Visdaliya village is located in Mandvi block of Surat District of Gujarat. The total geographical area of village is 164 Ha. The region is characterized by moderate rainfall. The average rainfall in the region is only 1000-1100 mm. The topography of the land is undulating with moderate slope. Mostly inhabited by the tribal communities of Vasava, Chaudhari and Gamit, poverty in this village is partly due to poor natural resources, lack of irrigation facility and small land holding. Most of the villagers are dependent on forest resources especially for fuelwood and fodder. Some of them also harvest small timber for construction of kacha houses and agriculture implement purposes. Most of the villagers are engaged in agricultural activities for their livelihood. Forest department provides land for agriculture purpose on lease basis which is known as ‘Sanad land’. Paddy and vegetable cultivation is the main crop for earning and for domestic consumption purpose.

Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) had started its interventions in the village in 2010-11 (IWMP 6- Ambapor project) which includes 19 villages. The total geographycal area of the watershed is 7248.2 Ha. out of which 4700 Ha was proposed for treatment under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP).

Mahendrabhai Mangabhai Chaudhari a tribal farmer who owns 0.3 Ha (0.75 acre) of land in the village has benefited by renovation work done in his openwell and a gabion structure constructed in the nearby nalla that flows through his land. This activities under IWMP has helped in reducing soil erosion and recharging groundwater thus enhancing his agriculture productivity. He used to cultivate kharif paddy, which yielded about 40-45 quintals in 2/3rd of his land and vegetables in 1/3rd of his remaining land. His annual income was approx. Rs. 1,00,000/- from agriculture upto the last year.

IWMP programme has provided subsidy of Rs. 24000/- for cultivation of creeper vegetable to him in the month of May, 2013 for enhancing his agricultural productivity. The subsidy includes 100 RCC pole, 67 Kg galvanise wire and 10 pheromone traps in 0.11 Ha (0.27 acre) of land. The contribution from the beneficiary includes high yielding seeds and labour cost for land preparation, pit digging, installation of pole, sowing of seeds, weeding and harvesting of crops in one season accounting to nearly Rs. 5500-6000. In Kharif season he cultivated bitter gourd as main crop and chillies as an intercrop. The total production of bitter gourd and chilly was 480 Kg and 224 Kg. The total earning was Rs. 37000/- by selling both these vegetables in the nearby markets of Mandvi and Zhankhvav. Beside this his own consumption amounts to Rs 3000/- approximately. Due to heavy rainfall during 2013 he had harvested the crop prior to its actual season. In Rabi season he has cultivated bottle gourd as main crop and tomato as intercrop and earned Rs. 39000/- by selling 2150 Kg bitter gourds and 1620 Kg tomatoes excluding his own consumption amounts to Rs. 3000/- approximately. Accumulating both the season he has earned net profit of nearly Rs. 70000/- from 0.27 acre of land through vegetable cultivation. Now his annual income is approximately Rs. 1,65,000/- from agriculture in this year.

 According to him this system can yield better profit in small acreage of land. Before that he used to cultivate vegetable on land but most of them were spoiled due to direct contact of water and soil. Hence the produces were unable to fetch good market price. The wastage was also more in earlier system of cultivation. Beside this, intercropping in possible with this “Mandva” system, hence augmenting the income exponentially. Most of the farmers had replaced the wooden pole with cement ones as wooden pole is often infested with termites. After viewing this positive impact most of the farmers demands the same. Total 300 farmers in three blocks namely, Mandvi, Mangrol and Umarpada of Surat district are adopted such a system through IWMP. Three training programme were organized by DWDU with the help of KVKs in Mandvi, Mangrol and Umarpada blocks on cultivation practices of vegetable crops for better yield.

The mandva method is considerably protected from pest and termite attack and also enhances vegetable production. The quality of produces is also of grade A due to less contamination from soil and water borne diseases. Most of these cultivators are small and marginal farmers and this intervention has brought a significant change in their livelihood. It is highly accepted in Surat districts and there is a huge scope to promote this activity in other places with suitable condition. The market of this produces are comparatively low in Kharif season than in Rabi season. Hence promotion of creeper vegetable in Rabi season with life saving irrigation could bring substantial change in the livelihood status of millions of farmers.

Contributors: N. A. Suthar (Project Director, DWDU, Surat), Ms. Prajakta Rathod (Technical Expert), Tejas Rathod (WDT, Agriculture)