Impact of integrated watershed interventions on bio-physical indicators in Garhkundar-Dabar watershed in drought prone Bundelkhand region, India

Abstract

Bio-physical changes were estimated in GarhkundarDabar watershed, Tikamgarh district of Bundelkhand region in Central India, recently transformed by National Research Centre for Agroforestry, Jhansi through integrated watershed development interventions. The study revealed that the values for land leveling, critical area, gully stabilization and cultivated land utilization index are 0.57, 0.80, 50 and 0.74, respectively. Critical area index shows that 80 per cent of critical area is benefitted through IWD interventions. Water storage capacity utilization index, irrigability, crop productivity, diversification and conserved water productivity index recorded 368.36, 1.25, 0.92, 0.85 and 0.65, respectively. This is due to the fact that almost 8 times of created surface water storage capacity was harvested in watershed. Increase in crop diversification index (18.53 %) is mainly due to agroforestry interventions. Crop fertilization and induced watershed eco-index registered 0.57 and 0.41, respectively indicating a shift towards balanced fertilization and improved ecosystem.