6048

A	study	on	Extent	of	Participation	and	Perception	of	Farmers	on	Benefits	of	
IWMP	(Integrated	Watershed	Management	Programme)

 
Vaithiyanath1,	G.	Samuel2	and	I.	Sreenivasa	Rao3

ABSTRACT
	 Watershed	is	a	basin-like	landform	defined	by	highpoints	and	ridgelines	that	descend	into	lower	
elevations	and	stream	valleys.	Watershed	development	involves	conservation,	regeneration	and	judicious	
utilization	of	natural	resources.	It	aims	to	bring	about	an	optimum	balance	between	the	demand	and	
use	of	natural	resources	so	that	they	remain	sustainable	over	time.	Ex-post-facto	research	design	was	
adopted	for	the	study	with	the	objective	to	find	out	the	extent	of	participation	of	watershed	farmers	
in	Integrated	Watershed	Management	Programme	(IWMP)	and	to	find	out	its	benefits.	Majority	of	the	
watershed	farmers	had	medium	level	of	participation	in	IWMP	followed	by	low	and	high	participation.	
The	 independent	variables	viz.,	age,	education,	 farming	experience,	 training	 received,	 socio-political	
participation,	efficiency	of	group	 leadership,	group	cohesiveness,	decision	making	pattern	and	hard	
work	oriented-ness	were	found	positively	and	significantly	related	with	the	extent	of	participation	of	
watershed	farmers	in	IWMP.

Keywords: Watershed,	Integrated	Watershed	Management	Programme;	Participation;	Telangana

INTRODUCTION	

 Watershed is a basin-like landform 
defined by highpoints and ridgelines that 
descend into lower elevations and stream 
valleys. Watershed development involves 
conservation, regeneration and judicious 
utilization of natural resources. It aims to 
bring about an optimum balance between 
the demand and use of natural resources 
so that they remain sustainable over time. 
Bhattacharya (2008) gave a new definition to 
watershed as “It is to harmonize the water, 
soil, forest and pasture in a way that conserves 
these resources while raising agricultural 

Received	:	06-01-2018;	Accepted	:	22-11-2018

1. Agriculture Officer, 2 & 3 Professors, Dept. of Agricultural Extension, College of Agriculture, PJTSAU, Rajendra 
Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana

production both by conserving the moisture 
in the soil and by increasing irrigation through 
tank and aquifer based water harvesting”. 

 For implementation of IWMP 
watersheds, State Level Nodal Agency 
(SLNA) has been constituted by the State 
Government, the Principal Secretary of the 
Rural Development being the Chairperson 
and the Commissioner, Rural Development 
Department is the full-time CEO of the 
SLNA having an independent bank account. 
The District Water Management Agency 
(DWMA) implements these watersheds 
through Project Officers in 75 per cent of 

Research	Article	
Journal of Extension Education
Vol. 30  No. 2,  2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2018.2.30.6048-6055

Research	Article	
Journal of Extension Education
Vol. 30  No. 1,  2018
DOI:https://doi.org/10.26725/JEE.2018.1.30.5996-5999



6049

the sanctioned projects and 25 per cent 
of the projects through line departments, 
autonomous organizations under State/
Central Governments, Government Institutes 
/ Research bodies, Intermediate Panchayats, 
Voluntary Organisations (VOs) by the Village 
Watershed Committees. 

 There is a close relationship between 
the environment and human community living 
within, for its livelihood. When the economic 
condition of a community deteriorates, it 
leads to over-exploitation and degradation of 
natural resources. It is necessary for the people 
to understand the relationship between their 
poverty and the degraded environment they 
live in. Environmental regeneration is possible 
only when the concerned people realize a 
need for it and empowered to have control 
over the process of resource utilization, 
management and conservation. As human 
beings their activities are the primary cause of 
environmental degradation, they can restore 
the health of the environment they have ruined 
by resetting their ways and activities towards 
the environment around. Hence, there can be 
no sustainable natural resource management 
unless it involves the participation of all 
inhabitants of the concerned environment in an 
active mode. Keeping this in mind, efforts were 
taken to find out the extent of participation of 
watershed farmers in Integrated Watershed 
Management Programme and to find out the 
benefits of Integrated Watershed Management 
Programme.

METHODOLOGY

 The state of Telangana in India, was 
selected purposively for the study as the 

researcher hails from the state and is familiar 
with the regional language and cultural 
patterns.

 Telangana state, comprising 10 
districts namely Hyderabad, Rangareddy, 
Mahaboobnagar, Nalgonda, Nizamabad, 
Karimnagar, Adilabad, Medak, Warangal and 
Khammam is divided into three agro climatic 
zones viz., Southern Telangana, Northern 
Telangana and Central Telangana. Among 
the three agro climatic zones the Southern 
Telangana zone receives comparatively less 
rainfall than the other two. Among the districts 
of southern Telangana, Medak district consists 
of significant area under dryland agriculture 
and large number of IWMPs are being 
implemented in thes district. This district in 
Telangana state was selected purposively for 
the study. Out of total forty six (46) mandals in 
the district two mandals namely Sadashivpet 
and Kondapur were selected randomly for the 
study.  From the two selected mandals three 
villages each namely Atmakur, Bobiligum and 
Yellaram from Sadashivpet and Mallepally, 
Terpole and Guntapally from Kondapur 
mandals were selected at random. A total of 
twenty (20) watershed farmers from each 
village were selected randomly making a total 
sample of 120 respondents.

 Socio political participation was 
operationally defined as the degree of 
involvement of watershed farmer in social and 
political organizations prevailing in the village 
such as Village panchayat, Youth club, Water 
User’s Association (WUA), Self Help Group 
(SHG), User Group (UG) and Village Watershed 
Development Committee (VWDC).   

A study on extent of participation and perception of farmers on benefits of IWMP  
(Integrated Watershed Management Programme)



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Scoring: The individual total score was 
obtained by summing up all the scores of 
different organizations. The maximum and 
minimum possible scores were 21 and 6 
respectively. The maximum and minimum 
scores obtained were 20 and 6 respectively. 

FINDINGS	AND	DISCUSSION

Extent	of	participation	in	IWMP 

 The results indicate that majority of 
the farmers (54.20%) had medium level of 
participation, followed by low (24.10%), and 
high (21.70%) participation in IWMP.   

 The medium level participation of 
farmers in IWMP might be due to the fact that 
majority of the farmers were small farmers 
and possess low level of education. Due to 
their low education level they do not depend 
on reading newspapers, farm magazines and 
agricultural news articles, thus there could be 
medium information seeking behavior which 
results in redium level of participated. The 
government need to take measures to inculcate 
team spirit in forming the groups among the 
watershed farmers to follow the community 

approach for participation in IWMP. Measures 
may also be taken up to conduct more 
awareness programmes on highlighting the 
importance of water harvesting structures. 
The State Department of Agriculture, DWMA 
and KVKs should conduct more awareness 
programmes, campaigns, exposure visits to 
inculcate the spirit of sensing the importance 
of water harvesting structures in watershed 
programme. 

 Saikat and Surya (2015) and Singh et 
al. (2010) also found similar results whereas 
Meshesha et al. (2015) found poor community 
participation in watershed management.

Relationship	between	Profile	characteristics	
and	Extent	of	participation

Null	hypothesis: There will be no significant 
relationship between profile characteristics 
of watershed farmers and their extent of 
participation of IWMP.

Empirical	hypothesis: There will be a significant 
relationship between profile characteristics 
of watershed farmers and their extent of 
participation of IWMP.

Table	1.
	Correlation	coefficient	values	between	Profile	characteristics	and	Dependent	variables

n=120
Sl.	No Variables Participation

1 Age 0.1782*

2 Education 0.1564*

3 Farm size 0.1232 NS

4 Farming experience 0.2434**

5 Training received 0.2583**

6 Socio-political participation 0.2660**

7 Efficiency of group leadership 0.1685*

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Sl.	No Variables Participation
8 Group cohesiveness 0.1443*
9 Decision making pattern 0.1590*

10 Information seeking behaviour 0.0726 NS
11 Annual income 0.0629 NS
12 Hard work-orientedness 0.1497*
13 Type of irrigation 0.0678 NS
14 Enterprise possessed 0.0719 NS
15 Net returns 0.0730 NS

*Significant at 5 % level of probability; **Significant at 1% level of probability: NS- Non-significant

 It is clearly evident from Table 1 that, 
the calculated ‘r’ values between participation 
and farming experience, training received 
and socio-political participation were greater 
than ‘r’ table value at 1.00 per cent level of 
probability which indicated positive and 
highly significant relationship. Age, education, 
efficiency of group leadership, group 
cohesiveness, decision making pattern and 
hard work orientedness were also positively 
and significantly correlated to participation 
at 5.00 per cent level of probability. Hence, 
null hypothesis was rejected and empirical 
hypothesis was accepted for the variables. 
Therefore, it can be concluded that there was 
a positive and significant relationship between 
the selected profile characteristics and extent 
of participation in IWMP. 

 On the other hand, the calculated ‘r’ 
values between participation and farm size, 
information seeking behaviour, annual income, 
type of irrigation, enterprise possessed and 
net returns were less than ‘r’ table value. 
Hence null hypothesis is accepted and 
empirical hypothesis was rejected for these 

variables. Therefore, it can be concluded that 
there was no significant relationship between 
these profile characteristics and extent of 
participation in IWMP.

 It is also observed from Table 2 that, 
the calculated ‘r’ values between perception 
and training received and decision making 
pattern were greater than table ‘r’ value at 1.00 
per cent level of probability which indicated 
positive and highly significant relationship. 
Age, farm size, farming experience, socio-
political participation, efficiency of group 
leadership, group cohesiveness, decision 
making pattern and hard work orientedness 
were also positively and significantly 
correlated to perception at 5.00 per cent 
level of probability. Hence, null hypothesis 
was rejected and empirical hypothesis 
accepted for these variables. Therefore, it 
can be concluded that there is a positive 
and significant relationship between above 
profile characteristics and perception on the 
outcomes of implementation of IWMP. 

 On the other hand, the calculated ‘r’ 
values between perception and education, 

A study on extent of participation and perception of farmers on benefits of IWMP  
(Integrated Watershed Management Programme)



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information seeking behaviour, annual income, 
type of irrigation, enterprise possessed and 
net returns were less than ‘r’ table value. 
Hence null hypothesis accepted and empirical 
hypothesis was rejected for these variables. 
Therefore, it can be concluded that there was 
no significant relationship between the profile 
characteristics and perception.

Relationship	between	Profile	characteristics	
and	Extent	of	participation:	

	 The	 relationship between profile 
characteristics and extent of participation is 
briefly discussed below :

Age	and	Extent	of	participation

 Age was found to be positively and 
significantly correlated with the extent of 
participation of watershed farmers in IWMP. 
The reason might be that majority of the 
respondents were of middle to old age group 
and the young farmers had not participated 
in watershed activities as compared to their 
counterparts.    

Education	and	Extent	of	participation

  From the findings it was revealed that 
most of the watershed farmers were educated 
up to primary level followed by illiterates 
and there was a positive and significant 
relationship between education and 
dependent variable participation. The reason 
might be that with the knowledge acquired as 
a result of education they could participated 
effectively. Therefore the management should 
initiate education efforts among the farmers 
for better participation in watershed as quite 
a good number of farmers belong to illiterate 
category.    

Farming	 experience	 and	 Extent	 of	
participation

 From the findings it is evident that 
majority of the watershed farmers had 
medium experience in farming which may be 
attributed to similar trends in the independent 
variable age where middle age respondents 
were more in number. Farming experience 
was found to be positively and significantly 
correlated with participation, as these is 
increase in experience the farmers tend to 
have more their interest in farming and thus 
participate more in watershed activities. 

Training	received	and	Extent	of	participation

 Training received was found to have 
a significant and positive correlation with 
participation. Majority of the farmers had 
medium level of training received and it was 
observed that with increase in training, there 
was better participation. The IWMP gives  
importance to training on different stages 
and aspects of watershed which helps better 
participation. As there was good number 
of farmers with low training received, the 
management should look forward for more 
technical trainings to the farmers so that 
still better participation can be ensured 
and scientific based training on agricultural 
input and livestock management should be 
organized by efficient resource persons/
agencies.   

Socio-political	 participation	 and	 Extent	 of	
participation

 It was observed in the findings that 
socio-political participation had a positive 
and significant relationship with participation 

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of the farmers in IWMP. With the trainings 
received, their participation increased and 
they played active role in village social 
organizations like youth clubs, water user 
association, user groups, SHGs and village 
watershed committees. The activities of these 
social organizations should be improved as 
it had a direct and positive relationship with 
participation of the farmers in IWMP. All the 
participating farmers should be given special 
priority in the Watershed management 
through SHGs approach. Similar findings were 
revealed by Sahoo and Dash (2013) and Puhan 
and Malla (2015).

Efficiency	of	group	leadership	and	Extent	of	
participation

  From the findings it was revealed that 
the independent variable efficiency of group 
leadership was positively and significantly 
correlated with the dependent variable 
participation, which means better the efficiency 
of group leadership higher the participation 
of farmers in IWMP. The reason might be 
that with increased efficient leadership in the 
group, the participants could be motivated 
for more participation. The management 
should identify such efficient leaders from 
the community for better participation of the 
watershed farmers in IWMP.   

Group	 cohesiveness	 and	 Extent	 of	
participation

  From the findings it was evident 
that group cohesiveness was positively and 
significantly correlated with participation 
of watershed farmers in IWMP. The reason 
might be that mutual understanding, 

encouragement for group members, less 
conflicts  disagreements the respondents feels 
better about the programme and participate 
more in IWMP activities. As the findings of 
the independent variable group cohesiveness 
shows medium to low trend the management 
should work towards better cohesiveness 
among the group members.  

Decision	 making	 pattern	 and	 Extent	 of	
participation

 The findings revealed that decision 
making pattern had a positive and significant 
relationship with participation. A democratic 
decision making pattern involving all 
stakeholders increases the trust among 
the participants which reflects in increased 
participation by the members. Therefore, 
the groups should be encouraged to take 
decisions after due consultation with all  the 
members of the group. 

Hard	 work	 orientedness	 and	 Extent	 of	
participation	

 From the findings it is evident that the 
independent variable hard work orientedness 
had positive and significant relationship with 
participation. The reason might be that with 
their experience in farming they might have 
found better results with hard work, which 
was reflected in the findings. The farmers 
who achieve due to their hard work should 
be projected in the community with rewards 
and recognitions, which may motivate other 
farmers. 

Perception	on	benefits	of		IWMP

 The results in Table 2 indicate that 

A study on extent of participation and perception of farmers on benefits of IWMP  
(Integrated Watershed Management Programme)



6054

majority of the farmers had medium perception 
about all the three components viz. extent of 

Table	3.	

Distribution	of	Farmers	according	to	their	Perception	on	Benefits	of		IWMP

           n=120

Sl.	No. Category
Extent of 
usefulness

Extent of 
utilization

Extent of 
satisfaction

F % F % F %
1 Low (43-72) 23 19.16 16 13.33 12 10.00
2 Medium (72-101) 59 49.16 70 58.33 66 55.00
3 High (101-130) 38 31.66 34 28.33 42 35.00

usefulness (49.16%), utilization (58.33%) and 
satisfaction (55.00%) on benefits of IWMP.  

 A statement containing 43 items 
describing recent watershed technologies 
was presented to the farmers and were 
requested to express their perception of 
these technologies in terms of extent of 
their usefulness, utilization and satisfaction. 
Based on the scores obtained on the rating 
scale, the data were classified under low, 
medium and high based on range of scores. 
It may be observed from the table that in 
terms of usefulness about half (49.16%) of 
the respondents perceived it as medium while 
about one fourth (31.66%) perceived it as 
high and the remaining (19.16%) perceived it 
as low. We can conclude that the perception 
of respondents on extent of usefulness was 
medium to high. In terms of extent of utilization 
majority (58.33%) perceived it as medium 
followed by high (28.33%) and low (13.33%) 
perception. This again led to the conclusion 
that the perception of respondents on extent 
of utilization was medium to high. In terms 
of extent of satisfaction, majority (55.00%) 
had perceived it as medium followed by high 

(35.00%) and low (10.00%) which followed the 
same trend of medium to high like the other 
two components. Thus the overall perception 
of the respondents on benefits of IWMP was 
medium to high which appears to be logical 
as all usefulness, utilization and satisfaction 
were interlinked. 

CONCLUSION

 The vision of the IWMP is to transform 
the elements of poverty into prosperity 
through effective watershed management 
programmes to sustain the rural livelihoods of 
the poor in drought prone areas. The mission of 
IWMP is to establish appropriate institutional 
structure for effective convergence in place 
and adopt holistic, integrated approach of 
managing various capitals, thus creating 
equal opportunities for communities through 
improved production systems as well as 
supportive employment generation. It is one 
of the tools, which can be utilized effectively 
for sustainable development of farmers, taking 
the results of the study in to consideration. 

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6055

REFERENCES 

Bhattacharya, A. (2008).	Sustainable	livelihood	
based	watershed	management	–	Watershed	
plus	approach. 1st Working Group Meeting 
of ERIA, Manila, Philippines.

Meshesha, Yericho, B., Birhanu & Belay, S. 
(2015). Assessment of the effectiveness 
of watershed management intervention in 
Chena Woreda, Kaffa Zone, south western 
Ethiopia. Journal	 of	 Water	 Resource	 and	
Protection. 7(15): 1257-1269.

Puhan, R.R & Malla, L. (2015). Impact and 
effectiveness of watershed development 
programmes in education and health 

in Keonjhar district of Odisha: A critical 
analysis. American	 Research	 Journal	 of	
Humanities	and	Social	Sciences. 1(2): 6-16.

Sahoo, S & Dash, A. (2013). Involvement of 
SHGs in watershed management - An 
impact analysis. Odisha	Review. 49-52.

Saikat, M & Surya, R. (2015). Social sustainability 
of natural resource management activities: 
A research in dry zone of West Bengal. 
Journal	of	Human	Ecology. 50(2): 111-119.

Singh P, Behera, H.C & Singh, A. (2010).	Impact	
and	effectiveness	of	watershed	development	
programmes	 in	 India. Centre for Rural 
Studies. 29-54.

A study on extent of participation and perception of farmers on benefits of IWMP  
(Integrated Watershed Management Programme)