WOTR- Watershed Organisation Trust

26/05/2026

Khush Chandra hadn’t farmed his own land in four years.

Due to low productivity, he leased his land in hopes of income. But for nearly four years, his tenants paid no rent, leaving him with nothing from it.

With support from the Ashraya Hastha Trust, WOTR enabled Khush to install drip irrigation on his farm through convergence with ATMA. He swapped rainfed paddy with watermelon, pumpkin, bottle gourd and cucumber across his 2.5 acres.

One season later, he earned ₹2,10,000 in income.

Small interventions can make the world of a difference for farmers unable to till their land. Khush has now restored his income and reclaimed his land.



(Horticulture Farming, Farmer First, Climate Resilience, Food Security Agriculture Sustainable Farming)

26/05/2026

What does it take to make the rain stay?

In six villages in Bidar district, Karnataka, that question determined whether communities survived on their land or left it.

Here, water scarcity didn't just affect farming. It decided everything. Whether children went to school or spent hours fetching water. Whether a family stayed on their land or packed up and left. Whether a farmer trusted his soil enough to plant, or gave up on it entirely.

Making the Rain Stay is a film about what happened when communities in Kalyana Karnataka chose to believe their land was still worth restoring.

It is not a film about infrastructure. It is a film about the harder work that comes first: rebuilding belief.

The interventions such Water Absorption Trenches (WATs), farm bunding, loose boulder structures, groundwater recharge systems - came after communities had already decided to try again. What followed over the next years:

→ 2,231 farmers reported improved farm productivity

→ 7,282 acres of land restored through soil and water conservation

→ 524 billion litres of additional water storage capacity created

→ 305 households diversified and strengthened their incomes

→ 26,000+ people reached

→ Families who had migrated began returning home

This was made possible through the 'Improving Farm based Livelihoods through Watershed Development' project, supported by Wells Fargo.

Watch Making the Rain Stay, and share it with anyone who works on water, land, or the deeper question of why people leave the places they love.

🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z_JfdC-aJI

What if something as ordinary as water could decide whether you sta...

25/05/2026

| At 65, Gujamma Is Preparing for Her First Rabi Crop

For years, the 260-foot borewell on Gujamma Gundappa’s 6-acre farm in Mavinsur village, Karnataka, would run dry by the end of December.

Once the monsoon ended, so did the possibility of cultivating another crop.

Gujamma depended entirely on rainfed farming, growing pigeon pea, red gram, and soybean during the Kharif (monsoon) season. With no reliable water source for the rest of the year, her family’s annual farm income remained around Rs 45,000.

In February 2026, a farm pond was constructed on her farmland under WOTR’s Focused Development Programme, supported by HDFC Bank Parivartan, in Kalagi taluka of Kalaburagi district.

Built with dimensions of 15m × 15m × 3m and a storage capacity of nearly 6,75,000 litres, the pond is designed to capture rainwater runoff through the natural slope of the land. Constructed at a cost of Rs 30,000, including a Rs 6,000 local contribution and Rs 24,000 grant support, the pond includes a controlled inlet for regulated water entry and a spillway to safely release excess water during heavy rainfall.

Beyond surface storage, the pond is expected to recharge groundwater and improve the yield of the existing borewell. It also helps reduce soil erosion and improve soil moisture across the farm.

For the first time, Gujamma, 65, now plans to cultivate onion on one acre during the upcoming Rabi (winter) season, with an expected yield of nearly 75 quintals. She will also continue receiving technical guidance on irrigation planning, crop management, and market linkages.

The project began in July 2025 and covers 10 villages. So far, five farm ponds have been created under the project, creating 5,850,000 litres of water storage and supporting five farmers across five acres, helping them prepare for an uncertain monsoon ahead.

Read more about our work in Karnataka here : https://wotr.org/karnataka/

22/05/2026

| Villages Unite to Fight El Niño: 80 Community Members Across Jalna, Maharashtra, Now Know the Action Needed

El Niño is more than just a climate phenomenon. It can disrupt rainfall patterns, intensify water stress, and impact agriculture-dependent communities across India.

As villages prepare for an uncertain monsoon, timely awareness and collective action become critical.

To strengthen local preparedness, WOTR and W-CReS conducted an online awareness session in our project villages of Ambad Block, Jalna district, engaging 80 members including Village Development Committees, Gram Panchayat members, Jalsevaks and Sevikas, and community leaders from Bori, Masai, Dudhpuri, Dahipuri, and Panegaon.

The session, organised with support from HSBC Software Development (India) Private Limited, focused on practical preparedness measures including water budgeting, crop planning, strengthening drinking water sources, efficient irrigation practices, and Shramdaan for desilting and repair of water conservation structures.

“The session helped us understand the seriousness of the situation and motivated us to undertake Shramdaan activities to enhance the water harvesting potential of our villages,” a participant shared.

As climate uncertainties grow, community-led action remains central to building long-term water security and resilience. 💧

22/05/2026

Our work with rural communities across 8 states in India is deeply rooted in this year’s theme: acting locally for global impact.

Applying ecosystem-based practices in rural villages, where many communities already work in harmony with their local ecosystems, helps strengthen and preserve these local ecologies.

Through ecosystem-based adaptation methods like contour bunding, rainwater harvesting, intercropping, organic fertilisers, and climate-informed community training, we work towards restoring biodiversity and ecosystem health.

20/05/2026

The Buzz Is Real. We Need Bees To Survive 🐝

Without bees, nearly 75% of our food crops would collapse. No mustard, no lychees, no coffee, no honey.

Dive into our blog by Ashwini Wadhu from W-CReS, to explore the science, the threats, and why protecting pollinators is protecting ourselves.🌻

Link in bio! 🍯

(FoodSecurity, Apiculture, WorldBeeDay2026 Pollinators Sustainability)

WOTRat32

20/05/2026

On Just 1/10th of an Acre, Sulochana Built a Future

Ten decimals of land, a tenth of an acre, is not much to work with. For Sulochana Nayak of Mukundpur village in Jharkhand's Goilkera block, it was the only land she had, and for years, it grew what most land in the village grew: paddy and potato.

Sulochana's household income was low. Like many women farmers in the region, she had no exposure to cash crop cultivation, no knowledge of organic inputs, and no access to the kind of technical support that could change what her small plot was capable of producing.

In October 2025, WOTR, with support from Ashraya Hastha Trust, initiated a chilli cultivation demonstration across 12 smallholder farms belonging to women-led households in Mukundpur, an intervention that used Climate Resilient Agriculture (CRA) practices.

Beneficiaries were identified through village-level meetings and women-led households with land were prioritised. Sulochana was among them.

What followed was months of close support. Training on organic formulation, seed treatment, plant protection, and irrigation management. An agronomist provided regular technical guidance throughout the crop cycle. She was also provided with inputs like chilli saplings, vermicompost, trichoderma powder, and sticky traps, with Sulochana contributing Rs 500 and her own labour toward land preparation.

From those ten decimals, she has harvested 165 kg of green chilli and 12 kg of dried red chilli between January and mid-May with harvesting still ongoing. Sold at Rs 50 per kg for green chilli and Rs 220 per kg for dried red chilli, her earnings so far stand at Rs 10,890.

Sulochana is now encouraging other women in the village to take up organic vegetable farming and she is already planning to bring her uncultivated land under cultivation in the next season.

Eleven other farmers in Mukundpur are part of this same demonstration, beginning to reframe what small land can mean.

Read more about our work in Jharkhand here: https://wotr.org/jharkhand/

19/05/2026

| जलवायु पर वह संवाद जो हर गाँव तक पहुँचना चाहिए

जलवायु से जुड़ा बहुत सारा डेटा उपलब्ध है, लेकिन उसका पर्याप्त हिस्सा उन लोगों तक नहीं पहुँच पाता जिन्हें इसकी सबसे ज़्यादा ज़रूरत है — गाँव के नेता, जो फसल, पानी के उपयोग और बारिश कम होने पर समुदायों को एकजुट रखने जैसे कठिन फैसले लेते हैं। 13 मई को, हमने इसी महत्वपूर्ण बातचीत की शुरुआत की।

WOTR और W-CReS ने Quality Council of India के साथ MoU साइन करने के बाद, Sarpanch Samvaad के साथ अपना पहला संयुक्त वेबिनार आयोजित किया। देशभर के सरपंचों सहित 120 प्रतिभागियों ने इसमें भाग लिया, ताकि वे समझ सकें कि संभावित ‘सुपर’ El Niño उनके गाँवों के लिए क्या मायने रख सकता है और इसके आने से पहले वे क्या तैयारी कर सकते हैं। El Niño दक्षिण-पश्चिम मानसून को कमजोर करता है, जिससे भारत में औसत से कम वर्षा होती है।

इस सत्र का संचालन QCI के विश्लेषक Mehul Chhabra ने किया, जहाँ Archana Sagalgile (Climate Expert, W-CReS) ने El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) के पीछे के विज्ञान को सरल तरीके से समझाया, भारतीय मानसून पर जलवायु परिवर्तन के प्रभावों पर चर्चा की, और सरपंचों को समय रहते El Niño की तैयारी के लिए उपयोगी ऐप्स से परिचित कराया। इसके बाद, Eshwer Kale (Water Governance & Policy Expert, W-CReS) ने सूखा और जल संकट के विभिन्न प्रकारों, भारत के बड़े शहरों में ‘Water Zero Day’ जैसे खतरों, तथा जल बजटिंग, फसल नियोजन और मजबूत ग्राम संस्थाओं के महत्व पर प्रकाश डाला।

सत्र में IMD Mausam, Meghdoot, Damini और FarmPrecise जैसे उपयोगी डिजिटल साधनों के महत्व को भी रेखांकित किया गया, जो समय रहते चेतावनी और तैयारी में मदद करते हैं। कुंभारवाडी (पश्चिमी महाराष्ट्र) और कोलेगाव (मराठवाड़ा) जैसे सूखा-रोधी गाँवों की प्रेरणादायक कहानियाँ भी साझा की गईं, जिन्होंने ग्राम पंचायत स्तर पर सामूहिक प्रयासों की शक्ति को साबित किया है। सत्र का समापन विशेषज्ञों द्वारा सरपंचों के सवालों के जवाब देने वाले प्रश्नोत्तर सत्र के साथ हुआ।

हम सभी पैनलिस्ट्स और प्रतिभागियों के प्रति आभारी हैं, जिन्होंने इस संवाद में अपना ज्ञान, अपने सवाल और अपनी प्रतिबद्धता साझा की।

यदि आप गाँव समुदायों के साथ काम करते हैं या ऐसे नेताओं को जानते हैं जिन्हें इस चर्चा का हिस्सा होना चाहिए, तो हम आपको अगले सत्र में शामिल होने के लिए आमंत्रित करते हैं। अपडेट्स के लिए WOTR को follow करें।

18/05/2026

For the First Time, This Village Has a Water Source That Belongs to Everyone 💧

In Dukarsata village of Damoh district in Madhya Pradesh, water has never been free. Every drop of drinking water was paid for.

For years, around 100 households here have depended on two privately owned borewells for their drinking water needs. Each family pays between Rs 50 and Rs 100 a month to the owners, a regular expense within their household budgets. If water was needed for irrigation, additional charges applied.

Pipelines were laid in the village two years ago. The infrastructure exists but the water supply never came. There are no wells or hand pumps within the village either. The only well sits far out in the agricultural fields, and for women making multiple trips a day is a burden.

Waterborne illness, the physical toll of fetching water across distances, the financial pressure of paying private owners, all of this compromises the health and wellbeing of families.

But the village waited. And paid. And waited.

In February 2026, WOTR, with support from PwC India, installed a community borewell paired with a solar-powered drinking water unit fitted with a filtration system. It became operational on 9th February 2026.

The community collectively agreed on a nominal fee of Rs 20 per household per month. Not as a charge imposed from outside, but as a maintenance fund that the villagers manage itself.

When something needs repair, the money is already there.

And for the first time, Dukarsata has a water source that belongs to everyone.

This project sits within a larger effort focused on improving the nutritional status and health of women and children in Damoh and access to clean, affordable water.

If you believe every family deserves access to water without a recurring financial burden, share this with others who care about equitable and reliable water access.

18/05/2026

Health is not a privilege. It is a right that every rural community deserves.

At WOTR, our Health, Nutrition & Sanitation programme works at the intersection of food security, clean water, disease prevention, and community awareness.

Follow our journey to know more about our initiatives to improve access to health, nutrition and sanitation.

17/05/2026

Health is not a privilege. It is a right that every rural community deserves.

At WOTR, our Health, Nutrition & Sanitation programme works at the intersection of food security, clean water, disease prevention, and community awareness.

To learn more about how we're building healthier communities, visit: https://wotr.org/health-sanitation-nutrition/