Innovative rainwater harvesting empowers women in Gujarat, India

The document examines the use of Bhungroo, an innovative rainwater harvesting system, to support underprivileged female farmers in Gujarat, India. By providing women with ownership of the technology and the technical skills to manage it, the initiative has improved agricultural productivity, reduced groundwater salinity, and increased women's decision-making power and social status. The project has reached over 20,000 marginal farmers and contributed to the reverse migration of approximately 6,100 farmers back to rural areas.

• Bhungroo is a rainwater-harvesting technology that stores excess rainfall underground in reservoirs capable of holding up to 40 million litres, providing water for up to seven months from ten days of harvesting. It is effective in areas with waterlogging, subsoil aquifers within 30 metres, and coarse grain-permeable sand, and it reduces groundwater salinity by mixing non-saline rainwater with saline groundwater.
• The initiative empowers marginal women farmers by granting them sole ownership of the Bhungroo technology and the skills to install and monitor it. This approach bypassed traditional barriers to land ownership, giving women rights to the tools necessary to make land cultivable, which eventually led the government revenue department to transfer land ownership to these women.
• The project has achieved significant socio-economic impacts, reaching over 20,000 marginal farmers and facilitating the reverse migration of nearly 6,100 farmers who had previously moved to cities due to drought. It has enabled women to access government schemes like soil health cards, invest in cattle, and increase their political participation and social standing within their families.

APA

Thakur, R. (2020). Innovative rainwater harvesting empowers women in Gujarat, India. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Bhungroo-Case-Study-2.pdf

Chicago

Thakur, Ritu. Innovative rainwater harvesting empowers women in Gujarat, India. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2020. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Bhungroo-Case-Study-2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Thakur |first1=Ritu |title=Innovative rainwater harvesting empowers women in Gujarat, India |publisher=Climate and Development Knowledge Network |date=May 2020 |url=https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Bhungroo-Case-Study-2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{thakur2020innovative, author = {Thakur, Ritu}, title = {{Innovative rainwater harvesting empowers women in Gujarat, India}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2020}, month = may, url = {https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/Bhungroo-Case-Study-2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }