Water and Agriculture

Advocating proven models in water and agriculture to materially improve farmer lives

Nearly 70% of India’s rural population depends on agriculture – most of them being marginal farmers.  They remain trapped in a viscous cycle of water stress, low productivity, and hence poor incomes. With 18% of the world’s people but only 4% of its water, climate change and rainfed farming have made rural distress in our country both acute and systemic. We believe that this is one of the areas where the vision of Viksit Bharat will be most tested.

Our work in this vertical began with rejuvenation of water bodies in the Marathwada region of drought-hit Maharashtra, over a decade ago.  Since then it has scaled into a movement across 11 states, improving water security for over one million villagers. Parallelly, we are partnering with organizations that are looking to materially & sustainably boost marginal farmer income through alternate techniques.  By scaling proven models using templates & open source platforms, and backing high-potential innovations, we aim to transform farmer incomes in a sustainable manner for rural prosperity at scale.

Water Security: Rejuvenation of Waterbodies

Addressing water security at scale

Aerial view of a wetland with water, patches of grass, trees, and surrounding farmland under a hazy sky. 
WHY

To alleviate water stress, we piloted and then scaled a cost and time effective model of rejuvenating waterbodies along with our partner Caring Friends (an informal group of stockbrokers who have come together to donate funds to the social sector). This is done keeping communities front and centre. 

WHAT

Our model starts with identifying dried up waterbodies, then we put an excavation machine in there and within two weeks we can desilt the waterbody and restore it to its original capacity. The silt from the waterbody is considered highly nutritious (farmers call it black gold), and the farmers cart it to their fields at their own costs. This eliminates their need to use chemical fertilizers.

Cost effective: ~30% of the cost is borne by the government or donors and ~70% of the cost is borne by the farmers. This has enabled us to scale across 61 districts and states.

HOW

  • Before the work begins, we prioritise water bodies that have better ground recharge using a GIS based tool called CLART.

  • We have also developed a content library with learning/training videos in 5 languages to enable NGOs and Government implement the model.

  • We use AVNI Gramin, a data collection app which has details on the waterbodies, farmers with in built checks and balances for data authentication.

  • This data gets populated into dashboards using Dalgo, which enables both donors and government monitor and evaluate the work.

  • Additionally, we use a chatbot to help with immediate troubleshooting on any issues our field staff might encounter. 

IMPACT

16,000+

waterbodies rejuvenated in 11 states, 80 districts, ~78% through Government support

29,000

villages with access to water, benefiting 2 crore people

35,00,000

farmers carting silt from waterbodies

8

driest states of India hold full-scale impact potential of ~ 1.7 lakh water bodies 

Partners
Collage of logos and images representing various organizations, including Dhara Sanstan, GRAVIS, OneStage, Srijan, Arunoday, Government of India, Caring Friends NGO, Tata Capital, and a smiling young person.

The impact of our Rejuvenation of Waterbodies work on Agriculture

Agriculture

At the A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, we are working towards an ambitious goal: to positively impact the lives of 25 million farmers over the next decade. Our mission to do this involves identifying bold, disruptive ideas led by visionary changemakers, and backing them to deliver transformative, scalable solutions for Indian agriculture. 

Partners