People’s Participation in Soil and Water Conservation Through Watershed Approach

People’s participation is imperative in soil and water conservation programme through watershed approach. It is a collective and cooperative effort by the local people for sharing common benefits. Participation of local people at the time of preparing a watershed development programme is very much needed to take decisions because the programme should be according to the basic needs of local people. The programme should meet the basic needs of the majority of the local people like supply of drinking water, fodder for cattle and fuel for kitchen. The local people are the ultimate beneficiary of any programme. Therefore, the programme should be for the people, by the people and of the people. The watershed development programmes are made for local people; hence the local people should take interest and participate in implementation of programme by contributing labour and money in construction of soil and water conservation structures on their field and common land, Participation in maintenance is also required because without protection and care by the local people the programme will not be successful. The involvement of local people in evaluation of programme is also necessary, so that it may provide points to be considered for improvement in future programme planning. Thus, it was felt to conduct a research study and write the book on the people’s participation in soil and water conservation programme for sustainable agricultural production through watershed approach.