Farming like any profession requires dedication, understanding, constant learning and application of new ideas and above all a desire to view it as a part of the greater ecosystem. Here is a case of a young farmer who has nurtured his farm with utmost care and sensitivity to the environment.
Small scale watershed development is a viable way to improve degraded ecosystems, create diverse livelihood opportunities for rural people and build stable ecosystems. Aseema trust demonstrated this on a small area of 14 acres in the tribal villages of Maharshtra.
Local communities have always found ingenious ways to overcome adverse conditions like floods, which affect not only farming but also lives and livelihoods. Over centuries, people have evolved ways and means to adapt to this natural phenomenon and have learnt to live with flooding situations.
Floating agriculture is a good popular practice of the low-lying areas the south-western parts of Bangladesh where lands remain submerged most of time in a year. Not only to cope during floods, floating agriculture is
also a potential means to increase the food production in the country.
Holland is famous for its polders, or reclaimed land below sea level. The shaping of the Dutch landscape goes back to the 12th century, when rising water levels threatened agricultural land.
In agriculture, water plays an important role in crop production. So it is very important to use water very efficiently in crop production and see more grains from every drop of water used in crop cultivation.
Gravity makes water run downhill, so people and communities living in mountainous areas often have more difficulties in accessing sufficient water. As this example from the Philippines shows, simple technologies can be a great help
Involving local communities in identifying local solutions is the best way to address local water problems. Experience of MITTRA is one such example which depicts communities taking charge of developing water sources and managing them well too.
