13 - Vetiver grass for soil and water conservation: prospects and problems

Summary

Introduction

Although a great deal of interest in watershed conservation has been generated recently, schemes which address resource use within the watershed focus on either arable or non-arable lands. Rarely is the watershed viewed as an integrated resource unit. Most watershed-based planning has treated ‘natural resources,’ such as forests, soil, and water, as if these were somehow in an entirely different domain from agriculture. Even in high mountain environments, agriculture as one of multiple resource use sectors often plays a crucial role in sustaining the local economy. In semi-arid regions, where water is the input constraining agricultural production, sound management of water resources is a critical need. Water management comprises both surface and ground-water sources for irrigation, and soil moisture from precipitation. When dealing with integrated soil and water management, the watershed does appear to be the logical unit for resource management.

Where sufficiently high population densities in the semi-arid zone necessitate intensive land use, rainfed agriculture is the predominant means of livelihood. While animals are an important part of many systems of rainfed cropping, cultivated agriculture remains the primary land-use strategy. Farmers exercise a range of management decisions over various processes of agricultural production. They change cropping patterns in response to a variety of factors: climate, soil conditions, the market, and their own subsistence needs. Simultaneously, they seek to judiciously distribute resources to meet their own objectives. We refer here to labor and capital resources, which are combined to achieve the farmers' perceptions of maximum benefit.