Integrated Watershed Management Program

About Integrated Watershed Management Program :

The total geographical area of Uttar Pradesh is 29.44 million hectare and the area under forest 1657023 hectare. The cultivable area is 24170403 hectare (82.1%of total geographical area) and the net area sown is 16573478 hectare (68.5% of cultivable area). The gross cropped area is 25.415 million hectare and the area sown more than once is 8.841 million hectare with the cropping intensity of 153.54 %. The net irrigated area is 13.313 million hectare (By canals- 25.18 %, by tubewells- 66.94% and by others – 7.88%). The gross irrigated area is 19.218 million hectare and the percentage of net irrigated sown area is 80.3%. The total number of land holdings are 224.57 lakhs out of which 175.07 lakh (78.0%) are marginal farmers, 31.03 lakh (13.8%) small farmers and 18.47 lakh (8.22%) farmers hold land above 2 hectare.
The climate of Uttar Pradesh is predominantly subtropical, but weather conditions change significantly with location and seasons. Depending on the elevation, the average temperatures vary from 12.5–17.5 °C (55–64 °F) in January to 27.5–32.5 °C (82–91 °F) in May and June. Rainfall in the State ranges from 1,000–2,000 mm (39–79 in) in the east to 600–1,000 mm (24–39 in) in the west. About 90% of the rainfall occurs during the southwest Monsoon, lasting from about June to September. With most of the rainfall concentrated during this four-month period, floods are a recurring problem and cause heavy damage to crops, life, and property, particularly in the eastern part of the state, where the Himalayan-origin rivers flow with a very low north-south gradient. In the Himalayan region of the State, annual snowfall averaging 3 to 5 metres (10 to 15 feet) is common between December and March. Periodic failure of monsoons results in drought conditions and crop failure.

Need of IWMP Projects :

• Precision land levelling and use of efficient irrigation equipment for economizing in water requirements of crops including diversification of crops suiting to water availability are important issues in the region.
• Mechanization of most of the agricultural operations through custom hiring of high capacity equipment is required so that marginal, small and medium categories of farmers can also take the advantage of mechanization.
• Crop residue management for feed, fodder and energy is also important.
• In the backdrop of growing population in the State with consequent demand for ever increasing food, it was strongly felt for bringing large tracts of rainfed dryland under Watershed sytem to increase the productivity of land.
• In this process, modern technology is used for conservation of soil and water and increasing the productivity of soil by way of checking soil erosion.