A programme of the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development — Coodu Trust worked on it first as a consultant to the Joint Director of Agriculture and later as a coordinating agency for community capacity building, alongside the District Watershed Development Agency.
The project
Restore the ecological balance of degraded landscapes by treating watersheds in a holistic and integrated manner — harnessing, conserving and developing soil, water and vegetative cover to prevent soil erosion, regenerate vegetation, harvest rainwater and recharge the groundwater table.
The Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) is run by the Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, and has been under implementation since 2010–11. Coodu Trust’s first recorded engagement was in 2011–12 as a consultant on a ₹18,00,000 assignment for the Joint Directors of Agriculture in Karur, Namakkal, Tirunelveli and Tiruvallur — entry point activities, IEC awareness, Participatory Rural Appraisal and action planning, district-level capacity building for watershed user groups and SHGs, and convergence with the government line departments.
In later years the Trust worked as a coordinating agency on community organisation and training, in partnership with the District Watershed Development Agency (DWDA). The 2017–18 report records 42,838 beneficiaries across fifteen districts, led by Salem (7,400), Dharmapuri (5,569) and Tiruvallur (4,580). The 2018–19 report puts the work in eight districts; the 2019–20 report names Pudukkottai, Thoothukudi, Salem and Tiruvanamalai.
The most detailed recent account is from 2022–23, when training and exposure visits at KVK Gandhigram, TNAU Coimbatore, TNAU Killikulam and Horticulture College Periyakulam reached 6,847 members of watershed committees, SHGs and beneficiary households across 91 watersheds in 21 blocks of seven districts — Dindigul, Virudhunagar, Thoothukudi, Perambalur, Ramanathapuram, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri.
Why this work matters
On degraded landscapes, rain runs off instead of soaking in — eroding topsoil, stripping vegetative cover and leaving the groundwater table unreplenished.
Participatory Rural Appraisal in each micro-watershed, an action plan built from land capability and local need, and convergence with the Agriculture, Horticulture and Agricultural Engineering departments so the treatment is funded and maintained.
When households depend on one crop from degraded land, incomes stay low and every failed season pushes families deeper into hardship.
Training on water management, pest management, organic farming, vermicomposting and micro-irrigation, with exposure visits to Jain Irrigation Udumalpet, Tirupathi and Kudimiyanmalai — 525 farmers on site in 2021–22 alone.
At a glance
Outcomes
The 2017–18 report records IWMP beneficiaries in fifteen districts — Salem, Dharmapuri, Tiruvallur, Erode, Kancheepuram, Sivagangai, Krishnagiri, Virudhunagar, Pudukottai, Ramnad, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Theni, Villupuram and Karur.
42,838 beneficiaries recorded in 2017–18; 3,021 farmers trained and 525 taken on exposure visits in 2021–22; 6,847 community members trained across 91 watersheds in 2022–23.
By strengthening community-based institutions and promoting sustainable agro-based activities, IWMP enhances household incomes and builds long-term environmental and economic resilience.
Get involved
Support watershed work that conserves soil and water, recharges groundwater and builds sustainable livelihoods for rural communities across Tamil Nadu.
