Extent of Awareness, Utility and Constraints in Adoption of Site-Specific Land Resource Inventory Information in New Generation Watersheds
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53550/ijsc.v54.i1.221Keywords:
Adoption, Constraints, Dissemination, Land Resource Inventory, Watershed Management, Sujala-IIIAbstract
The Land Resource Inventory (LRI), a scientific farm-level planning tool introduced under Karnataka's Sujala-III watershed project, has low field adoption among farmers despite its strengths. This study examines awareness, dissemination, utility, and adoption barriers across 20 micro-watersheds using surveys of 900 farmers and focus groups with Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs). Findings show a steep drop from awareness to actual use, with only 22% of farmers knew about LRI, 20.2% received LRI cards, 11.4% had training, and only 6.56% used LRI information for crop or nutrient decisions. Just 2.89% had read their LRI card more than once, and only 5.89% remembered LRI details of their land. Major LRI adoption constraints include lack of awareness of site-specific information (70%), insufficient training, conservatism and illiteracy among watershed farmers. From the PIAs perspective, key challenges included difficulty in promoting adoption of site-specific crop suitability, securing acceptance of recommendations among farmers, and timing issues with LRI card delivery. Overall, low adoption stems from systemic institutional, logistical, and behavioral gaps, requiring farmer-focused dissemination, stronger extension links, integration of LRI with existing systems, and participatory planning to align scientific advice with local needs.
References
Bandyopadhyay, S., Ghosh, B. N., Ray, P., Ramachandran, S., Jena, R. K., Roy, P. D., Singh, S. K., Mukhopadhyay, S., Nayak, D. C., & Ray, S. K. (2018). Impact assessment of land resource inventory towards optimizing land use plan in Brahmaputra valley ecosystem, Assam, India, Indian J. Soil Conservation, 46(1), 11-24.
Bandyopadhyay, S., Jaiswal, R. K., Hegde, V. S., & Jayaraman, V. (2009). Assessment of land suitability potentials for agriculture using a remote sensing and GIS based approach, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 30(4), 879-895. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160802395235
Hegde, R., Niranjana, K. V., Srinivas, S., Danorkar, B. A., & Singh, S. K. (2018). Site-specific land resource inventory for scientific planning of Sujala watersheds in Karnataka. Current Science, 115(4), 610–613. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs/v115/i4/644-652
Jat, R. A., Jinger, D., Kumawat, A., Kar, S. K., Rawat, I., Kumar, S., Paramesh, V., Meena, V. S., Kaushal, R., Kumar, K., Meena, H. S., Wani, S. P., Singh, R., & Madhu, M. (2025). Integrated watershed management for transforming dryland livelihoods: A climate-smart strategy for sustainable dryland agriculture in India. Watershed Ecology and the Environment, 7, 159–177. ISSN 2589-4714. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsee.2025.03.006
Jayaraman, S., Naorem, A., Sinha, N.K.,Madhu, M. and Dalal, R.C. 2024. Combating land degradation:Global challenge, local solutions. Indian J. Soil Cons., 52(Global Soils Conference - 2024 Special Issue): S74-S84.DOI: 10.59797/ijsc.v52.i2.161 DOI: https://doi.org/10.59797/ijsc.v52.i2.161
Kumar, A., Choudhary, A. K., Suri, V. K., Bana, R. S., Pooniya, V., & Singh, U. (2014). Site specific water management for sustainable agriculture. In: Meena, M. S., Singh, K. M., & Bhatt, B. P. (Eds.), Water Management in Agriculture (pp. 327-336). Jaya Publishing House, New Delhi.
Lalitha, M., Dharumarajan, S., Natarajan, A., Niranjana, K. V., Srinivas, S., Naidu, L. G. K., & Sarkar, D. (2016). Need for site specific land resource database for integrated watershed management, Indian J. Soil Conservation, 44(2), 168 -176.
Mishra, P.K., Sena, D.R., Pande, V.C.and Singh, R.K. 2024. Framing land degradation and restoration policy in India following the IPBES pathway Indian J. Soil Cons., 52 (Global Soils Conference - 2024 Special Issue): S14-S25.DOI: 10.59797/ijsc.v52.i2.154 DOI: https://doi.org/10.59797/ijsc.v52.i2.154
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). (2023). Watershed Management. Annual Report 2023–24. NABARD
Ramamurthy, V., Singh, S. K., Chattaraj, S., Reddy, G. O., & Kumar, S. R. (2016). Land resource inventory towards village level agricultural land use planning. In: Obi Reddy, G. P., Patil, N. G., & Chaturvedi, A. (eds.), Sustainable Management of Land Resources (pp. 643-668). Apple Academy Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.9774/GLEAF.9781315365565_27
Ramesha, M. N., Patil, S. L., Ravi, K. N., Naik, B. S., Dupdal, R., & Morade, A. S. (2024). Climate, skill proficiency and farmers motivation have an interplay in success of horticulture and agroforestry interventions in the watershed: A case study. Ecology, Environment and Conservation 30 (3): 1348-1352.
Ravi, K. N., & Patil, S. L. (2022a). A scale to measure core competency of extension field functionaries in land resource inventory-based watersheds. Gujatat Journal of Extension Education. 33(1), 1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.56572/gjoee.2022.33.1.0001
Ravi, K. N., S. L. Patil, Hrittick Biswas, M. N. Ramesha, B. S. Naik, P. R. Ojasvi, Ravi Duppal, M. Prabhavathi, Suresh Kumar, and A. S. Morade. (2022b). Land resource cards: An innovative approach to empower farmers for site-specific farm resource management. Indian Journal of Extension Education 58 (1): 106-110. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48165/IJEE.2022.58124
Singh S.K., Mohekar D.S.R., Arunachalam V., Kumar N. Chattaraj S., Jenna R.K. Das B. & Kumar P. (2022). Land resource inventorying (LRI) on 1:10K – National soil priority of India. Geoderma Re g i o n a l , 2 9 , e 0 0 5 2 4 . h t t p s: / / d o i . o rg / 1 0 . 1 0 1 6 / j . geodrs.2022.e00524 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geodrs.2022.e00524
Zerga, B. (2025). Integrated watershed management: a review. Discover Sustainability 6, 657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-025-01352-0. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-025-01352-0
