Simple farm trenches have changed the landscape of Ramnagar Block of West Champaran in Bihar that does not have assured source of irrigation for agriculture.

Every year, the severe drought-like situation used to affect smallholder farmers of Ramnagar Block. Majority of villagers in the area depends on agriculture for their livelihood. In the peak summers, most of the water sources dry up leaving the people at the mercy of nature.

To mitigate these environmental challenges, farmers made efforts to promote small trenches for farming activities and retaining soil moisture. 55 Farmers from the area constructed 220 farm trenches of 5ft long, 2 ft width and 1.5ft depth which can story approx. 93,446 Litres of water.

Although Ramnagar is very close to the International border of Nepal and generally and marked as Flood-prone area, it is situated at a High land where farming is majorly dependent on uncertain rain and groundwater.

After the Caritas India’s Saksham project intervention, farmers group was formed under the project and given trainings on new agriculture technologies, Mix farming, farm pond, seed selection and organic pesticides etc. After the training, Ramadhan Yadav, a model farmer led the process and contacted the Government Agriculture coordinator of his Panchayat for soil testing.  After the test, it was found that moisture and fertility were less in soil. Hence, it was advised to create small farm trenches in the radius of 1 Katha, as an effective method of rainwater harvesting, it is now that the farmers of the Ramnagar Block seem to be experimenting with the idea. This not only holds the rainwater but also allows it to percolate into the soil, recharging the groundwater table in the area.
Saksham project organized a series of trainings for the farmers of the region facilitated by Ramadhan. At first, Ramadhan was the first one to construct 5ft long, 2ft width and 1.5ft depth farm trench having a water storage capacity of approx.  425 litres of water. The use of these trenches proved to be a boon for him, and their yield increased instantly.

“We were constantly looking at their fields and the villagers were taken to all the committees and groups to show the improvement in their cultivation as a demonstration for the change and increase in yield,” shared Ramadhan. During the session, all the farmer trainees were highly motivated and convinced on the use of farm trenches for their agriculture practices. 55 farmers including 38 from the project and 17 others from different areas constructed 220 farm trenches with the given dimension with their own contribution. Now, one can see a major difference between their traditional and methodical agricultural practice.

This is not just a normal achievement to us as because this has involved other farmers also with this practice. 17 other farmers not belonging from the Saksham Farmers group got to know about this practice from the Saksham beneficiary members and they visited their farm for the demonstration. These 17 farmers also have built the water absorption tank in their area seeing the positive impact of our own beneficiary.