Impact Analysis of Kurichedu PMKSY Watershed Project on Land Use, Water Resources, Crop and Livestock Productivity in Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

The study was piloted to assess the impact of watershed project interventions from 2011-2018, largely Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Production System Improvement (PSI) measures in Kurichedu PMKSY watershed project, Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. The specific objectives included detecting changes in agricultural land use, water body surface area, soil moisture; ground water levels, crop diversification, crop yields and livestock productivity. The net treatable area of the project is 4311 ha. Area under cultivated crops, both agriculture and horticulture crops increased by 414 ha, accounting to 16.6% over pre project period. The NRM activities augmented total water body surface area from 57 ha to 67 ha (17.5%).Ground water table was mainly impacted by deficit rainfall. In kharif season, the area of rice and plantation crops are reduced, while the area of red gram, cotton and chilli improved. In rabi season, the area of tobacco decreased. The horticultural crop area in post project period increased by 84 ha. The productivity of both agricultural and horticultural crops increased during the project period. The yield increase ranged from 2.0 percent in red gram to 12.1 percent in cotton. The milk productivity enhanced from 2.3 to 3.2 L per animal per day with total milk production increase by 15.8 percent. The milk production increase per year in the project period is mainly due to higher milk yield per day per animal.