Provide Livelihoods for Tribal Women and Conserve the Environment

The picturesque Jawadhu hills of Tamil Nadu are a part of the Eastern Ghats. The hills are home to the valuable red sanders trees and tribes have been calling these hills home for ages. Over time, the problems faced by these tribals emerged as two-fold.

First, social evils such as alcoholism and smuggling have become the biggest forces affecting the tribal population. The number of widows in the tribal population here is a glaring example of the effect of these problems. Women who lose their menfolk strive to bring up their family on their own. Many have land but not the resources to cultivate it, these women struggle to make ends meet. 

Second, the Jawadhu hills are facing the risk of deforestation. Commercial over-exploitation and smuggling of trees over the last few decades has decreased the productivity of the soil. As a result, extensive soil erosion and depleting water resources are hitting these hills. Harsh conditions such as these have led to a decline in agricultural productivity - something that the tribes depend on. 

This has severely threatened the well-being of the tribal community which depends on agriculture and forest, forcing them to be bonded and migrant labour; increasing their indebtedness, and exploitation of forest produce for income.

Our Natural Resource Management wing has been working with the tribals in Jawadhu hills for over a decade now. We have implemented successful watershed programmes and implemented several livelihood measures in these areas for the tribals. 

This project - Plant trees and ensure they are nurtured

Through this project, we aim to bring a sustainable livelihood option for the families of Jawadhu hills, particularly widows and single-women-led families. We have zeroed in on a group of such women in the age group of 20-45 years, living below the poverty line. We aim to give them a long-term income-generating avenue through their own orchard of fruit-bearing trees. 

We ask you to support us in this initiative by funding for four varieties of fruit-bearing trees such as cashew, pomegranate, guava and mango. The women farmers would also be trained in water and soil conservation techniques, promoting inter-cropping and organic farming for enhanced yield by Hand in Hand India. You can sow the seed of prosperity by donating saplings to women-led families, who will continue to look after the trees that bring them a livelihood. 

This project ensures that each family can now earn up to INR 50,000 through the provision of 50 fruit-bearing trees planted across half an acre.  

1. Creating Sustainable Livelihood for Women-led tribal families: Your donation would ensure economic upliftment of tribal women farmers through sustainable agriculture, social empowerment, improved quality of life. The practice of intercropping, along with orchards will ensure both income and food for consumption for the families
2. Curbing deforestation - plant trees and ensure nurturing - Planting trees and ensuring they are nurtured, is a small way of avoiding deforestation in the hills. Your donation will add to the greening of the planet. 
3. Preventing migration of tribes through sustainable agrarian practices - The tribes of Jawadhu hills are faced with very little income from their agriculture. Through such projects as this one, we aim to create awareness of newer agricultural methods and thus create a sustainable livelihood. We have seen the impact of this through reverse migration where tribals have come back to cultivate their own land. 
4. Farmer Producer Organisations - Our dedicated marketing team sets up Farmer Producer Organisations that ensure fair prices for the produce from their trees, cutting out agents from the picture. The trees would in turn produce fruit for the next foreseeable 40 years, providing for generations for these women