The CONTENT
The Dagal Aringga Village
The Village Resources
Problem Analysis
Community NRM Plan with Estimates
Brief Justifications on Proposed activities
Annexure - 1
Dagal Aringga Village
The Dagal Aringga village is located in Songsak C&RD Block district East Garo Hills Meghalaya. The village is inhabited by Garo Community with 156 households with 858 populations with 420 females and 428 males. The VNRMC in this village was formed in the month of 3rd July 2019. The village is 22 KM from Songsak Block and 50 KM for the district headquarter Williamnagar. The Land Use Land Cover (LULC) map of the village identified GPS co-ordinates of 25.78401 and 90.65649 for latitude and longitude respectively. The village elevation reading is 193 msl.
The Village Resources
The Social Resources
The land in the village is owned by a clan which is called ‘Nokma A’King1 land’. The main institutions in the village are the Nokma, the Village Employment Council (VEC) and 2 Self Help Group. There are no ‘Water and Sanitation Committee’ in the village, which the project need to promote. Everyone in the village use firewood as the main source of fuel requirement and in addition that 150 HH use LPG. There is Government L.P & U.P school in the village.
The Natural Resources
Through GIS technology the project has collected data that the Dagal Aringga village has total of 658.25 a Ha of geographical area of which the total forest cover area which is also open forest is 354.17 Ha. Water bodies’ coverage is 4.99Ha. The village has Agricultural land measuring 23.16Ha and 32Ha of culturable wasteland. Arecanut plantation is the major cash crop in the village.
Type of Forest Cover and Wildlife in Dagal Aringga Village
The LULC provide that total forest land in the village is 254.17 Ha (total forest land is also an open forest) which is in conformity with the villagers during the PRA exercise. Surprisingly there is no dense forest in this village. The biomass in open forest is reducing year after year. There is community forest (which is also defined as open forest) measuring 1.6 ha with sites name Michelia champaca,Aegle msarmelos,Schima wallichii,Kelu,Dalbergia siso,Dillenia indica. The villagers have agreed to improve this community open forest. The village has protected forest in some 0.8ha of land in Songsak (site) Dagal Aringga which they have planned to bring under Forest Management Plan. There is 0.8ha of private forest which is also open forest in nature. These forest cover includes major N/A and Jackfruit nos of indigenous fruit and non-fruit bearing species such as Jackfruit, etc. In addition to indigenous species, there are large numbers of fodders’ species used by the villagers for feeding the cattle N/A. There are also NTFPs in Forest like Alpinia sapp,Emblica officinalis,Dimbil bark Due to reduction in forest cover and unavailability of food, the existing fauna such as N/A are in danger or in non existence as on date.
Cultivable Land
The village has 23.16 Ha of agricultural, horticultural and plantation land. The village has also Jhum land in around 9.6 Ha of land. Soil erosion is taking place in around 71Ha of land. The land is becoming less productive due to unavailability of irrigation facilities. The villagers are engaged in multi-cropping which are based on season. The farmers have been suffering with pest attack which has been destroying their paddy field.
Water Bodies
The village has 5 springs they are passing through the village. All these water bodies are perennial, however, during the lean season the water discharge in many springs and streams reduces to large extend. Only one spring has been tested out of these water bodies as on date for intervention. These water bodies are used for domestic and irrigation purposes. Water crisis during the months of February,March and April.
Spring Inventory
The Mater Trainers has taken the discharge measurement Dagal Aringga spring latitude are 25.78669°N and longitude of 90.65316 °E with elevation of 213m. It’s a depression spring with perennial in nature with the bamboo outlet. The water of the spring is used for drinking and for domestic purposes. Spring discharge was calculated 3.9 LPM through stop watch- bucket method. The pH value of the spring is 6.5 LPM. The catchment area of spring is in the private land. Broad geology in and around the spring location are weathered rock. A rough sketch of the spring is also brings an understanding of potential recharge areas for intervention.
Problem Analysis
The above village resource data collected through GIS technology, primary data collection made through CNRMP template and Spring Inventory templates suggests that the village is still rich in natural resources. At the same time natural resource degradation has been started in the village that needs planned actions and interventions. The area of open forest is increasing and it seems that there is no more dense forest anymore in this village. This is due to jhum cultivation, cutting down trees for timber, firewood and for other plantations, etc. for immediate economic benefit. These have resulted in less water discharge of water from springs and rivers which has been brought on low moisture content in the ground, loss of soil fertility and low crop production. The flora and fauna in this village is also reducing drastically.
Community Natural Resource Management Plan with estimation
Having understood the natural resources in the village, having foreseen the upcoming threats to land, water and forest, the Villagers and VEC members of the village came together on the 3rd July 2019 to identify and plan out interventions to address challenges faced in their village both in terms of NRM issues and their economic issues. The VEC with facilitation from DPMU-EGH and SPMU has arrived at the list of activities to be taken up in next three years within the budget provision. The villagers strongly feel that these interventions would enable them to conserve and improve the natural resources for their future generations.
Proposed Activities
| SL | Proposed activities | Site Name | Benefitted area in Ha | No. of HH benefitted | Estimated Amount (Rs) | Start date | Completion date |
| 1 | RCC Check Dam | Sember Stream | 6.8 | 15 | 275400 | 10-Mar-20 | 11-May-20 |
| 2 | Afforestation | Village Reserve | 10.12 | 156 | 183609 | 25-Jun-20 | 4-Jul-20 |
| 3 | Contour Trenches A | Nabare Chiram | 8.31 | 10 | 35190 | 10-Aug-20 | 19-Aug-20 |
| 4 | Contour Trenches B | Bolma Stream | 9.5 | 13 | 38812 | 25-Aug-20 | 3-Sep-20 |
| 5 | Spring Chamber | Bolma Spring | 5.25 | 165 | 146800 | 15-Nov-20 | 17-Dec-20 |
| 6 | Community Nursery | Sogop Adap | 4.12 | 156 | 111017 | 13-Jul-20 | 13-Nov-20 |
| 7 | Agro-Forestry | Community Reserve, Salpang | 8.75 | 165 | 196248 | 15-Jun-21 | 22-Jun-21 |
| 8 | Spring Chamber | Simseng Spring | 6 | 10 | 164100 | 20-Oct-21 | 13-Nov-21 |
| 9 | Dug Out Pond | Simseng | 5 | 176 | 92108 | 13-Nov-21 | 15-Nov-21 |
| 10 | Hot Composting | Community Land | 6 | 89 | 33500 | 17-Dec-21 | 3-Jan-22 |
| 11 | Open Well | Nabare | 1.25 | 8 | 114750 | 18-Dec-21 | 12-Mar-22 |
| 12 | Open Well | Simseng Apal | 1.25 | 8 | |||
| 13 | Earthen Embankment with CC Core Wall | Dogasaram | 15 | 171 | 193800 | 5-Apr-22 | 11-Apr-22 |
| 14 | Gabion Wall | Chisim Chiring | 4 | 10 | 241490 | 22-Mar-22 | 29-Mar-22 |
| 15 | Lemon Plantation (Horticulture) | Nabare Chisam | 7.5 | 176 | 128738 | 13-Sep-22 | 15-Sep-22 |
| 16 | RCC Check Dam | Chisim Chiring | 8 | 15 | 243642 | 16-Sep-22 | 5-Oct-22 |
| 17 | RCC Check Dam | Simseng Chiring | 5.48 | 10 | 134630 | 17-Jan-23 | 7-Feb-23 |
| 18 | Water Storage Tank with CC Dam | Tematchi | 3.25 | 12 | 198020 | 17-Jan-23 | 7-Feb-23 |
| 19 | Water Storage Tank | Nabare | 3 | 10 | 167350 | 17-Jan-23 | 7-Feb-23 |
| Total | 118.55 | 1375 | 26,99,204 |
Brief Justification on the Proposed Activities
Community Nursery
The details of the Community Nursery can be seen in the Annexure. The proposed nursery is meant for raising the saplings which will be planted in the open forest, catchment areas, reserve forest, and private land covering to a total of around 73.89 Ha of land. The roads connected to the village is far from the market, so sourcing building would pose as a challenge for the villagers, but since natural resources like water, trees, bamboo, etc. are readily available to them, they can quite easily construct an environment friendly nursery.
Composting
The villagers has also proposed to improve land productivity in around of 7.88 Ha of agricultural land and using composting so that the soil will be more fertile and that healthy plants in return would fetch more productivity leading to increased income.
Plantation/Afforestation/Reforestation
In the village there has an open forest which is about 354.17 ha. Villagers have realized that open forests are increasing which leads to climate change and loss of biodiversity. The villagers has decided both Afforestation or reforestation & Agro-forestry in the open forests as well as in the private land which bring to a total nos. of 1.6 Ha of land. It is advice to encourage the villagers to plant fruit bearing trees while carrying out reforestation for the benefits of all fauna and humankind. It will also restore and maintain balance in the biodiversity.
Spring-shed Development and management
There are 6 nos. of springs in this village which are perennial. The water discharge from these springs reduces drastically during the lean season. Development of spring-shed approach in the village along with rejuvenation activities such as afforestation, contour and staggered trenches in the catchment areas benefiting to about 1.6 Ha of land that would help in increasing the discharge both peak and lean season catering to households and reduced drudgery, especially of women.
Check Dam
Since there is unavailability of irrigation facilities occur the months of February to April and the land become less productive, villagers have proposed 6 nos of check dam to be constructed for irrigation and domestic purpose around 90 households will be benefiting from it. It is expected that 1.6 Ha of land will be benefited from this structures. Availability of water throughout the season can help through villagers to practice multiple cropping and follow crop rotation throughout the year which will increase the production and their income as well.
Forest Management Plan
The village has a Reserve forest which has been preserved by the community but due to extraction of timber by the villager themselves now it is consider as open forest. After the villagers realized that open forests are increasing which would lead to climate change and loss biodiversity year after year. They wanted to reclaim the forest which is around 4 Ha to be brought under forest management plan which will further increase its forest cover, take more preventive measures, etc.
Gabion Wall/Gully plug
The village has constructed a Gabion wall at Chisrim Stream in order to control soil erosion. The village has in order to control land sliding on road sides and also to prevent the water logging area from further destruction. This has prevent blockage of road ,soil erosion etc.
Annexure
Attendance sheet
LULC Map
The land belongs to a clan which is called NokmaA’king land. It is under the custody of its female head, the Nokma, whose husband acts on her behalf in all clan decision-making; the Nokma has no authority to take decisions on land and its use. Decisions are meant to be collective among representatives of the clan.↩︎