MoU for scientific assessment of Telangana’s Mission Kakatiya

Soil, water and socio-economic impact of the scheme to be assessed by scientists of ICRISAT

(L-R) Smt Jayashree Balasubramanian, Dr Sreenath Dixit, Dr Kiran K Sharma, Deputy Director General (Acting), ICRISAT, Mr Harish Rao Thanneeru, Minister for Irrigation, Marketing and Legislative Affairs, Government of Telangana, Mr G Malsur, Commissioner Common Area Development Authority, Ministry of Irrigation, Mr Sridhar Rao Deshpande OSD to Ministry.

Hyderabad, 03 August 2018| The unique Mission Kakatiya of the Government of Telangana that aims to restore over 46,000 tanks across the state, will be scientifically assessed. An MoU for this was signed today, between the Ministry of Irrigation, Government of Telangana and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), in the presence of the Minister for Irrigation, Mr T Harish Rao.

The MoU signed by Mr G Malsur, Commissioner Common Area Development Authority, Ministry of Irrigation and Dr Kiran K Sharma, Deputy Director General, (Acting), ICRISAT. Speaking at the formal signing, Minister Mr Harish Rao said, “There are a number of reported benefits including reports on in-bound migration following the desilting of water tanks. We look forward to understand also how the change in availability of water has affected reverse migration. We need to look at many parameters including sustainability, more than just in monetary terms.”

Dr Sharma, said “ICRISAT very much values the partnerships with the Government of Telangana in its development agenda. This partnership project has immense significance in enumerating various benefits of the Mission Kakatiya Project, especially in promoting soil fertility and productivity, and the associated benefits on livelihoods of the smallholder farmers of Telangana.”

The two-year project will carry out economic assessment of benefits of Mission Kakatiya to smallholder farmers to understand nutrient return to the soil and the productivity and profitability.  Through stratified sampling, nutrient content of silt from across 30 districts will be assessed.  Demonstration trials will be undertaken with different levels of silt along with balanced nutrient management for major crops. Overall 750 sites will be examined for soil and water health, besides crop diversity and impact on livelihood.