Train and prepare farmers for climate resilient farming

In the project area, 80% of the total rural population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. The land holdings are small and getting further fragmented. Presently the majority of people are engaged in traditional farming, mainly field crops. The income from the traditional crops is limited. Farmers also use flood irrigation methods resulting in rampant withdrawal of groundwater for agriculture as most of the area proposed does not have canals. As a result, the underground water resources are fast depleting with very little efforts to recharge them. In last few years we have noticed farmers losing lots of money due to sudden change in monsoon setting and withdrawal time, change in temperature, humidity etc. This is happening more frequently in recent years. All of this calls for an urgent need to train and prepare farmers in understanding the impact of climate on the farming and prepare them accordingly so as to minimize its negative impact.

The overall objective of the project is to promote climate smart farming in order to lower the vulnerability of the beneficiaries to climate change impact. Following are the objectives of the project:

1.      Promotion of soil nutrient smart practices: By practicing integrated nutrient management, organic farming, multi cropping etc. in agriculture.

2.      Promotion of water smart practices: by recharging ground water level through creation of water harvesting structures.

3.      Capacity building of the farmers: Capacity building of farmers by conducting continuous meetings, trainings etc.

4.      To promote horticulture farming which consume less water, need less labour, give more returns and also improves environment.

The project is intended to lower the vulnerability of the rural population by providing those means of adaptation to climate change impacts. The project will adopt activities which have already been recognized by Indian Council of Agricultural Research to be village level interventions towards climate resilient agriculture. 

Some of the activities proposed under the project are  Community mobilization and selection of farmers,Training of farmers and capacity building, Exposure visit (modern farm, KVK, IARI, Agri Tech Fairs etc) to best practices, Supply of high-quality  Saplings, Soil health card and Kisan Credit Card, Kisan Credit Card and develop Market Linkage .

The proposed project will cover 500 farmers from 20 villages in the block with plantation of 4800 fruit saplings .

Results expected from the proposed project are :

1.The horticulture will have an income potential of Rs. 50 million per year from fourth year onwards, employment generation for farmers  and will improve family nutrition by adding the fruits cultivated to local diet especially among the women and children.

2. Awareness about water conservation and as result more and more people adopt less water consuming crops.

3. Awareness and capacity to deal with impact of climate change thus minimizing the negative impact of climate change on farming

4. Farmers will have sustainable livelihood through farming as a result of adopting scientific farming.

5.Increased understanding of villagers regarding water resources management which will lead to collective action in terms of rain water harvesting, groundwater recharge, proper storage and its sustainable usage.

6.Improve the green cover in the vicinity of the NCR and positively impact the quality of air.