Dhule District

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.

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.

“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.

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 16^th 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)