This document presents a case study of the village Bhitarkotta in India. It discusses how [1] agriculture is the primary occupation but most land is unirrigated, leading to low productivity and poverty; [2] a diversion-based irrigation project was implemented to provide water for 30 acres of land, benefiting 25 households; [3] this resulted in increased crop area and yields, higher incomes, and less pressure on forest resources from slash-and-burn farming. The irrigation project helped boost the village's economy while protecting the local environment.

1. A Case Study of Villlage Bhitarkotta
A Case study of village Bhitarkotta
Relevance of Stream Irrigation in Koraput:
The project villages selected for the diversion based project are situated in the upper catchment of Upper
Kolab Reservoir. The villages are located in remote pockets, settled at the foot hills.
Agriculture and wage earning are the major sources of income for the inhabitants of the village Bhitarkotta.
The area is well known as a vegetable growing area and the area feeds sizably to the well known vegetable
mandi at Kunduli. Agriculture in the villages is mainly rainfed and hence Kharif is the main agriculture season
for the communities. Low lands and lands along the natural drainage are very scanty. Hence very few patches
of land get irrigation facilities through convenient field channels created by the land owners. Perennial
streams happen to be the main source of irrigation. There are hardly any farm ponds or other irrigation
facilities available to help agriculture beyond the Kharif season. There is no electrification in the agricultural
fields for operating the electric pumps for the irrigation purposes, thus the diversion based irrigation through
gravity flow stands as a viable option in providing the irrigation facilities to the uplands of the project villages.
Most of the streams where the structures are proposed are perennial and hence they would provide
protective irrigation to Kharif crops and irrigation to Rabi crops. The said block is running below 35%
irrigation facilities. Hence most of the lands are cropped once in a year except the lands aided by irrigation
from perennial streams. The poverty of the communities is thus very much linked to low productivity from
agriculture and fallowing of lands in absence of irrigation facilities. In the Rabi season only certain cash crops
like Niger and Mustard is taken up by the communities that do not contribute much to their subsistence
economy. To cope up with the situation people continue to do slash and burn agriculture on the hill slopes
even though it gives a low return.
The diversion based irrigation in this context suits to the terrain, topography, local needs for irrigation at
least to make the fallow lands productive. In other words it is a viable option to convert C1 lands to C2 lands
so as to boost the household economy by a standard margin. There is ecological relevance too. Due to
wanton destruction of natural forests for agriculture on hill slopes the catchments have degraded. It has its
typical impact on the perennial hill streams. Local people observe decrease in flow due to degradation on the
catchments and erosion of stream banks with wide gullies. With impact on lands due to irrigation it is
expected that the slash and burn agriculture would become a lesser priority and that would help protection
of catchments. Hence the irrigation intervention has the potential to contribute to economy and ecology
simultaneously.
The Larger Context:
In this context of unavoidable depletion of forest and other commons to meet the household needs such
irrigation intervention can be considered instrumental in reducing the pressure from these commons by
Foundation for Ecological Security

2. A Case Study of Villlage Bhitarkotta
converting the fallow land into cultivable land and by enhancing the scope for double crop thereby boosting
the household economy and engaging the manpower in the downstream land. With lands becoming irrigated
people concentrate the family labour force on round the year cultivation and incidences of podu would
decrease. This would create scope for permanent vegetation on the slopes aiding catchments protection
and/or create scope for agro-horti-silviculture.
In terms of efficiency the project proved to be ideal in minimizing the conveying water loss, increase in
cultivable land, increase in water discharge period and quantity and increase in rotation period of irrigation
there by impact the agriculture productivity of the villages positively. It has significance in terms of providing
food security to the beneficiaries and would encourage other livelihood options in the community and set in
place sustainable agriculture practices.
The project is innovative and new to the area. Hence, the project sites have become exposure sites for
government officers and technical people employed at block and line departments. The team made all effort
to demonstrate this desired practice to all the stakeholders who possibly can replicate the intervention
elsewhere in such a similar setting.
With this understanding the team implemented the project in five sites such as Bisramjhola of Upar
Barabandh village under Kotiy GP; Pordamali of Kasuguda village and Shigrijhola of Bhitarkota village under
Sorispadar GP, Ghodagandi and Jholaguda of Upar Kanti village under Upar Kanti GP. While Kotia GP comes
under Pottangi block, Sorispadar and Upar Kanti GPs come under Semiliguda block of Koraput district.
The case study on Bhitarkotta village presented below attests the discussion cited above.
Bhitarkotta at a Glance
The village Bhitarkotta is a revenue village of Sorispadar panchayat of Semiliguda block and is about 8 Kms
away from the Kunduli market square, enroute Koraput- Vizianagaram (NH-43). It is about 20 Kms and 42
Kms away from the Block headquarter and districts headquarter respectively. It is at the foothills of Deomali
hill range and is accessible in all seasons except rainy season. During the rainy season the nala enroute the
village enhance its base flow makes the communication through vehicle impossible.
The village accommodates 95 households (ST-90, SC-5) of which the Desia Kondh (ST) are the dominant group
covering 90 HHs and the remaining 5 HHs belong to the SC category. The habitant speaks Kuvi and interacts
with the outsiders in Desia language. The total revenue area of the village is 758.26 Acres (see details in the
box ). 12 households in the village are landless.
Foundation for Ecological Security

3. A Case Study of Villlage Bhitarkotta
Table 1: Land Types
Under various social security schemes of
Land Type Area in Acre
government the households enlisted are as
Abada Yogya Anabadi (Patra Jungle, 34.81
follows: BPL-45 HHs, APL-6 HHs, Antodaya-20
Patita, Ambatota)
Abada Ayogya Anabadi: (Nala, 660.4 HHS, Widow Pension beneficiaries-14 and old
Patharbani, Dhoda, Jhola, Pahad, Kupuli) age pension beneficiaries-28. 70 HHs have job
Rakhita: (Gramya jungle, Gochar, Basti) 58.41 cards and passbook to avail work under
Sarbasadharan 4.64 MGNREGS.
Total 758.26
Agriculture is the primary occupation of the
village supplemented with wage earning and animal husbandry. 70 % of the total agricultural lands are
unirrgated hence compels the villagers to take up Podu (slash and burn) on hill slopes as an option to add to
the household requirement.
With the reduction in podu cycle due to marginal land holding and land fragmentation, increasing use of
uplands and absence of vegetation on the hill slopes the top soil gets exposed to erosion by heavy runoff
during the mansoon leading to low percolation thereby affecting the recharge potential of soil. Tala zamee ti
na huye, podu na kale kenti heba, khaibu kana. The low lands are not sufficient, we have to go for Podu or
else what would we eat?- opined Sabba Khora, a villager who takes up podu regularly. When asked why the
low lands are not enough he replied-barsha pare pani na pahunce, water don’t reach here after mansoon.
Further heavy runoff causes widening of stream bank and decline in the base flow of the stream. The
cumulative of these causes decline in land productivity, increase in fallow land shortage of water for
irrigation thereby impacting the agriculture productivity. Also there were other needs of the village in
relation to CPRs like grazing land and fuel wood which the villagers are unable to conserve due to
continuation of land use. The women folk had to walk more than 4 Kms to collect twigs for fuel wood
purpose.
The issues mentioned above set precedence for such kind of work, best suited to the ecological and
economic needs of the community. Initially when the team approached the community with conservation
agenda the community could not respond to it though they realized the ecological crisis. Land for
regeneration without affecting household economy appeared impossible to the community. They
apprehended one interest must be sacrificed for the other. Then the team facilitated the discussion and
opened up possibilities through irrigation work that can address both the needs of the community. The
discussion settled with a convincing agreement, that lands on the upper slopes to be left for regeneration
Foundation for Ecological Security

4. A Case Study of Villlage Bhitarkotta
and the fallow land to be made irrigated though pipes. Further Institutional arrangement to be developed in
which the landowners would share part of their land that goes fallowed to the landless so as to compensate
the economic loss they bear in giving up Podu- the community expressed.
Strategy
During the initial phase of intervention FES supported the village in constructing a diversion weir to chanelise
the stream water into the crop fields. The structure helped some 5 households to irrigate their crop fields of
about 5 Acres though conveying loss was there. During its construction the villagers urged for some other
alternatives so as to minimize the conveyance loss. With this seed money of CONCERN world wide the idea
to ground irrigation project in the project villages of koraput the team considered their earlier proposal. The
team of engineers visited the site and found the stream to be capable enough to address the irrigation need
of the entire downstream area of 30.15 acres covering 25 households. Design of the work has been
developed by the technical people with the help of the community members and the community was
appraised about the same. Further the community articulated that they would support this project and is
eager to work with FES. The team asked them to demonstrate their willingness in some form either money or
labour. This has led further discussion among the villagers on how to ensure community participation as all
the households do not have land on the command area. Finally the community agreed on giving free labour
for a day as the VI is taking the responsibility of benefiting all through the project. The team made all effort to
create technical man power in the village so that future maintenance of the work can be ensured. Thus a
para-worker along with 3-4 interested people from the village was given skill based training in relation to this
work. They were given an on field practice during the construction, marking of pipe line and pipe fitting work.
The technical people from block and other line department were made exposed to the site so that the
intervention can be replicated through the government schemes and programmes. Finally a sump with a silt
trap was constructed from where PVC pipe (110 mm diameter) of 800mt length was laid under 1 mt deep
Foundation for Ecological Security

5. A Case Study of Villlage Bhitarkotta
soil. The pipe is given vent at 10 outlets at strategic point (as shown above) to irrigate the down-stream area.
The outlets are covered with a cap screwed tightly and the village institution takes the responsibility of water
distribution through rule system.
The Realized Impact
Table 2: Impact of the intervention
Crops Before Intervention After Intervention
Is gaon me log bhuke nahi marna chahiye ya
phir kisiko bhi bahar jake kam nahi karna Area in Ac. Yield in qntl. Area in Ac. Yield in
chahiye. Nobody should starve in this village nor qntl.
needs anyone to migrate- as opined by the
veteran social worker Mr. Deep Joshi. He Paddy 8 120 16 220
attested the work that has created immense
Millet 7 70 2.3 23
irrigation potential and praised the collective
effort. Ginger 3 180 9 540
Cabbage 0 0 0.3 35
Maize 1 60 1.3 78
 The areas under paddy cultivation have Chilli 0.5 6 0.55 6.5
been increased almost double and even
Beans 0 0 0.05 1.5
yield correspondingly due to the
irrigation intervention. The net Total 19.5 436 29.5 904
cropping area for paddy was 8 Ac before intervention whereas after intervention double cropping
scope emerged as a result of which the gross cropping area for paddy has become 16 Ac. So largely it
provides the food security to the farmers.
 Millet cultivation declined to less than half than the previous years due to increase demand of the
cash crops like Ginger, Cabbage etc.
Foundation for Ecological Security

6. A Case Study of Villlage Bhitarkotta
 Ginger is considered as the best cash crop, which occupies major portion of land second to paddy
due to its high market demand and value. The area under cultivation increases around three times
and yields to the corresponding rate i.e. three times.
 Likewise Ginger, Cabbage also been introduced as a viable cash crop and about 0.3 Ac land brought
under cabbage cultivation that yielded 35 Quintals.
The intervention offered scope for converting C1 land into C2 type as a result of which in about 8 Acres of
land paddy has been cultivated twice last year yielding 220 quintals against the previous year’s harvest of 120
quintal. Similarly looking at the irrigation assurance round the year ginger cultivation has been taken up in 9
acres of area last year against its previous year 3 acres resulting into 3 times in production i.e to 540 qtls from
180 qtls. Cabbage opted as a viable option for cultivation considering the market demand in Kunduli
vegetable mandi. Other cash crops like chilli, maize, brinjal, beans etc have been tried but in a lower scale.
This intervention has triggered vegetable cropping in the village.
Figure 1: Impact of DBI
Change in Area (in Acre) Change in Yield (in quintals)
Before After Before After
540
16
9
8 7 220
180
120 70 23
2.3 3
Paddy Millet Ginger Paddy Millet Ginger
Table 3: Change in Income
Income 23 farmers have introduced ginger as a diversification option
Income Before After (in looking at the assured irrigation facility covering a total area of 9
Crops (in lakhs) lakhs) acres where as Paddy has been intensified from single crop to
double crop and about 8 acres of land cultivated twice under
Paddy 0.96 1.76
paddy. Ginger is always cultivated in a mixed cropping way that
Millet 0.56 0.184 includes maize, Lady’s finger and tubers. Hence this can be said
that assured irrigation encouraged diversified cropping option
Ginger 9.9 29.7 having a major thrust on Ginger and intensified the paddy crop in
terms of opening up second paddy crop option. (Increase in gross
Cabbage 0 0.175 cropping area). This increase in yield and more area under
double crop has augmented the village income by 20.49 lakhs
Maize 0.3 0.39
Foundation for Ecological Security

7. A Case Study of Villlage Bhitarkotta
which is 1.75 times of the previous year income of the farmers.
Pani payi ithara zamee ru tike bhala adaya hela. Ada aru Kobi ru labha hela. With provisioning of water this
time we earned good, especially from Ginger and cauliflower- expressed Mr. Biswanath (a villager).
Table 4: Beneficiary
Total Area under the Command (in Ac) 25.65 It has been witnessed this year that only 2.7 acres of
land went fallowed. This amount of land could not be
Number of land owner 25 cultivated as they need some degree of leveling which
will be grounded from MGNREGS like programme- as
Area cultivated by land owner (in Ac) 14.3 the villagers expressed. Looking at the assured
irrigation scope in patches where the landowners
Number of Share croppers 26
could not cultivate the Village Institution took
Area cultivated by share croppers (in Ac) 8.65 proactive action to distribute it to somebody else so
that production would be maximized and pressure
from CPRs would be reduced. 26 such cases have been observed. Though irrigation intervention is beneficial
to the land holder yet the village institutions take all measures to distribute the benefit across the village as a
result of which 26 poor people have been given lands to take up agriculture and can add to their family
income. The negotiation point was the stream which belongs to the community and not to the land holders
only. This has been actualized through proper rule system.
With the water provisioning the catchment protection agenda triggered in the village and the villagers asked
FES to help them in regenerating the catchment. Thus last year seeding of different wild endemic species had
been done in the entire catchment and the Village Institution declared the patch as Grazing free zone. They
also put regulation on fuel wood collection from that area.
In the aspect of promoting ecological agriculture the project had helped them in promoting vermicompost
and apiculture. Four vermicompost pits with two segments each have been constructed in different corners
of the village and the VI evolved rule system around it. The Village Institution divided the responsibility of the
pits among the villagers and rule system around its maintenance Figure 2: Vermicompost Pit
has been evolved.
A committee of four members was formed to monitor the
regular supply of cow dung into the pits. A small session on
maintenance of the Pits was conducted with the community
and they are following the same. All the pits are in good
condition and the community is using the vermicompost in their
crop fields. The ownership of the compost lies with the Village
Institution and it sells compost to the villagers at a very fair
price of Rs.2 to Rs.3 per kg. It has been reported that the compost is yielding good results. With an intension
to promote ecological agriculture and providing additional income option for the poor apiculture promotion
Foundation for Ecological Security

8. A Case Study of Villlage Bhitarkotta
has been encouraged. The village Institution identified the real beneficiary and supplied them with the honey
bee Kits.
Problems Encountered and Learnings
This is an intervention that directly addresses the irrigation need of a village and can contribute to the
income of households having land in the command area. As we witnessed in the village out of 95 HHs only 24
HHs i.e. 25% of the total have lands in the command area. Thus ensuring equity is a challenge. Though the
village institution took all effort to make the benefit reaches out to the entire village but possible options are
limited that cannot caters to the need of all. Share cropping was found possible in 26 instances. Some
villagers considered working in some others field and leaving their own encroached land will not give them
ownership over the land. Some are convinced some are not with the idea of conservation of the catchment at
the cost of Podu. Providing option is as important as providing ownership over the option. With increased
production due to assured irrigation a cropping plan need to be developed so as to regulate variety of
production and help them to enter into a fair bargain rather than selling their produce in throw away price.
This can be the ideal mode to chanelise the stream water into the crop fields with the help of gradient in
places where pumping out water through mechanical devices found inconvenient and costly.
Conclusion
Though this is found to be effective means for irrigation yet there is a greater need in the scheme to
incorporate the aspirations of the village community at large, in a possible scale without confining the inputs
to direct beneficiaries only. The schemes can cater to various water need of the village starting from
irrigation to drinking water need thus can be instrumental in intervening into a village. The institution must
be involved in all spheres of activities so that the resource sharing can have equity concerns or else the
benefit would be polarized towards the landowners only. The work need to be placed at different platform so
that it can be paid attention to and replicated in similar places.
Foundation for Ecological Security