As part of a drought mitigation effort few NGOs in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh stated the effort to raise the sinking ground water table back in 1994. It took construction of check dams to conserve the meagre rainfall in the "rainshadow area"... Creation of woodlots of afforestation to act as catchment area for the run off streams to conserve in "watersheds ld to tank bund construction. That led to soil conservation measures. That led to agro ecological interventions: among them cultivation dry land crops like millets to tame the top soil. A whole lot of green trees were planted in this experiment to tame the top soil... herbs, medicinal plants, evergreen endemic trees, (among them Mango - like this proud farmer here below shares ... made him a stake holder in combatting desertification) The fruit bearing tres not just yielded a rich harvest and sustainable income but softened the dry arid conditions and tamed the soil - turning it from loamy sandy soil to rich ...