ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL ACCEPTANCES AND DEVIATIONS OF FARMERS FOR CONSERVATION INTERVENTIONS OF SHARED CONTROL OF NATURAL RESOURCES (SCOR) PROJECT IN HURULUWEWA WATERSHED

Abstract

Shared Control of Natural Resources (SCOR) project of International IrrigationManagement Institute (TIMI) made interdisciplinary watershed management interventions toachieve rural development (production and profit) and conservation goals. Huruluwewawatershed was. selected for implementing these interventions. Huruluwcwa watershedhelongs to the Anuradhapura district. The environmental conservation goals are significantin social acceptance as it offers long term benefits to farmers.

This paper discusses the interventions recommended by SCOR in each field for soilconservation. conservation fanning. agro-Iorcstry, ehena cultivation. illicit felling of treesfor timber. encroachment of public lands (reservations) etc.,. It analyses the results andfindings extracted from data collected from January 1997 to August 1997 throughparticipatory observations and direct observations, individual and group discussions.

Huruluwewa colony consists of farmer families who came from different parts of thecountry under colonisation project in the decade of 1950. Their different culturalbackgrounds are significant in intervention processes such as minimisation of pollution andconservation of environment.

Instead of contour bunds. majority of farmers practice bund systems in paddy fields.However, they tend to burn litter instead of mulching in small scale. Ancestral hill countryfarmers from Nuwara-eliya district accept that special type of trenches referred to asBakkikanu are effective in minirnising soil erosion in horncgardcns rather than contourhunds. Cultural links with conservation interventions were also found. It was found that thegenerally accepted assumption that the poor practice more environmentally degradablefarming practices is not correct in all instances.