Ready Set Go

Odisha University of Agriculture & Technology
Bhubaneswar-751003, Odisha

Objectives

  • The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve land and water conservation and climate resilience in selected watersheds, and strengthen capacities of national and state institutions to deliver more effective science-based watershed development programs.
PDO Element Potential PDO Indicator(s)
Improved Land conservation outcomes in demonstration sites Percentage of targeted watershed area showing an increase in Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) correcting for climate effects
Improved agricultural outcomes in demonstration sites Incremental change in agriculture/horticulture productivity and income for selected crops
Improved water outcomes in demonstration sites Percentage of targeted landscape area showing an increased in Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) correcting for climate effects
Improved climate resiliency outcomes in demonstration sites Changes in resilience index composed of a set of variables covering exposure, sensitivity to climate events and adaptive capacity
Strengthened capacities of watershed development institutions Functional networks of scientific partner in project states
Revised policies for watershed programs Revised national Watershed Guidelines informed by project experience and lessons learned that will guide new national watershed programs

The activities under the REWARD Program are mapped for five key Results Areas.

Result Area 1: Strengthening institutional capacity for watershed development

  • Enhancing human resources capacity at district and block levels – both skill sets and numbers
  • Strengthening agriculture extension systems
  • Enhancing systems and capacity of community institutions for effective governance
  • Establishing a centre of excellence on science-based watershed management

Result Area 2: Building an enabling policy framework

  • Development of guidelines for integrated science-based planning and resource deployment by state line departments in watershed areas
  • Adoption of O&M policy guidelines to strengthen governance and sustainability of watersheds
  • Creation of a multi-stakeholder platform for policy advocacy for management of rainfed areas and watersheds
  • Piloting of policy innovation on the linking of fertilizer subsidy to soil health status

Result Area 3: Improving science based watershed management

  • Partnerships between SWDs and technical and scientific institutions
  • Creation of the digital library and portal with Land Resources Inventory (LRI) data, hydrology data and Decision Support Systems (DSS) for watersheds covering soil and water conservation planning, crop planning, land capability grouping, nutrient management, run-off, farm pond and check dam planning, crop water requirements, soil moisture and water balance, water budgeting among others.
  • Planning and implementation of watershed development interventions in select sub-watersheds in a saturation mode.
  • Provision of weather-based agro-advisories for farmers.

Result Area 4: Protecting and enhancing livelihoods in watershed areas

  • Implementation of value chain development interventions through promotion of FPOs and PPPs in select watersheds.
  • Livelihood enhancement support for land-poor and land-less households.

Result Area 5: Enhancing monitoring, evaluation, learning and knowledge sharing

  • Strengthening the MIS on watershed management.
  • Developing a scientific assessment and impact evaluation system.
  • Organizing national and international peer learning events on watershed management.

Assignment objectives

  1. REWARD seeks to create decision support systems (DSS) based on site-specific land resource information for planning, implementation and management of watersheds, agriculture, horticulture and other department programs in the state. Key interventions include soil and water conservation, water harvesting, ground water recharging, crop selection, nutrient management, etc. The DSSs are expected to work at various spatial scales such as cadastral, land management unit, micro watershed, sub watershed and watershed.
  2. Detailed, site-specific data at the cadastral level on land resources (both physical and chemical properties) will be collected as a part of activities under REWARD. Hydrological data on similar scale is needed to be used alongside land resources information to develop DSS for watershed planning and management.
  3. Currently available hydrologic models are suitable mainly at the sub basin or catchment level and are of not much use in designing interventions at the micro or sub watershed level. Access to high resolution remote sensing, IoT sensors and AI/ML for modelling now offer the opportunity to rapidly adapt and refine the existing models or develop new ones to address issues at the micro/sub watershed scales.
  4. The objective of this assignment is to:
    1. Identify and apply appropriate methods/models/protocols for comprehensively assessing hydrological endowments for various spatial and temporal scales and agro-climatic conditions,
    2. Validate its accuracy and ease of use,
    3. Demonstrate its use in selected geographies for comprehensive hydrological assessments.
    4. Demonstrate use of hydrological data collected in design of watershed treatment and management through use of DSSs.
    5. Train end-users (including govt., departments and farming community).