Project Detail

Establishment of climate Resilient Farming and Agro-Bio-Diversity Conservation through Community Led Organizations

The project will be implemented in 10 villages of Budaguda Gram Panchayat of Kalyansinghpur block of Rayagada District and primarily targets 350 households. In these villages the families suffered food shortage for an average of 4 months as they either harvest or collect their 4-6 months of food from agriculture and forests and rest from wage work. The increased production cost of modern agriculture practices because of use of external inputs and crop loss (due to failure of rice and other non-traditional crops which fail to grow in hilly dry lands) compels farmer to take loan from money lenders and informal agencies at higher rate of interest(average load burden of INR 8300 per household)
The project is formulated with a goal to organize the farming communities to explore mitigation strategies to adopt millet based diversified farming system which is efficient and have eco-friendly climate ?smart farming practices. The principles of agro-biodiversity system approach are also to be revived for increasing soil moisture, increasing forest cover and livelihood enhancement of marginal-small farming community. It targets 3 immediate needs of the community:
(i) Promotion, demonstration, practice and extension of eco-friendly, low input based sustainable farming practices withstanding drought situation and climate variability
(ii) establishing farmers? collectives for better management of natural resources including the farms and farming, and
(iii) facilitating ?cash flow? strategies for the non-farm periods.
The multilayered project ascertains community?s involvement to established agriculture and NTFP based processing units owned by a set up of women led co-operatives. The project ensures community involvement from design to implementation.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

NIRMAN

Country:

India

Area Of Work:

Biodiversity
Biodiversity

Operational Phase:

OP5-Y3 (Jul 13 - Jun 14)

Grant Amount:

US$ 30,386.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 33,056.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 4,098.00

Project Number:

IND/SGP/OP5/Y3/STAR/BD/2013/35/ODI-03

Start Date:

2/2014

End Date:

6/2016

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

2 days orientation workshop will be conducted in a cluster of 3-4 villages on their current farming and food crisis. 3 days knowledge and skill sharing workshop on improving farm productivity of millets based mixed farming once a year for 3 farmers from each village. 2 days experience sharing workshop of millet farmers will be organized. 3 days workshop will be conducted on preparation of organic manure and other measures to improve soil fertility. 2 days workshop will be conducted at Panchayat level to determine the quantity and variety of plants and trees. 3 days workshop organized on the growing of nursery of multipurpose plants and trees. 3 days workshop on nutrition garden for 60 women farmers twice a year.

Capacity - Building Component

3 days training on SRI & using its principles in Millets- the lower seed and water requirement method of cultivation with subsequent higher yield for 3 people across the village will be conducted. 4 phase demonstration (clustering each of 3 villages) on inter cropping, crop rotation, and ridge planting will be done. Farm visits will be organized for the farmers involved in seed conservation. Exposure visits to Women Cooperative will be done to enhance the confidence of women.

Policy Impact

Facilitation for employment under MGNREGA and related other employable opportunities during non farming season. The project will be operated in tandem with Department of Agriculture, Horticulture, Forest and ORMAS and also facilitate to merge some of the activities under horticulture mission, food security mission and MGNREGA. Line department will be consulted in order to merge people?s requirement with various schemes & programs. Government of Odisha in focus with National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) to contribute the state & nation?s strategy towards climate change mitigation through community participation.

Gender Focus

Formation and strengthening of women collectives/SHGs for seed banks & NTFP based enterprises through bi-monthly meetings. 50% of women are involved in conservation of traditional seeds with farmers; institution set up collectively as ?Farmers seed network?. 350 households will adopt and practice climate resilient millet based bio-diverse crops adopting intensified organic ways of cultivation. Community grain bank will be established in each villages maintaining stock for 30% household to most vulnerable households. Celebration of millets and associated crops harvest festival once in a year involving men and women.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Knowledge & observation of local and indigenous farmers will be used for farming system approach to recognize the role of women throughout the entire food chain as farmers, consumers and mothers.

Notable Community Participation

N.A.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

The main aim of the project is establishing community led traditional millet based Bio-diverse farming practices in risk prone areas in Rayagada district of Odisha. The project will be implemented in 10 villages of Badaguda Gram Panchayat primarily targeting 350 households. The project will focus on 1. Promotion, demonstration, practice and extension of eco friendly, low input based sustainable farming practices withstanding drought situation and climate variability, 2. Establishing farmers collectives for better management of natural resources including farms and farming 3. Facilitating cash flows strategies for non-farm periods. Traditional millet based bio diversity system will be established to increase millet crop diversities through revival and introduction of efficient strains in coordination with local farmers. The natural resources based other livelihoods will be improved to increase the returns and reduce poverty, debt burden and vulnerability. The project will focus on varietal conservation, food security and environmental security ensuring community participation and ownership for improving their social economic condition.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

The project will be documented in the form of videos and photographs. Report in the form of booklet will be prepared on changes in traditional farming in the region.

Project Results

* The project has been able to establish millet based mixed farming in 200 Ha of lands. Millet crop varieties has been increased from 13 to 25 in the project area.
* 2 Important endangered crops species (one is foxtail millet and the other is sorghum) have been identified and conserved.
* 500 acres of land has been brought under millet farming system in 10 villages against a target of 400 acres.. 205 acres of land has been brought under SRI cultivation against a target of 80 acres with the involvement of 266 farmers.
* Market linkages have been established for the products like Hill Brooms, Siali Leaf plates & Cups, Processed Millet products.
* Partnership established with ? Horticulture Dept., Agriculture Dept., Forest Dept.

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