Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture

1
Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture

• Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty

2
Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture

• Makes best use of the natural resources
  (biological and physical)
• By using local knowledge, skills and labor
• Community managed support systems

3
Main objective

• To sustain agriculture based livelihoods
• Special focus on small and marginal farmers,
  Women, tenants, agriculture workers
• Technology
• Local natural resource based
• Knowledge centric than product centric, hence
  support only in the form of knowledge
• Community Resource Persons
• Management
• Community managed (SHGs)-financial and personnel

4
Program strategies

• Reducing cost of cultivation by adopting
  practices which involve low or no expenditure
• Resource persons to provide regular technical
  support in the village
• Best practicing farmer in the village identified
  as village activist
• Weekly group meetings in the fields for
  reviewing, researching, trouble shooting and
  capacity building
• Paid cluster activist for 5 villages
• Technical support by experienced NGOs
• Variety of resource material
• Program anchored and regularly reviewed by the
  Federation of SHGs at village, mandal and
  district level

5
Components

• Non Pesticidal Management as stepping stone
• Integrating management practices to prevent
  insects from reaching damaging stage and damaging
  proportion
• a natural ecological balance will ensure that
  pests do not reach a critical number in the field
  that endangers the yield
• nature can restore such a balance if it is not
  meddled with too much, hence no chemical
  pesticides at all.
• understanding the insect biology and crop ecology
  is important to manage pests it is not enough
  if reactive sprays are taken up during outbreak.
• Prevention rather than control/reaction is the
  key element to NPM
• crop diversity and soil health play an important
  role in pest and disease management
• that pest and disease management is possible with
  local, natural material

6
NPM for Ecological, Economic and social benefits

• Ecological
• Healthy crop, healthy food, and healthy
  environment
• Safe to farmers, workers, consumers and animals
• Economical
• Increased net incomes
• Reduction in health costs
• Getting out of debt trap and marketing bondage
• Farmers getting back the mortgaged lands
• Social capital Enormous confidence on ecological
  agriculture, farmers showing great interest

7
The reach

• 2005-06
• 10 districts
• 450 villages
• 25 thousand acres
• 15 thousand farmers

• 2006-07
• 17 districts
• 1050 villages
• 2.0 lakh acres
• 80 thousand farmers

• 2007-08
• 18 districts

aiming to reach 25 lakh acres across crops in
all districts of AP in five years
8
SAVINGS 2006-07
9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
Moving forward

• Seed bank networks
• Focus on local production and sharing
• Maintaining crop and Varietal diversity
• Last year 10 villages on pilot -groundnut
• 2007-08 seventy villages-30 seed requirement
  will be met locally
• Warangal-28 villages
• Ananthpur-11 villages
• Khammam-10 villages
• Kurnool, Mahboobnagar, Guntur, Nalgonda-20
  villages

12

• Special focus on improving soil health and
  productivity
• Improving biomass for composting and fodder
• Building natural base to move towards organic
  production
• Special focus on efficient management and use of
  groundwater, effective rainwater harvesting,
  social regulation

13
Convergence

• MoU with Spices Board to produce pesticide free
  chillies
• APEDA came forward to support the program
• Convergence EGS to enhance natural resource base
  and provide employment to agriculture workers,
  improving the lands of SC/ST, women, small and
  marginal farmers
• Overlaying with star procurement centres,
  dairying and food security

14
Moving Forward

• Consolidation Gains
• (April May 2007)
• 3 pilot village immersion and to fine tune
  strategy, modules.
• Immersion program in all villages. ( 18
  districts)
• Resource inventory
• Technical / Management components
• C.D Film show success stories
• C.B. program to all Cluster Activists,
  Orientation to partner NGOs, Self Help Groups.
• Resource material / crop wise manuals up to
  village level.
• Program guidelines prepared in Telugu after
  extensive discussions with partners /
  stakeholders up to village level.

15

• Capacity Building Program, Marketing CRPs for
  NPM over lay with Star
• Procurement Centres.
• Kharif Plan 2007
• Rabi 2007-08

16
Institutional Strengthening

• SHG/Farmers
• NPM sub-committee at Village, Mandal, Zilla
  formed.
• Meetings / Discussions every month.
• Performance of CA/VA (NGO) reviewed.
• Payment of salaries of VA/CA and facilitation
  fees of NGOs by Samakhyas.
• Field inspection by members SHGs
• Further Capacity Building for members planned
  December/January.

17

• Farmer Field Schools Stabilized
• Fixed day every week
• Sub group for ever 20 25 farmers
• Convener, Co-convener for every sub-group
• Best practicing farmers
• Out of 2, one woman farmer
• Field Based activity
• Study of beneficial Insects
• Preparation of Life Cycle of Harmful Insects
• Sharing of learnings in the village
• Further Capacity Building of Convener,
  Co-convener planned at district level in January
  February
• Farmer CRPs
• Identification Placement December
  January.
• Identification Placement December - January
• Exposure Visits / Field Days in progress.
• Farmer Registration fee collected 21 lakhs / 53
  lakhs
• Lead NGO and DPM NPMs (for each district)
• Vehicle for extensive tours

18

• Communication Network
• Access E-Mails through SANET by all NGOs/DPM
  (NPM)
• Data base, cell nos of NGO, DPM, CA, VA SHG
  members important SMS through Way2sms site
• Video Conference on NPM/Marketing every fortnight
  with NGOs CAs Samakhyas DPM Farmers
• Sharing learnings
• Monitoring of program
• Plan Next Fortnight / Month
• Further Action On
• Establishing Call centres
• Establishing Cluster resource centres
• Evaluation grading mandal NGO / CA / VA.

19

• Convergence
• Spices Board Commerce Ministry, GOI, Interested
  in Pesticide Free chillies for expor
• Promised delivery 2000 MT
• Tie up with Dr MV Rao for quality check
• Quality Control Inspectors at Village Level
• APEDA - Examining our proposals to strengthen
• NPM extension support structure
• Post harvest Infrastructure
• Convergence with EGS
• Enhance natural resource base
• Improving lands of SC/ST/SF/MF/POP/Poor
• Providing employment to agricultural workers
• Overlay with Star Procurement Centres, dairying
  and Food Security
• M.O.U with GOI for 182 crores over 5 years
  organizing farming in rainfed areas

20
Moving Forward

• Enhancing Managing Natural Resources
• Bio Mass plantation
• Improvement Soil health and productivity
• Providing enabling microbial activity through
  applications of
• Panchagavya
• Jeevamrutham
• Soil Mukha (leaves)
• Rainfed composting
• Tanksilt application
• Azolla in paddy fields
• ICRISAT Field trials proposed on Farmer Field
  (pilot) scaling up
• Focus on Vegetables
• NPM vegetables around Hyderabad Marketing the
  HACA outlet pilot run
• Tie up with Rythu Bazars in Hyderabad, Efforts on

21

• Reclaimed the Land from mortage
• SF / MF taken additional lands on lease for NPM
  cultivation
• Big farmers are preferring NPM SF / MF for share
  cropping to save their investment on in puts

22

• VO CORPUS fund / Revolving Fund
• Purpose
• Establishing custom hiring centres
• Plan Bullocks, tillage equipments
• Neem pulversers
• Spray equipments
• NPM shops to supply
• panchagavya
• Registration fee collected from NPM farmers
  Average Rs.4000/VO
• V.O. seeking linkage with Financial Institutions
  and SERP
• Under GOI funding of Rs.182 crores rainfed
  Organic Farming
• Provision made for 1.2 lakhs/ village
• Exploring other funding agencies like
• APEDA
• Species Board etc.,

23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)
25
(No Transcript)
26
(No Transcript)
27
Consortium on Community Managed Sustainable
Agriculture
Executive committee
SERP PMU
State Level Secretariat
CSA
State level
Implementation and financial management
Technical Support
District committee of NGOs
District level
Zilla Samakhya (District Federation of womens
SHGs)
District Rural Development Agency (Coordination)
NGOs, KVKs
Mandal level
Mandal Mahila Samakya (Federation of Women SHGs)
Cluster coordinator (for 5 villages)

Village level
Farmer Field Schools
Village Resource Centres
Grama Sangham (Village Organisation of women SHGs)
Village activist