While the State’s agricultural sector and various other important aspects continue to suffer due to villagers abandoning agriculture and migrating to towns, the remote tribal villages of Hattal and Sainj in Jaunsar region have seen reverse migration and increase in number of cultivators following varied developments facilitated by Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation (IISWC).
However, even though the farmers are cultivating tomatoes and other crops, they continue to suffer due to inefficiency of the State in ensuring proper pricing system for their produce.
The remote villages Hattal and Sainj in Tyuni area of Dehradun district were selected by IISWC for implementing Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) project. This hilly region is socio-economically backward and suffers from severe land degradation and water scarcity problems. More than half of the 325 households in these villages are engaged in cultivation. Traditionally cereals, pulses, vegetables and fruits were cultivated in these villages under rain-fed condition.
Visiting the fields and interacting with the farmers in 2013, the institute’s scientists observed major scope for agricultural development if water scarcity problem is addressed properly. Different measures were taken by various agencies but the water scarcity could not be resolved.
The institute experimented with the possibility of inter-watershed transfer demonstrated in these villages by laying gravity fed pipe lines about six kilometers length to Hattal and 5.6 kilometres long pipe lines to Sainj across hilly terrain to harvest and transport water from perennial springs.
Following the execution of the project, the number of families involved in cultivation increased from 17 to 34 due to reverse migration of eight families. Those who had abandoned farming due to water shortage have now have started cultivating tomato crop. A group of 20 farmers from these villages interacted with the media at the institute on Tuesday after returning from an exposure visit to Varanasi.
Group leader Prem Chand Sharma said that developments facilitated by the institute had resulted in considerable improvement in the condition of villagers and farming. However, they still face problems when they are offered very low prices for the tomatoes in absence of a proper pricing system due to the State Government’s apathy, he said. “Whereas the institute has facilitated developments and capacity building training for the farmers, the State Government has so far remained apathetic,” he said. The IISWC director PK Mishra and other officials were also among those present on the occasion.