Jharkhand is a new state, established in 2000, to support the rights of indigenous people to have a separate state for themselves. Jharkhand is home to many of the country’s poorest people, despite the city being located in one of the richest areas of India in terms of minerals and natural resources. Agriculture, as the sole economic activity in the area, has not been properly developed (e.g. water facilities are poor and access to upgraded and modern agriculture-based knowledge is limited) and the land is prone to severe droughts, marked only by erratic rainfalls. Therefore, starvation and malnutrition of its citizens is widespread.
The Ziquejie Terrace is one of the three famous Chinese ancient terraces in Hunan Province. The crops cultivated in the terraces can manage to thrive through drought and flood without reservoir or other water storage constructions. This traditional primitive gravity irrigation system is a model for ecological construction of irrigation systems. However, the mechanism of Gravity Irrigation and water allocation within Ziquejie Terrace has not been well revealed, which to large extent affects the efficiency of environmental and ecological protection for this extraordinary natural reserve.