ITANAGAR, Oct 8: Nine members of the village water committees of Tago and Yachuli blocks of Lower Subansiri district and Jumi and Kimin blocks of Papum Pare district were taken on an exposure visit to Chuba village in Sikkim recently, in order to expose them to the concept of springshed development.
The exposure visit was organised under the NABARD-funded project, ‘Springshed-based watershed development project’, which is aimed at motivating people to adopt sustainable approaches to conservation and rejuvenation of spring water.
The farmers witnessed the success of the springshed project in Chuba, and learned about the instruments for measuring the discharge of spring water and different ways to recharge the groundwater table.
Speaking on the project, the North East Initiative Development Agency’s (NEIDA) AR project associate, Bake Tachung, advised the farmers to reduce deforestation in the catchment areas of springsheds, and to construct trenches and barriers to stop surface water runoff and allow it to percolate into the ground.
The farmers also saw the completed trenches and plantation to recharge the groundwater.
The NEIDA, which is currently operating in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland, facilitated the visit to Sikkim.
The agency primarily focuses on finding innovative ways to improve the livelihoods of rural farmers by enhancing the productivity of existing livelihoods-based activities in the NE region.
