Due to the intervention of the project, area under vegetable, spices, maize crops have increased which provides income to the beneficiaries. In addition rising of nursery by women group has become a potential income-generating unit. The women who are unemployed are employed in vegetable cultivation. Also the two renovated ponds give them income through pisciculture.
7 SHGs were formed and linked with other agencies in the 3 villages to take up income generation activities to support their family.
The capacity building through training programs on topics like crop demonstration, agro-forestry, leadership, nursery plantation etc. actively involved them in all aspects implementation right from the planning stage to the monitoring.
Several training programs were conducted.
5 trainings for conceptual clarity on project activities/objectives were conducted with 170 participants. Separate trainings were conducted for the educated masses, mason, master mason, skilled labourers, and women groups. Field training was also given along with visits to different sites. These trainings improved the knowledge of beneficiaries on implementation of the project.
An extra training was provided for conceptual clarity on crop demonstration especially mushroom, horticulture and agricultural crops with the participation of 30 beneficiaries.
50 persons (20 executive body members and 30 trainees) visited the CDA (Chilika Development Authority) watershed project and shared their ideas with the watershed project dwellers, which enhanced their confidence building and conceptual clarity.
Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
The project area falls in the catchments of lagoon Chilika, which is fed, by a number of rivers, streams and streamlets, which are constantly shifting month ward and getting narrower. Normally in summers, the rivers almost dry up leaving sand passage only. But during rainy season the feeders full flooded and deposit huge quantity of silt along the course of the river and in the arable lands. Thus the project aims at these catchment areas with a menu of land treatments, emphasizing on soil and moisture conservation by introducing more sustainable land management systems.
Awareness about bio diversity conservation was generated among the masses on the eve of ?Atmasudhi Prayaschita Divas?. More than 150 male, female and children participated.
Mass mobilization: completed in 2 spots- Jayamangalpur and Belapada to make the people understand the concept of eco-development. More than 2000 persons gathered from the project area and nearby villages.
12 wall paintings completed in the three project villages, Jayamagalpur, Akashpalli and Belapada depicting land, water, animal, forest, resources and its conservation along with the project concepts. All the dwellers saw and understood the same.
Several newsletter, leaflets were distributed in the 3 villages which helped the villagers understand the concepts of wise use of natural resources and bio diversity conservation. Suggestions were received from different agencies and resource persons based on these concepts.
16 selected representatives from the eco-development committee worked out th rsource planning and identified the different spots in the frild to work out different land based activities with the coordinator and consultant of the project. This promoted the concept of projectisation aming the committee members to do a project plan for their village.
Prize distribution was done in different schools of the 3 villages to encourage the school students in the community work and environmental activities.
Gender Focus
The women of the project villages were now able to discuss their problems to the outsiders, interact on their own problems, decide solution and put them into action. Through SHG they are saving some substantial amount of money, which meets their loan requirement, and are also very useful at times of need.
7 women SHGs completed the nursery for agro-forestry, Silvi Pasturals and other plantation works. Vegetable cultivation also done by women groups. Total saving went upto Rs. 1,07,556/-. 3 groups were eligible to get loan from the Puri Grama bank and 3 groups were linked with ICDS deptt of local block administration, Tangi.
Women?s sensitization meet was regularly done in each quarter for confidence building and gender equity in project management. This also helped promote social empowerment of women folk.women became the member of working Women Forum, this gave them experience and exposure from outside their locality. NABARD provided training for the 7 SHGs on capacity building.
Notable Community Participation
This was a community driven project. One general body consists of 60 members and from that general body 13 were selected as executive body to promote the participatory mode of the project implementation and to monitor the activities from time to time. The PRA problems were identified and the program was based on these problems. The result was with the participation pisciculture was managed on a community basis and plantation was taken care of by the community. Common nursery rising is a result of community involvement in the project.
The following were achieved with the help and cooperation of the community members:
? Water-harvesting structures were made in Akashpalli and Belpada, Jaymangalpur. A pond (size: 155?x100?x15?) was constructed and a pond (size: 350?x350?x10?) was renovated. These were completed with the active participation of the local people. These WHS are being used for bathing and domestic animals. Nearly 120 persons from Akashpalli and Belapada village and 400 people from Jayamangalpur take bath in the WHS. Nearly 700 domestic animals get drinking water. Approximately 70 farmers get water for irrigation from the two said ponds, which cover 20 acres of land.
? One big diversion drain cum check dam (size 200?x15?) and another gully plugging cum check dam was completed at village Jayamangalpur o prevent soil erosion and supply water to crop fields. The diversion cum check dam provides irrigation water to 20 acres of land on the downstream from which 18 farmers benefited.
? 10 demonstrations (6- vegetable, 1- arhar, 2-mushrooms) were completed in Akashpalli, Belapada and Jayamangalpur villages. The crop demonstrations encouraged the SHGs to undertake vegetable, arhar, mushroom and maize cultivation in larger scale. It gives knowledge and improved practices of crop management.
? Plantation work was completed in 50 Ha of land. 6 nurseries were raised to supply quality seedlings to the farmers. A special central nursery with 12,000 seedlings was completed in Belapada village with the help of the committee on high yielding cashew nut to meet the demands of the dwellers on dry land horticulture.
? 12 acres of land were covered under silvipastural development program. Seeding was done in 50 ha of land on the eve of ?atmasudhi divas?.
? Plantation of cashew nut in 5 ha of land was completed from the project fund and another 15 Ha was completed by 7 individual farmers on their own land. 67 individual farmers benefited from the cashew plantation. 2,500 seedlings of mango, papaya, coconut, lemon and drumstick were distributed and planted in July and August 1st week of 2002. Gap filling was done in June 2003. 151 farmers(133 beneficiaries and 18 farmers with their own initiative) benefited from the horticulture plantations like mango, papaya, coconut, lemon and drumstick.
? 14.5 acres of land in Jayamangalpur and 1.5 acres of land in Balapada and Akashpalli have been covered with okra, cowpeda, ridge guard, radish, brinjal, maize, chilli, pumpkin, turmeric and cucumber.
