{"id":1021,"date":"2025-10-31T16:26:49","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T16:26:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/?p=1021"},"modified":"2025-12-18T19:22:50","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:22:50","slug":"innovative-water-sharing-program-india-improve-farmer-livelihoods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/waterfront\/2025\/10\/31\/innovative-water-sharing-program-india-improve-farmer-livelihoods\/","title":{"rendered":"An innovative water sharing program in India helps improve farmer livelihoods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vanya Mehta of WELL Labs co-authored this blog.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a semi-arid region in southwest Andhra Pradesh, low but highly variable rainfall has made groundwater a critical lifeline for farmers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But prolonged droughts and more borewell drilling have worsened groundwater depletion, severely impacting agrarian communities. <\/span>To reduce competitive well drilling and assist farmers without wells in the region, the Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN) launched the Groundwater Collectivization Programme.<\/span> The initiative helps farmers form water collectives to share groundwater through formal agreements.<\/span><\/p>\n

A <\/span>new study of the Groundwater Collectivization Programme<\/span><\/a> by researchers from EDF and WELL Labs revealed some encouraging results, including a slight increase in farm profits and higher yields during the monsoon season.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Water challenges in Andhra Pradesh<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The semi-arid region of Rayalaseema in southwest Andhra Pradesh averages 270 dry days a year and 35 days with less than 2.5 millimeters of rain, resulting in an increasing reliance on groundwater for crop production.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Farmers with borewells irrigate in both the kharif (monsoon) and the drier rabi (winter) seasons, while those without borewells depend on rainfed farming, limiting their yields and income.<\/span><\/p>\n

Canal irrigation is less common in the Rayalaseema region, leaving many farmers with groundwater as their only irrigation supply.\u00a0<\/span>In recent years, the number of borewells dug by farmers has increased significantly. Drilling a borewell is costly (between \u20b980,000 and \u20b91.5 lakh) and the borewell failure rate is high, due to the nature of granitic hard rock aquifers in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Map<\/p>\n

Increasing irrigation equity during dry times<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To motivate farmers who own borewells to share groundwater with non-borewell owning farmers, WASSAN proposed financing a piped network system to carry groundwater across multiple plots<\/span>. This was attractive because borewell farmers often had non-contiguous plots that they were unable to irrigate during the rabi season<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The catch? Farmers only can access this financing for a piped network system if they agree to share water during monsoonal dry periods with all the members in the groundwater collective. The piped system was constructed with outlets into other farmers\u2019 fields to enable this broader access to groundwater irrigation during water-scarce periods.\u00a0<\/span>As one farmer in Kumaravandlapalli explained, \u201cOur lands are scattered, but after forming the water collectives, pipelines were extended to reach even the farthest fields.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Additional conditions of the collective program included: <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n