Introduction:

Bargi river passes through Dor and Kharoi villages of Jatara block in Tikamgarh district, Madhya Pradesh. A seasonal river, it holds critical importance for small and marginal farmers of both villages, who depend upon its waters to irrigate their crops during dry spells in Kharif, and 1-2 times in Rabi season. Bargi nala, as locals call it, is the lifeboat for farmers in times of critical irrigation requirements. However, the nala/stream is seasonal, and dries up in January or February. Farmers recall it being a perennial stream many years ago, when it had some water even in the month of May.

What is Doha?

In 2019, a few of SRIJAN’s personnel, along with community leaders, visited contextual examples of Doha model in Maharashtra. Doha, known as ‘doh’ in marathi, refers to saucer-shaped structures dug in the stream bed, along its length, separated by some distance. The lowered base-level leads to storage of more quantum of water, thus ensuring longer availability and improves the recharge capacity of the stream. The SRIJAN team along with the community members decided to contextualise their learnings as per local topographic conditions to provision irrigation to small holders in water-scarce Bundelkhand region.

Implementation Process:

In 2019 , SRIJAN initiated the process to implement Dohas on Bargi nala. Community mobilisation was the first step of the journey. Meetings were held with community, where community leaders and SRIJAN team shared their learnings from the visits and elicited interest, among village community, regarding Doha construction. Once farmers were convinced, joint surveys of streams were undertaken to identify feasible sites. Post the identification of sites, collective planning processes were undertaken, to ensure that the implementation is a community-led process. SRIJAN team contributed technical and engineering knowledge regarding depth, length and width and location of Dohas along with providing for excavators. The community was responsible for doha excavation operations, contribution of labour for transport and application of silt in farms, and bunding of the Dohas.

23 Doha structures, measuring 20x5x1.5 mt (lxbxd), were dug along a 3-kilometre stretch of the Bargi nala, flowing between Dor and Kharoi villages. The silt excavated was applied by interested farmers in their fields or used for field bunding.

Cost Estimates:

The average expenditure incurred per Doha was as follows; Rs. 15, 000/Doha towards excavator(JCB) charges provided by SRIJAN and Rs. 6000/doha towards tractor charges for silt transport, provided by community.

The Impact:

Within a year of constructing Dohas, the baseflows of Bargi river had improved tremendously. The nala that used to dry in February, now has water till May. 150 farmers from these villages, who have their land in proximity to the Dohas have directly benefitted, as they now have a secure irrigation source for Rabi cultivation.

40 farmers who had applied silt to their land had reported improved yield of both Kharif and Rabi in 2020. Apart from this, 60 farmers with wells downstream were benefitted through enhanced groundwater recharge. 60-70 wells located within a distance of 0.5 km downstream, have reported improved waterlevels. SRIJAN team had monitored 10 wells for an year, from May 2019 (before Doha) to May 2020 (after doha). Post a year, the groundwater level had improved by 0.3-0.5 metres in the monitored wells.

Farmers using wells reported that they could irrigate their land within an hour, compared to 1.5-2 hours before. Some wells, which dried post March, were reported to hold water uptil May. This led 12 farmers to take up vegetable cultivation in summer season leading to an incremental income of 12,000 INR/farmer. Two families, which saw 100% migration in 2019, now stay and cultivate arbi (taro root). Farmers, who were able to irrigate their land in rabi season, secured irrigation 3-4 times as compared to 1-2 times before Dohas. According to internal evaluation of the SRIJAN team, this led to a yield increment of 0.75 tonnes per ha valuing 14,473 INR.

Sustainability:

Since Dohas are constructed in the bed of the stream, they are prone to constant silting and require regular maintenance for functioning at optimal capacity. The assumed life-span of these structures without maintenance is 4-5 years, which makes community participation an inalienable aspect for sustained benefits of Dohas.

Cognizant to this, SRIJAN has formed Doha user-groups, comprising 2-3 farmers/Doha, who directly irrigate their fields from the structure. These user-groups have been entrusted with the responsibility to desilt the Doha under their ambit, every year in the pre-monsoon season. SRIJAN has over the last two years, rejuvenated 10 streams through construction of 88 Dohas, thus benefitting 434 farmers in the Bundelkhand region. The organisation has presented their work to district administrations, for scaling up the intervention under national-level programmes, such as MGNREGA.

23 Doha structures, measuring 20x5x1.5 mt (lxbxd), were dug along a 3-kilometre stretch of the Bargi nala, flowing between Dor and Kharoi villages.

SRIJAN has over the last two years, rejuvenated 10 streams through construction of 88 Dohas, thus benefitting 434 farmers in the Bundelkhand region.