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Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge Vol.12 (3), July 2013, pp 454-464

Use of indigenous soil and water conservation practices among farmers in Sikkim Himalaya P K Mishra & S C Rai* Department of Geography, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007 E-mail: [email protected] Received 10.10.11, revised 13.04.12 This paper analyses indigenous soil and water conservation practices in a watershed of Sikkim Himalaya based on information collected through a questionnaire survey. Information used in the analysis were obtained through a survey of 150 farmers in 3 ecological zones (low, mid and high), group discussions, key informant interviews, and field observation conducted during 2009-10. Farmers have adopted several conservation practices passed on to them by their forefathers. Farmers in all ecological zones have practiced several structural and biological land management practices to conserve soil and water. Adoption of terrace cultivation, construction of retention walls, bunds, construction and maintenance of waterways, mixed cropping, crop rotation, mulching, agroforestry, and use of farm yard manure are found significantly higher in all ecological zones of the watershed. This indicates that the farmers have very high belief in indigenous techniques of conservation. Findings are discussed in the context of conservation programmes within the watershed. The findings of this study have important policy implications for sustainable land management in the region. Keywords: Land management, Structural measures, Biological measures, Watershed, Agroforestry, Sustainable development, Soil erosion IPC Int. Cl.8: A01, A01B, A01B 77/00, A01G 31/00, E02B 3/18, E02B 3/00, A01D, A23B, A01N 3/00, E02D 3/10, A01G 9/24, A01G 25/00, A01G 27/00

Land and water are the basic natural resources, which support life in all forms. Both resources are limited to meet the increasing demand for food, fuelwood and timber in the world. Mountain watersheds have attracted global concern due to the threat of serious environmental and socio-economic implications arising from natural resource degradation1. Erosion of agricultural landscape is a significant socioenvironmental issue within the Himalayan region due to on-site and off-site damages associated with soil loss from land-use/cover change2,3. Displaced soil contributes to water pollution and reduces future productivity of land resources that have a significant environmental and socio-economic consequence for society4. The impacts of land degradation consist of two types: on site and off site. A loss of productivity and shortfalls in both food and cash crops are the immediate impacts of land degradation. It is estimated that 175 million ha of land in India suffers from various problems of soil erosion and land —————— *Corresponding author

degradation5. This is all the more important because the country looses about 5334 M tones (16.4 t/ha) of soil annually. Of this, about 29% is carried away by the rivers into the sea and 10% is deposited in the reservoirs, resulting in a loss of 1 to 2% of their storage capacity6. Short-sighted policy-makers and planners find investments in conservation and development of mountains less attractive compared to the adjacent plains, as their comparative advantages are overlooked. As a result, mountain watersheds are either undergoing or are vulnerable to degradation, despite local people’s efforts to prevent such effects7. Traditional or indigenous technologies are entirely based on local needs and surroundings, prepared from locally available resources and from the wisdom and knowledge handed down from generation to generation. These are locally managed and maintained. A few studies have shaded light on hills farmers’ land management practices7,8,9, but their areas of concern have been selected aspects of management including landslide prevention and repair measures. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to: (i) present the findings of a study designed to examine

MISHRA & RAI: SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION PRACTICES IN SIKKIM HIMALAYA

how indigenous practices influence adoption of conservation systems at the farm level, (ii) find out how hill farmers have changed their land management practices to control land degradation under the situation of steadily increasing population pressure on very small landholdings, and (iii) document to serve as a basis for programme planners to give such low cost technologies their due importance. Study findings are discussed in the context of conservation programmes within the watershed. Methodology This study is based on information obtained through a questionnaire survey, field observation, and group discussions. The household survey was conducted during study period (2009-10). A sample size of 150 households was obtained from watershed covering each ecological zone, viz. low, mid, and high. Simple random sampling method was employed to select households for the questionnaire survey. At the outset, the interviewer introduced himself to the villagers. Villagers were told about the nature of work and assured that responses were to be used for research purposes, that their cooperation to this effort was sought, and confidentiality would be maintained. Detailed information on the management practices of each parcel of land owned by the sampled households were collected using structured questionnaire. Farmers were asked to complete a structured questionnaire that required about 30 - 40 minutes to complete. The response rate for each zone was about 80%. Average age of the respondents is 70 yrs. Given the large sample size, the broad distribution of the sample throughout the study watershed, the high response rate, and the sampling technique used to select the sample, the samples are assumed to be representative of the farm populations within the each ecological zone. Information on soil and water conservation practices including construction of terraces, waterways, retention walls, gully control measures, alley cropping, mulching and application of organic manures was collected through household survey. Besides, information on farmers’ experience in land management, soil fertility and soil erosion was collected through personal interview and group discussion. The degree of adoption and diversity of practices, however, vary from one farm household to another, depending on their socio-economic condition and biophysical characteristics of lands. To determine

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the overall degree of adoption of soil and water conservation measures, 16 common soil and water conservation practices of farmers were selected. Hill farmers have practiced different types of structural and biological measures of soil and water conservation to control erosion and landslide and applied different types of fertilizers to maintain soil fertility as summarized in Table 1. Descriptive statistics were used to examine general trends within the data set, while one-way analysis of variance was used to test the research expectations with the Statistical Package for Social Sciences 9 (SPSS) software. One way ANOVA analysis was applied to analyses the significance difference of indigenous SWC practices among different ecological zones of the watershed. All the analysis was done at 0.05 or 5% level of significance. Study area The study area Papung-Ben Khola watershed located in the South district of Sikkim state was selected for this study. This watershed extends between 27° 13΄ 34˝ to 27° 16΄ 12˝ N and 88° 22΄ 18˝ to 88°27΄ 15˝ E. It is spread in 27.77 km2 area and characterized by an elevational range of 326 to 2600 m asl. It comprises of most of the human habitation zone, vegetation types and cropping patterns that are common in the state. The watershed is one of the most populated (10841 persons) areas in state providing a wide range of cultural-ethnic diversity and land-use pattern. Agricultural practices extend from valley bottom to hilltop, with a variety of cropping systems and management practices. Fragmented into several parcels, farmlands are being managed in different ways, to maximize benefits with the limited amount of resources available to farmers. The climate is monsoon type with average rainfall was 3204 mm, and most of the rainfall takes place during monsoon from June to September. Average temperature ranges from 3-26°C. Results and discussion Structural measures of soil and water conservation Terraces

Terraces are narrow strips of land carved out across the hill slopes for cultivation of cereals, including rice, maize, wheat and millet. Regardless of land type, most terraces in the watershed were constructed long back. Some of them were, however, constructed a few decades ago in response to increasing food demand

INDIAN J TRADITIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VOL. 12, NO. 3, JULY 2013

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Table 1-Brief description of terminologies used in the context of hill farming system and soil and water conservation Terminologies and measures Terminologies used in the context of hill farming system

Description Hill slope Terrace riser Farm edge Goth Slicing terrace riser Panikhet Tarikhet Khet Packo/Bari Gharbari

Measures of soil and water conservation

Terrace Terrace bund Contour bund Waterway Retention wall Alley cropping Shrub formations in gullies Vegetative measures of landslide control Mulching Farmyard manure Green manure Compost

Sloping land between valley floor and ridge Steep slope between terrace of different altitude Farm boarder Makeshift livestock shed constructed in the farm terrace Thinly slicing of the slope between terrace by spade to remove weeds and grasses Irrigated rice field located in the valley floors and foothills Rainfed rice field located in the hill slope Common local term for both panikhet and tarikhet Rainfed maize and millet field Homestead used for fruit, maize, wheat, millet and vegetable production Narrow strip of land carved out across the hill slopes for the cultivation of cereals An embankment at the outer edge of khet terrace made to control water flow An embankment built along the contour line to control soil erosion and siltation Small canal at the inner toe of terraces made to convey runoff at a non-erosive point A reinforced wall constructed to protect terrace riser from being collapsed Alternate rows of field crops and perennials grown in a contour pattern in sloping land Bush formations, including bamboo, in gullies established to control gully expansion in the hill slopes Establishment of different shrubs and tree species with extensive root systems for rehabilitation and control of landslides The practicing of covering the plowed land by crop residues and leaf litters for moisture and soil conservation Dung mixed with leaf litter and crop residues used for fertilizing land Plant species containing soil nutrients Decomposed mixture of organic materials, including manure, utilized for fertilizing land

for steadily growing household size. All respondents in each ecological zone of the watershed responded that they are practicing terraced farming since long back (Table 2). There is no significant difference between ecological zones in terms of percentage of farmers who have terrace construction (Table 3). Leveled bench terraces (Fig.1a) are the dominant structural measures adopted by hill farmers to stabilize irrigation water required for rice cultivation in Panikhet and Tarikhet. These terraces have been maintained without any change in each ecological zone. Bari terraces in the area have outward-facing slopes that facilitate quick drainage of water required for millet, maize and legume crops. Terrace risers use to be relatively wide in the past when the population pressure on land resources was relatively low10. Farmers have sliced terrace risers to increase the area under crop production. Even the tiny fraction of land under risers has been

intensively utilized for legume crops, which was not the practice until few decades ago7. Similar results were also recorded in the Papung-Ben Khola watershed. During field survey it was observed that about 23% of the cultivated land is under leveled terrace and used for paddy and other crops during monsoon season. Most of the leveled terraces have a height of 2 - 5 m; width 2 - 5 m, and the length varies from 15 - 35 m. The width of the terrace is determined by the slope (gradient) of the land. In the hill slope, an average of 20 - 25 terraces exist, but in the lower altitude a sequence includes not more than 10 terraces because of the larger width of the paddy fields. Remaining 77% are sloping terraces. All respondent of the area have agreed that terracing is necessary, without which the plant nutrients cannot be conserved and cultivation of crops are impossible.

MISHRA & RAI: SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION PRACTICES IN SIKKIM HIMALAYA

Bunds

Terrace bunds are small embankment constructed at the outer edge of the terraces to control water flow. Terrace bunds used to be relatively wide in the past when the population pressure on land resources was relatively low. Farmers have sliced terrace bunds to increase the area under crop production. Even the tiny fraction of land under bund has been intensively utilized for legume crops, which was not the practice until a few decades ago7. Farmers have also constructed contour bunds across the farm edges. Mostly made from stone, these bunds control soil erosion and siltation. Besides, contour bunds prevent stray livestock from sneaking into farmlands. Contour bunding is the most popular

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soil conservation measures in Sikkim Himalaya. Contour consists of constructing narrow based trapezoidal bunds on contour into the runoff water behind them so that all the stored water is absorbed gradually into the soil profile for the crop use. Farmers are well aware of erosion problem in the area. Moreover, they agreed that this measure is effective to protect the soil loss. About 90% of the respondents have constructed bunds on their fields with the other measures including vegetative barriers in the leveled terrace (Table 2). The farmers of the watershed are pioneer in bunding and have taken up bunding work on large scale in the leveled terrace (paddy) to check the runoff. These bunds on steep slopes are created by way of excavating parabolic

Table 2-Indigenous soil and water conservation practices in Papung-Ben khola watershed of Sikkim Himalaya Ecological Zones Practices

Low (n=50) (%)

Mid (n=50) (%)

High (n=50) (%)

Mean

100 96

100 50

100 78.6

(1) Mechanical measures Terraces Bunds/contour bunding Construction and maintenance of waterways Gully control Diversion channels Stone barriers

100 90

88 69 41 89 (2) Biological measures

75 55 20 90

82.6 63 37 90

Alley cropping Mulching Minimum tillage Crop rotation Mixed cropping Vegetative barriers Agroforestry

27 30 91 90 80 75 100 100 41 49 100 100 65 70 (3) Soil fertility management

33 88 70 100 45 100 75

30 89.66 75 100 45 100 70

Farm yard manure Green manure Crop residue and weed burning

87 32 100

55 23 100

73 28 100

85 65 50 91

78 29 100

Table 3-Analysis of variance findings for indigenous soil and water conservation practices in each ecological zone of Papung-Ben Khola watershed of Sikkim Himalaya Ecological Zones

Mean

Std. Dev.

F-Test (Calculated)

F-Test (Tabulated)

Significance Level

Result (p