The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Expert panel from East Africa studies Cauvery basin

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Friday, May 20, 2011
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Expert panel from East Africa studies Cauvery basin

M.K. Ananth

Photo: P. Goutham

Sharing views:Delegates of Nile Basin Initiative interacting with farmers of Sambamedu village, near Mohanur, during their field visit to Cauvery basin in Namakkal on Thursday. —

Namakkal: Eighteen representatives of Nile Basin Initiative (NBI) on Thursday visited Cauvery Basin in Namakkal as part of a five-day study of water and agricultural resource management in the basin.

Klas Sandstrom, who leads the technical committee of the Initiative, said the study of the Cauvery Basin made the members aware of the need to save nearly 6,000-kilometre long Nile River from pollution when 10 countries in East Africa, through which the river flowed, developed industrially. Mr. Sandstrom was part of the 18-member team from nine East African countries that came to Namakkal on Thursday.

Collectively

He said Tamil Nadu (Cauvery basin) would be the only place the team would visit as farmers of this region worked collectively through a non-governmental organisation Cauvery Family Initiative (CFI). CFI had been functioning constructively even when similar government-run bodies in many countries were inactive, he said.

“Our study centred around what the proposed future Nile Commission should be on issues pertaining to agriculture and those of future concern such as soil and water pollution due to industrialisation,” he said.

Innocent Ntabana of Rwanda, who led the delegation, felt that River Cauvery was almost extinct in some pockets as its banks had been washed away in soil erosion. This increased chances of the river flowing out of its course. “Nile too faces a similar threat and we learnt how it would be affected from what Cauvery is today,” Mr. Ntabana said.

River Nile too was embroiled in disputes like those on sharing of Cauvery water between Tamilnadu and Karnataka, he said.

The study of Cauvery dwelt at length on various laws that governed sharing of rivers and roles of judiciary, Non-Governmental Organisations and people initiatives such as CFI.

The team visited artificial irrigation systems adopted by groups of farmers of Sambamedu village near Mohanur by making optimum use of ground water and interacted with farmers. Veterinary College and Research Institute dean Dr. C. Chandrahasan explained to the delegates the role of livestock in Indian economy and transfer of technology to farmers through outreach programmes. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Namakkal) programme coordinator B. Mohan guided the team.

The delegation had officials of the ministries of water, irrigation, environment, lands, livestock, animal, fisheries, industries, urban planning from Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Tanzania, Sudan and Ethiopia.

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