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In semi-arid region of India, Agricultural is highly impacted due to inappropriate use of natural resources, poor soil, over use of groundwater, and poor crop management resulting in increasing water scarcity, low crop yields, poverty, vulnerability of small holder farmers, land degradation and loss of various ecosystem services. Therefore, it is very clear that effective use of land and water will play an important role in the sustainable socio-economic development of semi-arid regions in the future. The study area is located in Sangareddy district of Telangana State. The study proposes that understanding the available resources and optimizing their use is an important criterion in watershed planning and management for the sustainable management of natural resources of the watershed. The aim of the study is to develop scenarios for sustainable watershed development by optimizing natural resources utilization without compromising farmers’ income. Firstly, the study analysed watershed components and identified key constrains in the area. Based on that an optimization model was developed for the study area using the linear programming method. The constraints defined in the model were the land available, water available and sustainability of resources in the watershed. The objective function of the model is to maximize the total net income of the watershed farmers. The model has been applied for the selected study basin Thumkunta and simulated for three different scenarios: changes in water resources, decrease in groundwater table and recycled water as addition source of water. The results show the improved income and reduced water usages with alternate cropping system recommended by the study. Based on the results, various recommendations have been proposed to the study area for sustainable watershed development. Overall, the study suggests that, it is necessary to use resource optimization model prior to understand crop area allocations as per available resources in the watershed.
Keywords: Agriculture, Groundwater, Optimization, Sustainability, Watershed.
