With the inordinate delay in the implementation of several ambitious irrigation projects, the hapless farmer is often left to cope with the perpetual drought. But self help can help reap rich dividends. And some 500 farmers of Hosatti village, 11 kilometres from Athani, in Karnataka, have demonstrated this amply well. In what could be a landmark achievement, their voluntary efforts aimed at building a check dam at an estimated cost of Rs 16 lakh across the Agrani river are expected to succeed before the onset of the coming monsoon.