Sustainable Livelihood and Agriculture program to Increase Food Security

By: Bernadette Bracken

Pictured: 15 cattle sheds were modified so that cow urine can be safely collected and then used in the making of organic fertilizer. Beneficiaries were supplied with cement, sand, stones and funds for labor to construct the collection units.

This is a new project that started in April 2020, following a three-year project with SEBA from 2017-2020. The goal of the project is to improve the food security of 1249 households in 15 villages in Bastar district, Chhattisgarh by enabling them to practice sustainable agricultural methods to utilize their forest lands and homesteads for year-round food production. Trainings and work will occur to harvest rainwater to improve groundwater levels, reverse soil erosion and regenerate the forest through community forest plantations. This project provides agricultural support to ten villages that were the concentration of the 2017-2020 project, as well as to 60 new participants/farmers in five new villages.

Thank you for partnering with CFGB, MCC and farmers in India to ensure better harvests and more food for families and communities. This project has encountered some difficulties in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions and lockdowns but has still managed to accomplish much and help farmers learn new techniques.

Project highlights:

• Due to COVID-19 restrictions, agricultural trainings could not take place with a large group, per normal. Instead, individual households were visited and one-on-one training took place. This training involved the whole family, and not just the farmer, and had a positive affect as more women could take part in the training. These trainings concentrated on organic farming, including the use of organic and green manures to increase soil fertility and the practice of intercropping.

• Learning visits to other organic farms could not take place in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions. Hopefully visits can take place in 2021.

• 100 households/farmers received:

  • indigenous vegetable seeds: bitter gourd, tomato, eggplant, chili, spinach, okra, coriander, gourd, paddy (rice) and ragi seeds

  • Agro-forestry saplings of silver oak and mahogany

  • fruit saplings of mango, lemon, orange, sweet lime, pomegranate, guava and litchi

• Two trainings were conducted for 25 female farmers on mushroom cultivation and 12 female farmers were given the opportunity to learn how to make laundry detergent/washing powder, in order to sell mushrooms and detergent as an additional source of household income.

• 60 new farmers were trained on digging trenches around their property. Trenches were dug and fencing installed on homesteads by all 60 farmers.

• 64 farmers from villages in the previous project phase followed intercropping in their farm during 2020. Millets, pulses and seasonal vegetables were sown in between other companion crops. This illustrates that previous trainings are working and farmers are utilizing their new knowledge.

• 15 cattle sheds were modified so that cow urine can be safely collected and then used in the making of organic fertilizer. Beneficiaries were supplied with cement, sand, stones and funds for labor to construct the collection units (pictured above).

• 232 community members (181 female and 51 male) have stored seeds from the previous year’s crop and have sown these seeds this season.

• 10 sprayer machines were given to five villages so that farmers can borrow them and use them for the spraying of cow urine and liquid manure. Five weighing machines were also given to each of the five villages so that farmers can use them to weigh out their harvests, to prevent exploitation by traders while selling their products. Farmers associations will keep the weighing machines and loan them out as needed.

Change that transforms

Shri Son Sigh Nag (pictured on his farm in 2020) took part in the 2017-2020 SEBA project and his life has been transformed. Before the project he was only planting maize, tomato and kandul (a traditional tuber crop), ragi and rice. He was not farming his land during the summer, and only earning 1500 rupees from his crops, after feeding his family.

Since joining SEBA, he has learned sustainable agriculture, such as preparing organic manure, mulching, organic pesticides, and developing his land. He now practices intercropping and plants different vegetables such as radish, cucumber, gourds, arbi (also known as a taro plant), eggplant, chilis, and he has mango and lemon fruit trees. He now earns 20,000 rupees annually from his farm, which has helped him change his standard of living. Through the SEBA project, other farmers now visit Shri’s farm to see what is possible with an organic farm.

Thank you for giving Shri and many other farmers the knowledge they need to be a successful farmers!