Page 6 - Reliance Foundation - The Change Maker - Issue 45

6 The ChangeMaker

Helping farming communities in Madhya

Pradesh prosper with water

y fostering efficient management villages are bettering their agri-based bettered by improving supply and
Bof water and its governance livelihoods and drinking water situation. distribution, which has resulted in all
among farming communities in eight The landscape in these villages households of the village gaining access
districts of Madhya Pradesh, Reliance is undulating with a high degree of to drinking water.
Foundation is helping the communities water run-off and many smallholder “Reliance Foundation strengthened
improve their livelihoods and enhance farm households cultivate a single the supply of water and its distribution
their climate resilience. crop during kharif due to low water through pipelines to bring water to our
Since 2011, Reliance Foundation’s availability during rabi. doorsteps. Earlier, we had to fetch water
water interventions in the state have In these two villages, Reliance from a hand-pump that was about
helped in enhancing the water harvesting Foundation has increased the water 1.5 km away. This was tiring and time
capacity by about 400 lakh cubic meters harvesting capacity by 1.8 lakh cubic consuming for the women,” said Asha
(1 cubic meter = 1000 litres) and drinking meters over the past three years through Sooryavanshi, a resident of Harharpur
water access in over 770 villages. In community-level and farm-level water village, who is also an SHG leader.
each village, Reliance Foundation interventions. These include building of “The stop-dam works that were taken
encouraged the communities to develop three new stop dams and renovating up in the watershed area have helped
a common resource management three existing dams on the tributaries of prevent run-off and improved the
plan and budget its water use. Water the Wainganga River, the lifeline of these village’s farming situation,” she added.
harvesting interventions and common villages. Further, repairs to bunding The farming families are now able to
land development were then planned. on farms and digging of wells, which provide critical irrigation for their crops,
In Seoni, where Reliance Foundation is have been identified by farmers in their increase their productivity and take up
now working in 200 villages, change can village forums, have been supported. a second crop in rabi. An assessment
be evidently seen. The community plays a key role in for the 2022-23 cropping season has
planning the execution of these tasks. shown an average increase in wheat
Driving change in Seoni Additionally, about 80% of the farmers yield of 5 quintals per hectare in the
Harharpur and Katangi are two have moved to using efficient irrigation two villages. In turn, this is contributing
adjacent villages about 16 km away systems like sprinklers. to increasing income and has enabled
from Seoni’s district headquarters. Shortage of drinking water in these many households to take up or
Since Reliance Foundation began work villages also caused distress to the strengthen agri-existing allied activities
in these villages, 200 families in these communities. The situation was like poultry and livestock rearing.