NABARD watershed projects key to building rural livelihoods: Collector

 Panyam: DistrictCollector G Raja Kumari has said that NABARD-assisted watershed projects play a crucial role in sustainable natural resource management and in strengthening rural livelihoods.

She was speaking after participating in the Bhoomi Puja on Friday for watershed development works at S Rangapuram village in Panyam mandal, taken up with financial support from NABARD and implemented by SRED NGO. The programme was attended by Dhone MLA Suryaprakash Reddy along with NABARD DDM KRD Karthik, SRED President Damodar Reddy, Lead District Manager Ravindra Kumar, District Horticulture Officer Nagaraju, DWMA PD Suryanarayana, DRDA PD Sridhar Reddy, other officials, public representatives and villagers.

After the Bhoomi Puja, the Collector, the MLA and NABARD DDM jointly inaugurated the watershed works by flagging them off in the CBP ridge area under the project limits. The Collector said the works would focus on soil conservation, improving water-holding capacity and enhancing land productivity through field-level interventions. She added that social and livelihood development programmes were also being implemented within the Kalacharla watershed area as part of an integrated approach to rural development.

As part of strengthening livelihood infrastructure, electric vegetable vending carts were distributed to watershed beneficiaries in coordination with the Horticulture Department.

Drip irrigation kits were also distributed to improve water-use efficiency and boost crop yields, while a solar-powered automatic Bio-Resource Centre was inaugurated to support natural farming practices. Demonstrations on mobile drip irrigation systems and drone-based spraying were conducted, reflecting the integrated and climate-resilient approach being adopted for watershed development and rural livelihood enhancement.