Kheti Shiksha ke liye - promotion of agriculture and allied activities for sustainable livelihood and food security

Covid-19 created unprecedented loss of life and changes globally. Each and every region has been adversely affected by the pandemic and the immediate fallout of the crisis has been the reverse migration of the migrant families back to their native villages. The mountainous state of Uttarakhand has also witnessed large number migrant families returning back to their homes. Most of these families have been living in urban locations for years and their uncultivated agricultural land have turned barren in all these years. During the lockdown phase, these families were compelled to cultivate their barren lands for their sustenance, which was their only hope during the lockdown. As a result of that, we can see sudden rise in the demand of Seeds, fertilizers and agricultural equipments. These migrant families are now reluctant to go back to the cities even after the lockdown was relaxed. They would like to continue with Agriculture as their occupation in the present scenario which makes these agrarian communities totally dependent on agriculture. Therefore, Janmaitri intends to strengthen and enrich their agri- based livelihood activities with the support of this proposed project, which will not only help them attain Food security through the nutrition gardens but also promote agriculture as a sustainable occupation amongst the village youths/ farmers, who have started losing interest in agriculture, since they feel it is a non-productive affair. The trainings and other knowledge inputs will build the social capital of the village community, which will make agriculture sustainable in the long run with active community ownership and participation. 

A. Agri Business Centre (Kisan Sewa Kendra): We intend to create an agri- business centre at the cluster level which will benefit 12 villages of the cluster. We will plan to create these centres at Urgam cluster, Bada gaon cluster and Saloor cluster. The Agri Business Centre or the Kisan Sewa Kendra will act as a facilitation centre for these farmers. The centre will be providing agricultural equipments, agri loans at reasonable interest rates, best quality seeds, organic fertilizers and also resolving issues related to agriculture. One of the plans of the team is also to start a Sunday mart at Joshimath for selling the fresh farm products and other value added products prepared by the FPO. 

B. Promotion of Nutrition Garden and Village Seed Bank: At the cluster level, the farmers associated with the FPO will be growing variety of traditional vegetables and fruits in a land holding of 5 Nalis (Approx 1000 sq metre), which will be their individual land holding. After the agricultural cycle is over, these indigenous seeds will be carefully stored for further use. The farmers will be working on their own land for which training and resources will be provided. Around 300 agrarian families will be benefitted directly by this activity in 3 clusters. 

C. Processing Unit: At the cluster level, processing units will be set up, in which Spice (Masala) Unit, Bakery Unit, Dal (Lentils) Unit, Floriculture Unit and Dairy Unit will be established and each unit will be benefitting more than 100 households. The Farmers associated with the FPO will be actively involved in the functioning of the processing units. A rented space will be utilised for setting up the processing unit and the farmers who have been progressive and pro-active so far as FPO members will be benefitting out of these units. 

D. Training Programme of Youth/ Farm Volunteers and Promotion of Nutrition Garden: We propose the 5 days Intensive TOT of youth/ farm volunteers of 10-12 villages from each cluster. 12 youth/farm volunteers will be trained in each of the three clusters, who will be training other farmers for the promotion of nutrition garden with organic methods. These 12 youth/ farm volunteers will train agrarian families within their villages in their respective cluster, which will benefit their entire household. During the project phase, these selected volunteers will be paid stipend for their contribution. These volunteers will be considered as part time staff of the organisation during the project phase. 36 volunteers will be promoting the nutrition garden in the 3 clusters. 

E. Integrated farm model cluster: Under this project we also propose activities such as animal husbandry along with agriculture for a particular village in the cluster. Janmaitri will be selecting 15 farming families in the cluster and provide them with required technical knowledge, equipment, machinery and other resources which will help them develop an integrated farm model which will provide livelihood of 15 farmers and their families. Bamsa is a small village comprising of 15 households. It is perfect for piloting the idea of integrated farm model because the community has ample agricultural land, animals like cows and the community proactively participates in any developmental processes. Janmaitri would like to develop this as a model at Bamsa, which would be later replicated at other clusters. Janmaitri will be supporting them in building cow shed, purchase fodder machine, build fodder space and grow best quality fodder in their agricultural land. They will be given seed kits for fodder cultivation. Apart from that they will also be supported for developing their nutrition garden and seed kits will be provided to them. To further encourage them to take up Animal husbandry, these families will be given one calf each so that they can scale up their work.