Recently, the Government of India, the State of Karnataka and Odisha signed an agreement for the programme called ‘Rejuvenating watersheds for agricultural resilience through the innovative development programme.’
The focus of this agreement is to help national and state institutions adopt improved watershed management practices to increase farmers’ resilience to climate change and promote higher productivity and better incomes.
According to the information provided by the Ministry of Finance, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) financing will support Karnataka with Rs 453.5 crore, Odisha with Rs 370 crore, and the remaining Rs 45.5 crore will be for the central government’s department of land resources. The loan of Rs 859 cr has a maturity of 15 years, including a grace period of 4.5 years.
“In this context, the new programme will help the participating state governments in their efforts to transform watershed planning and execution and adopt science-based planning that could be replicated across the country. It will also help the participating and other states to adopt new approaches to watershed development,” said the Ministry of Finance.
India has one of the worlds largest watershed management programmes and now, the government of India has also announced a plan to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030. This will help in doubling farmers’ income by 2023. Effective watershed management can help enhance livelihoods in rainfed areas while building a more resilient food system.
