Please consult the work done at ICAR Research Complex for NEH Region, Umiam , Barapani, Meghalaya . You will find some excellent work in this regard...

Many of the practices are valid regardless of general location. Knowledge of geology, soil types, rainfall, temperature range, are sometimes important and may influence types of crops to grow. Practices selected tend to favor those that conserve soil, prevent erosion and excessive nutrient loss. In most cases, cultivating on the contour helps to retain water and encourage infiltration. No till or limited tillage are important to consider when soils are especially erosive. Agricultural terracing is sometimes important and may need some design to prevent failure and possible gullying in extreme events. Crop irrigation on hill slopes may need special practices to conserve water and avoid erosion. Most universities have agricultural extension advisors and perhaps there are farmer advisory groups that share information. The soils on the property are helpful to know the physical and chemical properties, erodibility, idea of available water for crops, fertility, etc. You would want to know if the soils tend to rut or compact when wet or too moist to avoid trafficking except perhaps in designated access routes. Some crops may promote soil health, and some may use nutrients to the extent that fertilization or crop rotation with nitrogen fixers may be needed.

All watershed management technologies address the adverse effects of; Length of slope (through creating micro-relief & other barriers to run-off), slope gradient, rainfall erosivity (through biological barriers/vegetative cover), soil type (working to prevent it being washed away through check-dams, mulches & terraces) and human practices (conservation-oriented). In other words Integrated Land Management Practices is required to conserve the soils and water in hilly environments. This means you need to study your terrain and formulate a context-specific combination of strategies. That might work better for you rather than obtaining a ready-made one.

Hydro-geological investigations would facilitate a better planning, please.

Hello, Kiran

We have some research and modeling experiences in Brazil, which is a mountainous country.

The central issue is the conservation of water circulation as part of surface geodynamics.

This conservation can be carried out with the following themes of field surveys:

1 - Raise as much as possible all occurrences of water sources everywhere in each river basin.

2 - seek to recognize cartographically where the areas of recharge of aquifers ARZ are, which are large areas of several occurrences of precise areas of recharge of aquifers PAR to map them throughout the territory.

3 - Assess the uses and misuses of soil and water that may occur.

4 - Establish to disseminate criteria of good practices for these land uses or even prevent use in situations considered to be very sensitive.

5 - Establish general rules and procedures for soil and water circulation management.

6 - This territorial modeling must be done with iso-Altitude cartography by ARZ and PAR.

7 - The management model must be strictly described for all these types of areas and certainly the altitudes can have several types of ARZ walks PAR according to the types of rocks, types of soils, systems of structural geology brittle incisions and ductile rocks mountainous.

Eventually, if you are interested, I can send you an article that we may have published in English with examples of these types of cartography.

Paulo Martins, Prof. Dr. Federal University of Ouro Preto, Brazil.

There is plenty of literature and practical work done by so many agencies. Can you share location and kind of slopes. Maybe I can connect you to someone in the relevant space.

Bench terracing will solve your problem,if soil is sandy,soil cement plaster (8:1),lining will harvest water in hilly areas.

Topographical surveys and terracing, plus water retention ditches is a good starting point.

What is type of soil?If it is sandy soil,then go for pond which can irrigate 90% area, with a soil cement lining of 8:1,of 3inch thickness.

Before applying any watershed development practices it is better to conduct full areal description of the watershed. This may include soil type, texture, slope gradient, slope length, rainfall, vegetation cover and so on. Then appropriate management practice will be chosen for application. Some of the recommended practices for hillside development could be bench terraces, hillside terraces, cultivation on the contour and trenches.

Check dams for aquifer recharge: Small rocks or concrete dams are built across the depressions to slow down the velocity of flow to enable a large amount of water to infiltrate into the alluvium under the channel bed. This added infiltration helps replenish the aquifers. Water is stored in the aquifers and utilized through wells. This system permits less evaporation losses than a surface reservoir and also has less problem of siltation.

Sub–surface dams: Sub-surface vertical barriers are constructed across the alluvium and down to bed rock. The water intercepts within the alluvium. This water flows along the surface and is collected in sub-surface reservoir created by the barriers. Evaporation losses are minimal. Expensive construction is avoided so as to become these adoptable at user levels. Barriers are constructed from clay stone masonry, concrete or steel sheet and pipes. Water is utilized by gravity flow or shallow wells or bore-holes. It is a common practice to construct sub–surface dams together with sand dams.

What are the Slopes? And is it hilly on Mountainous?

Have a look at this useful link for watershed management in the mountain lands :

http://www.fao.org/3/AD085E/AD085e22.htm

Article IMPORTANCE OF INTEGRATED WATERSHED MANAGEMENT ON WATER QUALITY

Spatial anlysis