Total change in production and productivity are the two important dimensions of benefits of watershed development programmes along with the conservation of land and water resources. To segregate the impact of various watershed based interventions on crop productivity a study was carried out in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. Data were collected from 240 farmers’ selected from eight watersheds and eight control villages in the region using a multi-stage random sampling technique. Analysis of data indicates that implementation of watershed development programmes led to significant differences in productivity of major crops in the sampled watersheds. Decomposition analysis of difference in returns from crop enterprises between watersheds and control villages indicates that the contribution of technological component was positive and higher than the contribution of input differentials which signifies that with the existing level of input use in the control areas, the farmers could have increased the returns from crops on implementation of watershed development programmes. This calls for a wider coverage of watershed development programmes in order to bring all the areas under land treatment activities for improving the productivity levels.

Keyword: Bundelkhand region; Decomposition analysis; Watershed programme, Watershed Development Programmes on Crop Productivity