Spearheading Water Security in Irlla village
Kaushalya’s Pandhavle is paving the way for water security and conservation in Irlla village, located in the drought-prone Osmanabad District of Maharashtra
Kaushalya Pandhavle is a grassroots woman leader, working to create awareness and promote action on water conservation and harvesting in her village. With a poor rainfall for the past two years, farmers in Kaushalya’s village were being forced to convert to rainfed agriculture, as borewells, which supported irrigation, dried up. When SSP began to work on the issue of watershed management in Osmanabad District, Kaushalya eagerly attended trainings with the hope of improving the conditions in her own village.
In 2023, Kaushalya began an intensive campaign to create awareness and sensitise her community on the importance and benefits of watershed management. This included reaching out to over 500 women farmers through regular meetings, household visits as well as dialogues with the Gram Panchayat to gain support from the Sarpanch and other village leaders. As a result, 9 farmers built farm ponds in their fields in 2023 with the support of SSP, which collected and stored rainwater, while also recharging groundwater. The benefits of these were immediate, with farmers able to grow vegetables and pulses in the Rabi season, which require more water.
In 2024, Kaushalya and SSP’s technical team began a sunken pond initiative in the Terna river which flows through Irlla village, with the aim of harvesting rainwater and improving groundwater levels. Within a few months, these sunken ponds had collected a small amount of water which was being used by the entire community to water their animals. Working with farmers, Kaushalya also linked them with the Chief Minister’s Sustainable Agriculture Irrigation Scheme, through which they can build farm ponds on their land. So far, one farm pond has been constructed through this government scheme convergence, while others are in the pipeline.
Kaushalya has emerged as a well-respected leader in her community, who has recognised the importance of her work. More farmers are now willing to set aside some land for creating rainwater harvesting structures. Kaushalya’s dream is to make her village fully water- secure, so the impacts of climate change like irregular rainfall and more frequent droughts do not debilitate farmers.
Swayam Shikshan Prayog
May 09, 2024