Vulnerability and Adaptation to climate change situational analysis

SDC V&A Programme Situational Analysis Stage I Report

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Mahabubnagar District (Map 1 and Map2) in
Andhra Pradesh State is selected for the
programme on “Vulnerability Assessment
and Enhancing Adaptive Capacity to Climate
Change in Semi-Arid Areas of India” also
called “SDC V&A Programme”.

Mahabubnagar District is semi-arid, drought
prone and one of the most backward
Districts in Andhra Pradesh State. Duration
Map 1 Location of Mahabubnagar District in
of the programme is 4 years (2005 to Andhra Pradesh
2009).

Program Objective: The core objectives of this program is to secure the
livelihoods of rural poor and vulnerable communities by building and enhancing
their adaptive capacity to better cope with adverse impacts of climate change and
improve their disaster preparedness.

Expected Outcomes:
• To enhance the adaptive capacity of the local communities
• To improve the delivery systems, especially the extension services

• To promote multi-level policy dialogues and general awareness to climate
related impacts.

1. OBJECTIVES OF THE SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS STAGE – 1

a. Reconnaissance of Mahabubnagar District for identification of potential
areas and prioritization for the SDC V&A Programme.
b. Collection of secondary information for Situational Analysis – Natural
Resources (Agriculture, Water and Energy), Socio Economic,
Institutions, etc.
c. Identification of NGOs and their area of operation in the District.
d. Planning for the Situational Analysis Stage 2

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2. METHODOLOGY

1. Reconnaissance field visit
2. Interaction and discussions with various officials in the District
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
• Chief Planning Officer (CPO)
• Project Director, District Water Management Agency (DWMA)
• Deputy Director, Ground Water Department,
• Officers at Agriculture Department
• Faculty at the RARS, Palem
• Mandal level officials, MDO, MRO, Statistical officers, Agriculture officers,
etc of the potential Mandals.
• Village level secretaries
3. Interaction and discussion with community members in the villages visited
4. Secondary data collection and analysis
5. Referring the programme document and in consultation with International
Consortium and National Consortium members.

Map 2 Mahabubnagar District with Mandals

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CHAPTER 2

DISTRICT PROFILE
Mahabubnagar is the largest District in Telangana Region and Second Largest in
Andhra Pradesh State. This District consists of 1553 Revenue Villages, 1347 Gram
Panchayats, 64 Mandals1 and 5 Revenue Divisions. Mahabubnagar District has 13
Assembly Constituencies and 2 Parliamentary Constituencies.

It is located in the semiarid region of India with recurring meteorological drought
(because of erratic and scanty rainfall) and worsened by overexploitation of
meager groundwater resources. This is a backward District with diverse socio-
economic problems like lowest literacy rate, migrations, extreme poverty, etc.

1. LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY
The District is located in the Central Part of Peninsular India. It is bounded by
Ranga Reddy and Nalgonda Districts in the North, Nalgonda and Guntur Districts in
the East, Kurnool District in the South. Raichur and Gulbarga Districts of Karnataka
State in the West. In the South Eastern Parts of the District there are hill ranges
extending from North to South, the Hills are mostly Flat Topped. The District is
located between 16 Degree and 17 Degree N latitudes and 77 Degree and 79
Degree E longitudes (see Map 3).

2. LAND USE PATTERN
Total Geographical area of the District is 18.48 Lakhs Hectares and the land
utilization of this District, as per Agriculture Census 2000-2001, is as follows:

Table 1 Land use particulars

S.No. Type ( Area in Ha.) % age
1 Forest Area 263560 14.2617
2 Barren and uncultivable lands 93798 5.075578
3 Permanent pastures and grazing lands 25447 1.376983
4 Land put for non-agricultural use 78600 4.253187
5 Cultivable waste 111426 6.029461
6 Other fallow lands 158657 8.585215
7 Current fallows 467442 25.29412
8 Total Normal Area of all crops 649066 35.12212
Total Geographical Area of the District 1848026 100

1
Administrative unit in each district, consisting of an average of 20 to 30 villages
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Map 3 Mahabubnagar District location w.r.t. other Districts

3. CLIMATE

The climate of the District is generally hot. The District summer period is from
March to May. The daily Temperature during the period ranges from 16.9 deg.
Centigrade to 41.5 deg. Centigrade, the minimum temperature during the winter
season i.e. November to January ranges between 16.9 deg. Centigrade to 19.1
deg. Centigrade.

The rainfall in the District is scanty and the South West Monsoon is erratic. Most of
the Rainfall is received during the South West Monsoon. The normal annual rainfall
of the District is 604.56 mm. Out of this, the South West monsoon accounts for
71% i.e. 489.0 mm and the balance is covered from North East monsoon. (see
graph 1)

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GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATION OF RAINFALL DATA FROM 1980-81 TO 2002-2003

1000.0

900.0

800.0

700.0
NORMAL IN M.M

600.0

500.0

400.0

300.0

200.0

100.0

0.0
1980- 1981- 1982- 1983- 1984- 1985- 1986- 1987- 1988 - 1989 - 1990 - 1991 - 1992 - 1993 - 1994 - 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998 - 1999 - 2000 - 2001- 2002-
81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 2001 2002 2003
YEARS

Graph 1 Rainfall Pattern – Mahabubnagar District

Photo 1 This farmer of Kosgi Mandal said that he had seen good rains about 14 years back when all the
tanks in his village got filled up, since then he is facing drought

4. GEOLOGICAL RESOURCES

The Dharwars are exposed in parts of Gadwal and Makthal Taluka in the form of
narrow bands. They consists of hornblends, schist’s, Traversed by quartz veins.
Almost all parts of the District is comprised of the Granites, except some parts in
Kodangal Taluka in the North and the Purana sedimentaries in Krishna Basin in the
South. The Granites are broadly divided into the Pink and Gray series. There are

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numerous pegmatite’s and quartz veins intrusive into these granites. The Deccan
Traps occur in small patches i.e., the Northern Portions of Kodangal Taluka, where
in some places the trap has been lateritised.

5. SOILS

The Soils of the District can be classified into three broad groups i.e., Red Soil,
Black Cotton and Chalka Soil or mixed Soils. Major soil group in the district is Red
Sandy Soils.

Type of soil % age
A) Loamy Sand Soils (Dubba) 13%
B) Red Sandy Soils (Chalka) 67%
C) Black Soils 20%

About 70% of the total area is under mixed soils, which do not have water-
retaining capacity. The Chalka soils are predominate in the Talukas of Shadnagar,
Mahabubnagar, Jadcherla, Kalwakurthy and Kollapur. The Dubba Soils are in the
Talukas of Achampet and Gadwal while the Black Cotton Soils, which constitute
20% of the District, are in the Talukas of Alampur and Kodangal.

Photo 2 Patch of rich black cotton soils ~3 feet thick found at Reddy Guda Village, Midjil Mandal

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6. AGRICULTURE

The dry crops are predominant in the District as the Irrigated area is only 15% of
the net area sown. Net area sown: 8.767 Lakhs Hect. and Gross area sown: 9.767
Lakhs Hect. The percentage of areas sown under different crops is a follows:

Table 2 Cropping pattern
Crop Percentage Crop Percentage Crop Percentage
1. Paddy 10 % 2. Millets 28 % 5. Others 9%
3. Pulses 11 % 4. Oil 42 %
Seeds

Table 3 Major types of crops
Major Food Crops: Major Oil seeds Crops Major Pulses Crops

Jowar Castor Red Gram

Paddy Groundnut Green Gram

Bajra / sajja / pearl millet Sun Flower Horse Gram

Ragi / Finger millet

The net sown area is not more than 50% of the total geographical area. The
district has been declared as one of the 12 drought prone districts of Andhra
Pradesh. Major livelihood in the district includes agriculture and animal husbandry.
About 1.75 Lakhs small farmers and 2.94 marginal farmers are dependent on wage
employment. About 3.20 Lakhs agricultural laborers who are below poverty line are
also dependent on agricultural wage employment.

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Photo 3 A farmer of Reddy Guda Village, Midjil Mandal is preparing the land for sowing

7. LIVESTOCK

Mahabubnagar has large numbers of small ruminants and cattle. The dependency
on small ruminants like sheep and goat is very high. For many farmers, livestock is
an important asset to sell off to cope with drought; therefore, it is an important
resource against vulnerability.

Due to failure of monsoons in the initial stages, fodder shortage is noticed. The
green fodder position in the district has become critical and the grazing facilities
have almost dwindled. Fodder requirement in the District upto June 2005 is 9.47
lakhs MT. The people are found buying fodder in large quantities to meet the
requirement and shepherds are migrating with their sheep to other places.

Table 4 Livestock Numbers
Livestock Numbers
Total White & Black cattle population 27.40 Lakhs
Sheep 11.98 Lakhs
Goats 3.85 Lakhs
Total livestock 19.10 Lakhs cow units

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Photo 4 This shepherd from Wanaparthy area is migrating with his sheep towards northwestern part of
the District as it has rained there - photo was taken near Mahabubnagar town.

8. WATER

One of the important agencies in the district is District Water Management
Agency(DWMA) started in 1995. Each watershed project covers about 500 hectares
and there are 942 such projects sanctioned in the district. Presently the new
watersheds are being carried following Hariyali Guidelines – Involvement of
Grampanchayat, Village Organisation and the Watershed Committee, the action
planning and monitoring is participatory. The status of watershed projects is as
such:

Table 5 Scheme wise watersheds
S.No Scheme Sanctioned completed ongoing
1 EAS 212 212
2 DPAP 463 132 331
3 Hariyali 48 48
4 APRLP 100 100
5 RIDF - VI 119 119
Total 942 344 598

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Table 6 Water Resources

Surface water
Tanks - 6192 nos covering 76513 hect.
Major Projects:
Priyadarshini Jurala Irrigation Project (40200 ac.)
Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme (35000 ac.)
Koilsagar project (4726 ac.)
Proposed:
Nettampadu Lift Irrigation Scheme (2,00,000 ac.)
Kalwakurthy lift irrigation Scheme (2,50,000 ac.)
Bhima Lift Irrigation Scheme (2,03,000 ac.)

Tube wells - 108200 nos covering 109711 hect.
District average dept of groundwater table: 17.16 M

Map 4 Watersheds Distribution

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Photo 5 An open dry well as found in Karukonda Village, Nawabpet Village, the ground water table has
gone down drastically in most parts of Mahabubnagar District.

9. ENERGY

DWMA and DFO social forestry are the important agencies in the district
responsible for promoting Bio-fuel plantations (Jatropha). This is the national policy
adopted for alternative sources of energy and at the same time helping the
farmers. Total Jatropha seed allotted to the district is 1.5 MT. Presently the total
saplings available are 10 Lakhs with DWMA alone. Number of farmers identified are
2,548 nos for planting in 5,897 acres.

10. FORESTS
Forests occupy an area of 2.67 Lakhs Hectares and constitute about 14% of the
total Geographic area of the District. Most of the Forests are concentrated in the
South Eastern parts of the District covering mainly Achampet, Kollapur with small
areas in Wanaparthy, Mahabubnagar and Makthal Talukas. The bulk of the Forests
in the District is comprised of deciduous. The important species of these are Teak,
Maddi, Ippa etc., The availability of Bamboo in the District is formal. The important
sources of Revenue from Forest are mainly from Beedi Leaves, Timber, Bamboos,
Seethaphal and Gum etc.,

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The Wild Life is abundant in the interior and inaccessible plateau regions of
Amarabad. Among the wild animals, the Panther, the Tiger, wild Dogs, hyenas,
Bear are common and of the herbivorous animals spotted deer, Nilgai, Sambar,
Black-Buck, Chinkara, Wild Bear, several kinds of birds, Peacocks, Water Birds,
Cobras and Vipers are also common in these forests.

11. DEMOGRAPHIC PARTICULARS

The District has a population of 35,13,934 of which 17.81 Lakhs are males and
17.28 Lakhs are females. About 69% of the total population lives in rural areas. It
has been estimated that 48% of the people live below poverty line. The Urban
areas of the District is only 156.86 kms, and distributed among 4 towns and 7
major Gram Panchayats in the District. Mahabubnagar town, which is the District
Headquarters, is largest Urban unit in the District, with a population of 1,39,662.

12. SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

The district ranks lowest among the literates in the State accounting for only
38.6% of the literacy level. A very disturbing demographic feature of the district is
that a high percentage of population migrate to nearby urban centers in search of
livelihood. This is because of continuous recurrence of drought conditions and lack
of employment opportunities. The worst affected are the children and the aged
because of this phenomena., the agricultural laborers are having no work in many
areas. To arrest migration it is necessary to provide wage employment
opportunities especially of unskilled nature

It is also interesting to note that the worker participation rate among females (i.e.
total female workers to female population) is as high as 45%, which is second
largest in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the female workers are agricultural laborers.
Statistics over a period also suggest that the proportion of agricultural laborers is
increasing over the proportion of cultivators.

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Photo 6 These women have migrated to Mahabubnagar town for work

13. GROUPS / SOCIAL NETWORKS

A pioneering developmental initiative was take-up in the district in promoting Self-
help groups (SHGs) and also forming mutually aided cooperatives societies at
Mandal level in 1980s under the auspices of UNDP which eventually led to a mass
movement of organizing women self help groups around thrift, credit and livelihood
programmes. Subsequently almost all Mandals and the habitations are covered,
with the efforts of DRDA, DPIP, NGOs and other line department programmes in
the District.
• No. of Self-Help Groups 28870
• Total members covered No. 4.33 Lakhs

14. ONGOING PROGRAMMES / ACTIVITIES

Recognizing the level of backwardness in the district a number of developmental
schemes have been introduced in the district by national and international
agencies. Important of them are World Bank supported District Poverty Initiative
Programme (DPIP), DFID supported Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Programme,
Dutch supported Biotech Programme, Netherlands Govt. Supported APWELL project
etc., A number of government and non-governmental institutions are actively
engaged in the district in promoting peoples participation in a number of
developmental programmes.

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In addition to internationally funded programmes, there are a number of schemes
supported by Government of Andhra Pradesh and Government of India in the areas
of watershed developments, minor and major irrigation, social afforestation,
diversification of agriculture, livestock development, drinking water and sanitation
improvement, primary health, and education etc. In other words, institutional
structure is in place to optimize the benefits of any innovative programme.

As per Government instructions, all works are going on in the district i.e.
Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS), Jawahar Grameena Swarojgar Yojana
(JGSY), DPAP watersheds, Joint Forest Management or VSS, MPLADS, NABARD
works, ZP general funds, PR Roads & Building sector, PR (RWS) sector, Minor
Irrigation, R & B, Housing etc., This district is also selected for National Food For
Work Programme (NFFWP), assuring 100 days of employment opportunity for all
wage seekers in an year. They are paid in food grains (80%) and partly in
cash(20).

15. FORMAL INSTITUTIONS AT VILLAGE LEVEL
• NRM • SC Corporation
• District Water Management Agency(DWMA) • ST Welfare/Tribal Welfare
• Rural Infrastructure Development • BC Welfare / BC Corporation
Fund(RIDF) • Social Welfare
• NAWAPRA / Watershed Development by • Tribal welfare
Agriculture Department • Youth welfare
• Ground Water Department • ICDS / Child Development Programme
• JFM / CFM programmes by Forest • Anganwadi / Women and Children Welfare
Department • Infrastructure
• Agriculture Department / Rythu Mitra or • Housing Department
groups
• Horticulture Dept • Services
• Comprehensive Land Development • Civil supplies / Public Distribution sys
Programme / Indira Prabha • Rural water supply (Panchayat Raj dept.)
• Animal Husbandry • Electricity
• Fisheries • Road Transport Corporation
• Irrigation Dept (Minor / Medium / Major) • Telecommunications / BSNL
• Marketing
• Social
• Dist. Rural Dev. Agency (DRDA) / District • Artisans / Industries / enterprise
Poverty Initiatives Programme (DPIP) / • Industries Department
Indira Kranthi Patham • Handlooms and Textiles
• DPEP / Education • Various schemes for Artisans
• Medical and Health
• Other Programmes
• Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihoods
Programme (APRLP)

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CHAPTER 3

PRIORITIZATION OF MANDALS
Considering the size of the district, it will not be possible to cover the entire
district. For the implementation of the programme, only few villages will be
identified. A list of the potential Mandals2 / sites are selected tentatively based on a
set of criteria, and which include the following:

1. CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF POTENTIAL MANDALS

2. Located in drought prone and semi-arid areas
3. The need for intervention and the conditions for successful implementation.
4. The response of the local communities in successful implementation
5. Social networks / groups representing women, farmers, water users, etc.,
are formed and active.
6. Presence of a number of developmental programmes
7. Major irrigation programmes are not being envisaged in these Mandals3
8. Opinion of the district level officials
9. Local institutional arrangements including the presence of active NGOs etc.
10. Infrastructure existing
11. Accessibility

2. PRIORITISATION OF POTENTIAL MANDALS

The potential Mandals were prioritized using the Secondary data (See Annexure -
1, 2 and 4) and also keeping in view the nature of the programme i.e., This is a 4
years programme - very short duration (need to select an appropriate area and
should be able to achieve results). Based on existing insights and experiences
specific sites in the District are being selected. The criteria to identify and select
includes 1. Manifestation of climate hazards vis-à-vis Water, Agriculture and
Energy (biomass-livestock, etc) 2. The social organisation at village level 3.
Presence of local partners.

For prioritizing the Mandals, 0 to 3 scores were given classifying the Mandals into 4
classes for which the following parameters were considered (See Annexure 3).

2
All the potential Mandals have been visited by Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy, Lead Consultant along with
1. Mr. K. Siva Prasad and Dr. V. K. Reddy (24-25 May 2005), 2. Ms. Sulabha Mahajan (6th TO 8th June
2005), 3. Dr. V. K. Reddy 18th June 2005
3
Except that some parts of Kalwakurthy and Nagarkurnool would be benefited if proposed Kalwakurthy
Lift Irrigation scheme is completed.
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Agriculture
• % Net area sown to total cultivable area
• % total cropped area to Geographical area
• Food crops
• Small farmers(<1.23 hect)
• Marginal farmers(1.24 to 2.46 hect)
Water
• Rainfall
• Tube wells net irrigated
Energy (Biomass – Livestock)
• Cattle
• Buffalo
• Sheep
• Livestock
• % of Pastures
Literacy
• % of Literacy total
Access to loans – Service of financial institutions
• Average Loan amount per person availing
Physical Access
• Access (from highways and District head quarters)
NGOs
• NGOs access (Based on the discussions with secondary stakeholders)

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Table 7 Prioritization of potential Mandals

Rank Mandal Rank Mandal
1 Farooknagar 7 Amangal
2 Kondurg 8 Wanaparthy
3 Balanagar 8 Nagarkurnool
4 Midjil 8 Kalwakurthy
5 Nawabpet 9 Jadcherla
5 Kodangal 10 Boothpur
6 Bijinapally 11 Kosgi
6 Bomaraspet 12 Ghanapur

Map 5 NGOs working on NRM based programmes and their spatial distribution

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Map 6 Potential Mandals identified in Mahabubnagar District

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3. SELECTION OF PROJECT VILLAGES

There are three models emerging they are:
Model 1: Selection of a cluster of villages in only one Mandal.
Model 2: Selection of two Mandals and few villages in each Mandal.
Model 3: Selection of few villages in one Mandal and Satellite villages (only one
village each from 2 or 3 other Mandals)

Table 8 Emerging models for selection of villages
Advantages Disadvantages
Model 1 Area of operation, Delivery If the officials change or non-
systems, capacity building, cooperative, People are not
Knowledge Dissemination- adaptive, case studies / learnings
Automatic Weather Station would be few.
(AWS), Knowledge Centers
Model 2 Comparative advantage, risk of Access, delivery systems, capacity
failure would be less. building
Model 3 Results would be better and Cost of capacity building at
chance for comparison more, case secondary level would be more,
studies would be more more efforts for better delivery
systems at higher level.

Further discussions are needed on these emerging models or there could be some
other practical model4.

4
Suggestions needed from International and National consortium members.
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CHAPTER 4

WAY FORWARD
Situational analysis stage – I has provided insights into emerging challenges for
selection of project villages in Mahabubnagar District for the SDC V&A Programme.
It also forms the basis for planning and completion of the following tasks
immediately:
1. Finalization of Mandal/s5, identification of the programme villages and planning
for participatory situational analysis.
2. Collection of any other appropriate secondary data
3. Study of existing NGOs and selection for local facilitation
4. Identification of the status and gaps in the implementation of various NRM
programmes, and thereby identifying the capacity building needs6.
5. Identifying the scope for convergence of various programs at District, Mandal
and Village level.
6. Identification of members for formation of District level and village level
committees.

5
This would be based on the inputs from Capacity Building Workshop at Hyderabad - 28th to 30th June
2005.
6
Along with MANAGE

Report by: Dr. N. Sai Bhaskar Reddy, Lead Consultant, AFPRO, Hyderabad, AP.
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