Activities within the grant and impact:
As part of innovative interventions for evolving community-based coping mechanisms to address salinity related problems, CSPC had implemented a pilot project (2005-08) titled “Farm Pond: Supportive Irrigation for Agriculture”, which was implemented in four villages of Kalyanpur taluka of Jamnagar district.

During this period, 48 farm ponds were constructed in the four project villages, providing support irrigation for Kharif crops and vegetable cultivation. In addition, excess water was used for Rabi crops.

An impact study revealed that during Kharif season, farmers get an average income of Rs198,600 as against the baseline Rs69,240, an increase of almost 190 per cent. Further, these farm ponds have also helped promote Rabi crops in the project area, thereby providing additional average income from wheat and vegetable crops.

Based on the experiences of this pilot project, CSPC is upscaling the project to cover at least 500 farmers from 10 villages across the Kalyanpur and Khambaliya talukas of Jamnagar district. The objectives of the project are:

	Enhancing water storage, as well as recharge capacities of small and medium farm lands through the construction of farm ponds
	Enhancing economic returns for farmers from agriculture, through increase in agricultural productivity as well as reduction in input costs
	Enhancing people’s knowledge and attitude towards improved water management strategies, and creating mass awareness about the use of water saving technologies
	Strengthening village level Community Based Organisations (CBO) so they evolve as nerve centres for the development of the village and region as a whole

The programme interventions aim to provide assured irrigation across at least 2,000 acres, encompassing two agriculture seasons annually, while harvesting almost 30 million cubic feet (MCFT) of rainfall runoff water. Preliminary impact assessment studies indicate an annual increase of at least Rs40,000 to Rs60,000 per family, in terms of assured first crop (groundnut and cotton), provision of emergency irrigation during Rabi crop (wheat), and cultivation of vegetables on a smaller scale during the summer season.

Overall, an increase of 30 per cent to 40 per cent is envisaged, from the current income levels of Rs80,000 to Rs90,000 per family.