Waters of Addakal. Woman, the deadlier species

ADDAKAL - We are in a cluster of 37 villages spread over 19,397 hectares in Addakal Mandal in the Mahabubnagar District of Andhra Pradesh in India. Here, ICRISAT tells me there are many more animals (87,000 head) than humans (52,000 heads) (vasat.icrisat.ac.in). I find that funny, as I think the animals must multiply faster than the humans. I find it interesting that we are in one of the poorest regions in India, and considering the drought getting severe, yet the animal species outnumber the human species. Addakal had a severe drought in 2002, and a less severe one in 2005. In 2009, the rainfall was below 20% of normal, and the larger region had the driest June-July period in 80 years. Sadly, I learn that in Addakal, migration and suicide had been reported to as coping mechanisms. We are here to see that science is a better coping mechanism.

And so, sheep, cattle and goat are "helping the poor people of Addakal to survive the vagaries of the harsh climate," according to the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. ICRISAT is based in India; its Director General is William Dar, a Filipino. I find a curious situation there, I mean in Addakal. All those animals eat grass and related species - so, there must be enough vegetation living around. Which means that there must be enough soil moisture to grow the vegetation. But ICRISAT also tells me most of the tube-wells, open wells and tanks in the area had dried up and the area was now highly drought-prone. Where are the waters of Addakal coming from?

We must go back 6 years. In 2004, the all-women group calling themselves the Adarsha Mahila Samaikhya, AMS, with the advocacy of the State Government of Andhra Pradesh, approached ICRISAT for help in setting up an information center or something to help the farmers in the Addakal Block survive and, even more so, surmount the drought. Scarcity is the mother of invention. This was highly unusual - this was the knowledge user seeking help from the knowledge creator, a bottom-up transaction; here was knowledge that was demand-driven, where before it was supply-pushed. Knowledge is power; these were knowledge seekers empowering themselves. The women knew what they wanted; could ICRISAT deliver?

In response, ICRISAT, through the Virtual Academy for the Semi-Arid Tropics, VASAT, a partnership, set up an Internet facility at the AMS campus with personal computers to support basic operations. ICRISAT provided technical assistance and advice; the AMS ran the facility. The AMS is a federation of successful all-women micro-credit self-help groups with a membership of 6,300 from 21 villages in Addakal. It has been active since 1994. The women have proven to be more successful in managing credit than the men. And now here they are starting to show that they are more successful in managing information than the men!

ICRISAT and partners have since set up Village Information Centers with their own Internet facilities in all 21 AMS villages of Addakal Mandal: Addakal, Chakrapur, Dasarpalli, Gajulapet, Guidibanda, Janampet, Kandur, Kankapur, Kataram, Komireddipalli, Nandipet, Nizalapur, Polkampalli, Ponnakal, Rachal, Shakapur, Timmailpalli, Timmapur, Turkanipur, and Vemula, with the one in Moosapet as hub. There is now even a 2-way video-conferencing facility, courtesy of the Indian Space Research Organization. (Photo shows Ms Madavi, 26 years old, the current manager of the ICT-mediated information hub at the campus of AMS.)

Specifically addressing the worsening drought, using modern information technologies, including remote sensing and geographic information systems, GIS. ICRISAT and partners created what they call micro-level drought vulnerability prediction maps and which I want to simply call drought maps. The GIS-based framework of the Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai) for water-deficit calculations - actual water requirements against predicted rainfall availability - had been validated in 2007. Also simplifying their science lives, I imagine the AMS women probably simply refer to them as color-coordinated maps.

A drought map tells you how much drought to expect in any Addakal AMS village in the coming year given a predicted annual rainfall of say 400 mm: 50% to 75% (the red areas in the map), 0% to 50% (yellow areas), and 0% to -25% (green areas) where there is up to 25% surface water available. A drought map is distributed at the beginning of the planting season so that the farmers can adjust their plans. If the predicted rainfall is more, or less, the colors change accordingly.

Red is Stop and consider; Green is Go - through the all-women AMS, the farmers in Addakal were taught to interpret the drought maps and plant their crops according to the best lights of science and not the best lights of tradition. There is another tradition broken here - where the extension people were usually male (at least in the Philippines), they (referred to as information mediators) were now all-female. In extension, the female of the species is proving to be deadlier than the male.

Which meant that in the red and yellow villages, modern science was changing the generations-old patterns of cropping into reality-based farming:

Plant drought-resistant crops!

That in fact is only the first of a 4-part dryland strategy developed by ICRISAT, according to DG Dar, in the face of climate change (30 June 2009, icrisat.org); here's my interpretation:

1st, Plant drought-resistant crops. Farmers must match crop to season and soil moisture. This calls for the growing of crop varieties that tolerate severe lack of moisture. ICRISAT has developed such varieties of sorghum, pearl millet, chickpea, pigeon pea and groundnut.

2nd, Grow shorter-duration crops. With delayed monsoon rains, farmers cannot grow their traditional crops. So, crops must follow the water. "Short-duration crops thrive and yield well even with scarce water," says Dar, "as they mature before soil moisture gets depleted."

3rd, Conserve soil & water. Harvest water during the rainy season. Enrich the soil with good agricultural practices that build the soil as well as keep the soil moisture where it should be.

4th, Empower dryland farmers. Train the farmers; advocate for rural institutions and urge government to formulate policies in favor of dryland agriculture.

Not forgetting the reality of climate change, thinking of the waters of Addakal and having in mind all those micro-level drought vulnerability prediction maps, I just had the idea and I hope that ICRISAT and partners will now go ahead and develop color-coded soil-water maps to encourage more farmers to enrich their soils naturally and, naturally, those soils will hold more moisture, drought or no drought. That should be interesting if not easy. ICRISAT already knows how to create those drought maps; it already knows conservation agriculture. With those colorful soil-water maps, the early adopters in the villages will appear green in the soil-water maps, and the laggards will appear red or yellow, so I'm sure they will get shamed and/or jealous and be encouraged to go and do likewise. I'm a farmer's son; I know farmers follow other farmers who are successful, success here being measured in how much more you earn from your crop than the others. And don't forget the AMS are very successful extensionists.

Bangladesh through Grameen first showed that women are better in managing credit than men; India through ICRISAT first showed that women are better in managing information than men. I rather think that these watersheds in history show the women are the deadlier of the species!