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Bridging the fives - NRM’s integrated approach

Jharkhand, with a total geographical area of 79.70 lakh hectares, has a net sown area of 18.04 lakh hectares or only a quarter of the total area. Despite an average yearly rainfall of 50” to 55” – more than three times the stipulated amount of 15” — only 01.57 lakh hectares are irrigated. Behind its breathtaking forests stretch acres of barren land. Its tribal dominated rural population, almost entirely dependent on agriculture, dreams and breathes one thing only. Water.

Watershed Development The reason: ignorance of irrigation techniques and water conservation. Managing to grow just one crop a year, most men would migrate to towns, only to languish in worse conditions. While the women would walk for miles to remote wells to quench their family’s needs with dubious quality of water. For KGVK, therefore, effective watershed management became the logical and vital entry point programme. Its purpose: to increase cultivation from one crop a year to three crops to generate productive employment to a large cross-section of people.

Interventions in agriculture and forestry became an organic way forward. To that end, came the concept of 5Js — Jal (water), Jangal (forests), Jameen (land), Jan (people) and Janwar (animals) — an integrated method to converge natural resource management problems and their solutions.

Key Projects

Water Resources Conservation Project
Partner: India-Canada Environment Facility (ICEF)
Operational area: Tribal belt of Patratu block of Hazaribagh District
Initiatives:
Awareness generation on better agro practices Formation of Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) like Self-Help Groups (SHGs), Users’ Groups (UGs), etc to sustain development and maintain created assets Demonstration of alternative sources of income, including horticulture and animal husbandry, pickle-making, candle-making and vermin-composting Constructions for irrigation and water conservation Creation of Eco Clubs to get students involved in conserving the environment Results: (click here for satellite pictures) The overall health of the watershed area improved by 27% with increased forest area, area under double crop and plantation Food production increased 12-fold Ground water increased by 1.5m Fodder production increased 2.6 times 234 ha of land was brought under plantation in the non-forested area to cater to fuel requirements More than 8,864 families drew direct or indirect benefits from water conservation structures Management interns from SP Jain Management Institute, Mumbai, found that the Project resulted in a 50% reduction of diseases among the tribal populace and all community-based organizations like VDCs and SHGs were functional

KGVK-CAPART Dairy Project
Partner: Council for Advancement of Peoples’ Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) & Oriental Bank of Commerce, Ramgarh
Operational area: 10 villages of Patratu Block, Ramgarh District
Initiatives:
100 tribal families have been encouraged to try out dairy entrepreneurship. Loans at 7% interest (5% less than the prevailing rate) under the Kisan (Farmer) Credit Card Scheme from the Oriental Bank of Commerce have been facilitated for 51 tribal entrepreneurs. KGVK, indirectly, has helped farmers to purchase quality cows, and directly, to sell the milk produced to local institutions, ensuring a hike in monthly income by Rs 1,200 per tribal entrepreneur. KGVK selected tribals and trained them as para-vets at the TVM Gurukul, Rukka, giving more ownership to the community KGVK sent 35 dairy entrepreneurs, including women, to an exposure visit at BAIF, Allahabad, to upgrade technical and managerial skills.

Intervention in Decentralized Water Resource for Development
Partner: Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai, Usha Martin, Jharkhand state government, International Water Management Institute (headquartered at Sri Lanka)
Initiatives:
Introducing Systematic Rice Intensification (SRI) method of paddy cultivation across 200 acres Planting 6300 fruit saplings and 1500 timber saplings Forming and empowering CBOs like 16 Village Development Committees, 104 Self-help Groups, 22 Farmers’ Clubs, 15 Village Education Committees, and 11 Village Health Committees Organizing 33 training sessions and exposure tours for User Groups to start and maintain water-harvesting structures

New Indians ..............................................................................................

Meet the New Indians

Fields of gold in Kadru

In Kadru village—one of the poorest of Patratu—farmers could only dream of one paddy crop a year, and most were forced to double up as wage labourers in factories.

Not anymore.

Because once our ICEF Project Officials introduced them to irrigation facilities, the farmers found new interest in agriculture. With demonstration and training, they now cultivate 3 crops a year, while also cashing in on crops like sunflower, maize and vegetables. They have crossed over to a New India... and many more are joining them everyday.
It’s time to feast in Lapanga

50 families in Lapanga village have just discovered the joy of food security. The miracle, they explain, is the Lift Irrigation (LI) system constructed to water 20 acres of rain-fed land. But they haven’t forgotten the impediments they faced – villagers who tried to stall the installation, before finally coming around through mediation and group cohesion.

The first successful trial of wheat, mustard, broccoli and pea cultivation has brought about a paradigm shift in local cultivation practices. This is the first time that wheat has been grown in Lapanga – the land that had only known paddy. The women plan to sell part of the wheat in the market and consume the rest. What’s more, they also plan to diversify into other value-added crops like vegetables and greens, which would provide them with nutritional security as well.