Each year, farmers in rain-fed areas face several adversities such as climate variability, crop failure, non-remunerative prices and lack of water during the cropping season. Nearly 90% of Karnataka’s Rabi cultivable land is in the Northern regions of the State, which are amongst the worst affected by drought and water scarcity. Some of the talukas in Northern Karnataka have been under ‘severe drought’. This innovative initiative seeks to harness technology and banks nancing Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) of farmers to scale farm ponds program across North Karnataka region, to usher water security in drought hit regions. Water harvesting - a low cost alternative for irrigation, is one of the key adaptation strategies for successful rain-fed farming. Water harvesting is a directly productive form of soil and water conservation, which can improve the yield. To promote and nurture sustainable farming, Dharwad District Administration, Deshpande Foundation (NGO), SBI, NABARD, FPO and other corporate stakeholders partnered to create innovative and replicable models of water harvesting. Farm Ponds was one of the solutions. The Farm Ponds program is supplemented by the FPOs. They were encouraged to leverage the technical knowledge through Agri Advisory services powered by Rural Transformation.. Read More