to use of water in cultivation of crops. In year 3, there will
be greater emphasis to strengthen community institutions and established mechanism to sustain by systematic handing
over as well as through hand-holding support so that the established mechanisms become self-sustained. This year will
also be used for standardisation of the GIS based landscape planning so that this can be replicated in other blocks either
covered in other districts of ABY or in other blocks of Panna district in collaboration with the district administration.

6. Uniqueness of the initiative

 What sets this initiative apart from other water conservation programs?

Firstly, the initiative is based on the premise that the PRIs, the local governance institutions are not adequately engaged in
the water conservation programs from the water governance lens. The GPDP misses farmer led planning therefore various
potential needs and opportunities of water augmentation and convergence are missed out. Secondly, the initiative will
approach water conservation in a landscape approach. The landscape based planning will compel to bring the GPs and
Block Panchayat at a common platform along with the officials of the district administration. Thirdly, this is one of the
blocks where the ABY is being implemented along with various other national level flagship programs. Ajaygarh being an
aspirational block, there will be greater attention of the policy makers to draw learnings form the impact.

Annex-1
Overview of Ajaygarh Block

( From the “ Hydrogeological Report” of the ABY, year 2022)

A. General Information
State Madhya Pradesh
District/Block Panna/Ajaygarh
Total Geographical Area (In Sqkm) 910.55 Sq. Km.
Number of Towns/GPs/villages 01/65/118
Particulars Households Male Female Total
Urban 3,423 8,851 7,805 16,656
Population (As per Census 2011)
Rural 34,710 81,887 71,914 153,801
Total 38,133 90,738 79,719 170,457
Monsoon Non-Monsoon Annual
Average Rainfall (mm) (Year – 2022)
1057.62 68.83 1126.45
River Basin Ganga Basin / Dhasan-Ken Sub Basin
Major Soil Types Yellow Clay and Sandy Soil
Total Area Total Forest Total Culturable Total Total Gross
(In Ha.) Area (In Ha.) Area (In Ha.) Net Cropped Area
Sown (In Ha.)
Area
B. Land Use Data
(In
Ha.)
37612
91055 34111 (37.46%) 34111 53865
(41.31%)
C. Cropping Pattern
Kharif Rabi Summer Perennial
Soyabean Wheat Moong
Seasam Mustard
Major Crops grown
Groundnut Grams
Urad Barley
Maize Peas
D. Irrigation facilities
1. Net irrigated Area (Ha) 30160
2. Gross Irrigated Area (Ha) 31285
 Bore
Dug Well Well/Tube Tanks/Ponds Canals Others
3. Area under irrigation (Ha) Source wise
Well
5185 5075 2698 1296 1490
E. Ground Water Resources
Annual Extractable GW Resource (ham) 16417.03