The project will focus on the ?Community based approach for the conservation of traditional coarse cereals to get sustainable production and value added products, healthy nutrition for women and children of Maangarai and Parvathanahalli panchayats of Pennagaram block, Dharmapuri Dt. Of Tamil Nadu?. Location of the Project: No. of villages: Core: 2 Panchayats covering 18 Habitations (Mangarai & Parvathanahalli Panchayats) Nearest city: Pennagaram Block, Dharmapuri District, Tamil Nadu. Nearest City: Bangalore, TN. The objective of the project is to create a platform for the project by orgnaizing workshops and making linkage with Govt and other financial institute for co financing. With this amount the Organisation will do the base line survey and will analyse the resource of creating SHGs, design and planning for the final project in order to use low cost agricultural kits. A team of innovative farmers, scientists, and village level development workers will adapt these locally through inclusion of seeds (improved millet seeds, improved seeds that can be inter-cropped with millets to promote nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, and organic pest management), low cost technologies (to help farmers with on-farm diagnostics of soil nutrition; low cost grain storage bags; microbial bio-fertilizers, etc.) and a picture book of best practices for illiterate women farmers (e.g. how to make own quality seeds; cleaning seed of fungal pathogens; water harvesting).
Innovation:
Intervention made for increasing replacement of nutritious millets with tapioca was promotion of both crops in the same land by inter cropping short duration millets with tapioca together with modified agronomy to get high yield from both crops.
Institutional Sustainability:
Linkages with KVK (Krishi Vigyan Kendra), Department of Agriculture, private manufacturers will be done to make the activities sustainable. The SHGs will be strengthened.
Project Objectives:
People?s participation:
Community will participate in project planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and identifying the Coarse Cereals to be conserved. The Communities will decide the selection area specific Coarse Cereals Varieties and Farmers for SEED Farm, Adoptive trials, Cluster Demonstrations. The Communities with the help of Women SHGs demonstrate the performance of the varieties.
Links to local Govts: The Society has good linkage with the line departments like Agriculture, Horticulture, KVK, Dharmapuri District Small Millet Producer Compant Ltd., National Food Security Scheme Govt. of India Department of Agriculture and Parvathanahalli Village Poverty Reduction Committee.
Social Sustainability, Replicability: It is reported that the Society has gender concerns in the project implementation. To develop sustainable agriculture through gender sensitive farming system based participatory approach for minimizing agronomic and production related constraints experienced by small millets based cropping systems in rainfed regions through Cluster Demonstrations(10 hac Clusters).
Project Objectives:
1. The major objective of the project is to conserve the traditional varieties of Coarse Cereals and to increase production and consumption of nutritious small millets in villages of Paruvathan Halli Village Panhayat of Pennagarm Block of Dharmapuri.
2. Securing the genetic resource base and expanding the distribution of species through the development and application of conservation strategies in farmer?s field.
3. Promote sustainable use and on farm conservation of agro biodiversity of small millets.
4. Develop sustainable agriculture through gender sensitive farming system based participatory approach for minimizing agronomic and production related constraints experienced by small millets based cropping systems in rainfed regions through Cluster Demonstrations(10ha Clusters).
5. Enhancing the genetic diversity, improving the quality, and increasing the availability of germplasm of the most promising species and varieties
6. Develop and adapt appropriate post-harvest technologies and add value for increasing consumption of small millets, especially among rural women and children, and to create sustained demands in local markets.
Revitalize indigenous knowledge and socio-cultural practices that augment cultivation, processing, storage, and utilization of small millets.
Project Outputs
1. 20 -25 Coarse Cereal/Small Millet even High Yielding Varieties and varieties from local/Traditional areas will be collected and Conserved in the Farmer?s fields.
2. 3 Cluster Demonstration(10ha.No) of 5 Coarse Cereals will be laid in the Farmer?s Field
3. Increase in production of Coarse Cereals /minor millets by 20 to 25 per cent.
4. Increase in spatial distribution and richness of genetic diversity of Coarse Cereals/minor millets on farmers? fields
5. Developing and introducing of at least three low cost technologies for processing and value addition of target species.
6. Scaling up of at least two value added products from minor millets either by local entrepreneurs or public institutions.
7. Practice manual or recipe book on the cultural and nutritional significance of minor millets and other underutilized species.
8. Brief for supporting consumption and production of millets and supporting sustainable agriculture.
Academic and non-academic publications including a book documenting indigenous technologies and practices. The project will organize one workshop to disseminate findings.
Project Activities
1. On-farm conservation of crop varietal diversity and improvement of crop varieties.
2. Documentation and characterization of agro-biodiversity of Coarse Cereals /small millets.
3. Participatory varietal trials and evaluation.
4. Mapping of seed channels and improving farmers? access to varietal diversity.
5. Crop Production Enhancement
6. Quality seed production and management of village seed bank
7. Sustainable Agriculture adoption.
8. On farm research on agronomic practices