NRM Techniques

Techniques
Techniques adopted by MSS are as follows:

Gully Plugs
The soil erosion in the project villages is high, which leads to a depletion of the topsoil and formation of gullies. There have generally been heavy losses of soil along with the flow of rainwater. In order to prevent a further loss of fertile soil, we block the flow of these gullies with stones and earthen matter which known as Gully Plug.

Continuous Contour Trenches
To reduce the flow of water and allow the water to percolate the soil digging trenches into the hills above farmland and able to reduce the velocity of runoff from the hummock villages in which we work.

Field Bunding
Field bunding is an earthen barrier, which are made of locally available soil and stones around the agricultural land for harvesting of rain water, reducing soil erosion and maintain soil fertility.

Check Dams & Gabions
Check dams are constructed across small streams having gentle slope and are feasible both in hard rock as well as alluvial formations. To harness the maximum run off in the stream, series of such check dams can be constructed to have recharge on regional scale. Gabion is a kind of check dam being commonly constructed across small stream to conserve stream flows with practically no submergence beyond stream course. The boulders locally available are stored in a steel wire mesh and are tied up in the form of rectangular blocks. The silt content of stream water in due course is deposited in the interstices of the boulders to make it more impermeable.

Deepening and up gradation of Well
The wells of our project area had lack of water due to use from a long time and decrease in ground water level due to severe drought. So it is needed to deepening and up gradation of these wells for availability of safe drinking water, installing pulley for fetching water easily to feed the livestock and saving of time.

Anicuts
Anicut is a strong and final barrier to run off. It builds at the base of stream and it is a permanent masonry structure enough to hold back large quantity of water. All these watershed structures reduce soil erosion, increase soil moisture, recharge ground water level and gathered rich minerals which are used by the villagers as organic fertilizer. Inhabitants of watersheds manage their land for the production of forage, food, and fibre that they require to survive and generate income. Therefore, water, timber, forage, and other natural resources on the watersheds should be managed in the most economically efficient and environmentally sound combination possible to obtain the products, commodities, and amenities that people need.

Above mentioned watershed structures reduce soil erosion, increase soil moisture, recharge ground water level and gathered rich minerals which are used by the villagers as organic fertilizer.