An attempt has been made with an objective to analyze the incomes derived from the rainfed farmers in Kalamalla PMKSY watershed project of 2011-12 batch pertaining to YSR Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. The primary data was collected through survey method by following multi-stage sampling procedure with the help of structured interview schedule from the randomly selected 60 youth beneficiaries (in the age group of 25-45 years) out of 362 farmers belonging to three micro-watersheds covering ridge, middle and valley regions of the watershed for the two periods of time i.e., before project implementation period (2011-12) and after completion of the project (2018-19) by recall memory method. The activities implemented during the project period by State Level Nodal Agency (SLNA) at state level, District Watershed Management Authority (DWMA) at district level and Watershed Computer Centres (WCC) at mandal level included under Natural Resource Management (NRM) activities which generated various employment opportunities, especially for the rural youth both in farm and non-farm sectors in the study area.
In order to capture the employment opportunities in farm and non-farm sectors in selected rainfed areas, pre and post-development situations were compared. The doubling of the incomes is determined in terms of incremental labour days generated from each activity i.e., farm as well as non-farm in the form of monetary terms (income) and tested for significance by using parametric and non-parametric tests.
The results revealed a marginal increase in the number of days of employment under the farm sector due to the implementation of each activity like dug out ponds, percolation tanks, check dams, avenue plantations etc. over the base line period. The study found the positive impact in employment potential under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), dairy sector and non-farm sectors like petti business, skill business. All these activities put together have generated more than 50% of the increase in total incomes among the rural youth in a span of 3 to 4 years. Watershed development increased economic opportunities to the beneficiaries due to employment in farming and non-farming sector.