Dhule District

Market linkage could ensure higher returns for farm produce
A study finds out gaps in the way farmer producer organisations are handling their operations and the available infrastructure. Posted on 03 Aug, 2020 06:49 PM

A recent national study on farmer producer’s organisations (FPOs) supported by Tata Trusts investigates gaps looming in business transactions between FPOs and market players and recommends interventions to bridge these.

Red chilli wholesale market at Karnataka (Image: Pxhere, CC0 Public Domain)
Experiments with 'community wells'
Mobilized farmers in Dhule, Maharashtra, show how communities can use groundwater as a common resource in an organised and collective manner. Posted on 10 Sep, 2014 05:13 PM

Rapid increase in the use of groundwater and its declining availability has threatened the existence of this important resource. A community experiment by Desh Bandhu and Manju Gupta Foundation (DBMG), which involves implementing water resource development and mobilising farmers to use groundwater as a common resource through group wells, is showing good results.

Community wells: A shared groundwater resource
Angioplasty for groundwater or a heart attack waiting to happen?
The Maharashtra Govt plans to invest Rs. 800 crore to extend the 'Shirpur Model' of groundwater recharge across the state. Is it recharge or withdrawal that this model promotes? Posted on 16 Aug, 2013 10:38 AM

“What is in a name? That which we call a rose, would smell as sweet by any other”, goes the line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. There is quite a lot in a name, Juliet, especially if attaching the wrong terminology to a process is used to appropriate public funds - Rs. 800 crores, in fact.

Shirpur, Maharashtra of the 'Shirpur Model' fame
Traditional diversion-based phad irrigation systems help mitigate risk of crop failure in the drought-prone farmer suicide belt of Vidarbha, Maharashtra
Communities have across diverse ecological and sociopolitical contexts devised myriad ways over time to harvest and manage water in order to sustain their lives and practise agriculture. Posted on 11 Jan, 2013 11:56 AM

Many of these systems (1) continue to function and are often more sustainable, cost-effective and successfully managed by local institutions. Phads are one such community-based and managed diversion irrigation management system (2) prevailing in the north-western part of Maharashtra and date back to the early 16th century as per historical accounts. The system is prevalent in the Tapi basin on rivers the Panjhra, Mosam and Aram in Dhule and Nashik districts (3).

Phads or diversion-based irrigation systems, are being revived and promoted in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra by Dilasa, a Yavatmal-based voluntary development organisation (Video courtesy: Dilasa)

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