Posts Tagged ‘Sahyog Sansthan’
Happy Earth Day! We are excited to announce that in the next few months not one but two outstanding grassroots environmental leaders – both IDEX partners – will be visiting the US. Watch your mailboxes for invitations to events where you can meet them and learn more about their environmental justice work. Read the rest of this entry »
IDEX Executive Director, Rajasvini Bhansali, is currently traveling in India on evaluation field visits with IDEX partners, and potential catalyst grantees.
Heeralal explains the benefits of vermicomposting
With its gooseberry trees, guavas, mangoes and lemons flowering along with traditional crops such as maize and vegetables, Veni Ram’s horticultural garden looks more like an orchard. This beautiful farm in Godaghati also occasionally hosts gatherings of local farmers who consult with each other about their crops and share strategies to increase yields.
Veni Ram has been applying vermicomposting techniques to his farm since 2007, and during the meeting he spoke compellingly of how lemon trees made with traditional “khaad” or, compost are yielding shiny, ripe and delicious lemons that get grabbed up the minute he gets them to the market. On the other hand, the “urea” lemons—those grown with more industrial fertilizers—appear to be losing favor with the local market. Although the prices are the same, he noted, people seem to prefer organic.
Another farmer at the meeting shared a telling story from his own household. He had built his vermicomposting structure and had started composting more than enough for his farm. However, his son had yet to grasp the concept of vemicomposting and added a trough full of chemical fertilizer to the vermicomposting bin, believing that perhaps it would help the compost.
Although funny, the story gave a nod to the myth perpetuated by the Ministry of Agriculture and large agribusiness that chemical fertilizers such as “urea” are actually good for crops and soil. There are even training workshops aimed at small-scale farmers that tout the benefits of chemical fertilizers. However, the farmers have learned from personal experience that overuse of chemical fertilizers causes soil to harden over time, resulting in a decline in productivity. The farmers are choosing instead to utilize organic agricultural methods to, as one farmer noted, “restore life and living organisms to the soil.”
As Heeralal Sharma, a founding member and current director of Sahyog Sansthan reminded me, the future of the real India is in the hands of the rural poor. Rather than an India based on superpower supremacy and upper middle class luxuries in the midst of growing class disparities, this is the India that our freedom fighters envisioned more than 64 years ago. This is the India that people like Himmati Devi and Veni Ram are creating together with their families and communities, where individual dignity, social relations, communal ecology and indigenous culture are all celebrated and utilized as the basis for creating conditions for liberation.
During my visit, Heeralal remarked that grassroots projects should aspire not only to provide social services, but social transformation and liberation. At Sahyog Sansthan, I was happy to see this in action.
IDEX Executive Director, Rajasvini Bhansali, is currently traveling in India on evaluation field visits with IDEX partners, and potential catalyst grantees.
Women at a Self-Help-Group Meeting
In the last few days, I have had the chance to sit with representatives of 39 extraordinary women’s self-help groups over the course of four meetings. Comprised entirely of Udaipur district’s most marginalized tribal people, the groups proudly speak about their achievements. One group leader Himmati devi (appropriately named as “Himmati” which means “one with courage”) spoke not of the immense savings rate of her group, but rather about the pride she feels every time she walks to the bank in the city.
“People used to ridicule me for being so bold and thinking that a woman could go to a bank alone but slowly, they began to see that I can manage my own resources,” Himmati told us.
“My group is prosperous because through our own funds, we’ve been able to buy buffaloes, cows, goats and generate income through dairy goods. But most of all, I now walk with confidence because I know I can manage my own affairs and that feels very good. I want my daughter to learn this.”
I also had the opportunity to visit both private and community-managed common pastures. Seeing how both are equally well kept and managed was a testament to this rural community’s self-determination. At one common pasture in Chhapariya in the Aravali hills there was considerable excitement when the local village leader explained that despite a drought in the region, more than 2,000 cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep have access to plentiful fodder.
The natural regeneration of pastures is a slow process and has previously failed when government schemes have tried to drive it without community buy-in. Unless the neighboring households decide to allow the trees and plants in the pasturelands to grow–particularly in non-arable lands–people’s struggle to find fuel and fodder can deplete the forests. Here in Chhapariya, the search for fuel and fodder co-exists with community-led greening of the commons. Just down the hill in fact, there’s an anicut (dam) built to conserve rainwater and recharge fast depleting groundwater. As a result, the wells in the area are full and irrigation no longer poses as large a problem as it had in the past.
IDEX partner Sahyog Sansthan works to improve the livelihoods of resource poor households in rural Udaipur in Bhinder, Dharyawat and Lasadiya districts through watershed-based natural resource management. The concept of watershed management includes community-led initiatives to conserve rainwater and soil, promote diversified and integrated farming systems, manage common property resources such as pastures and wells, and strengthen livelihood solutions such as self-help groups. Sahyog strongly believes that the rural poor must be involved in conserving, managing and strengthening their natural resources.
To mark Earth Day (today, April 22) we’d like to share some more details from IDEX Communications Director, Gillian’s trip to Udaipur, India last fall. Where she visited IDEX partner Sahyog Sansthan to learn how rural communities are adapting to climate change and mitigating its impact.
Give a little green this Earth Day and have your donation to Sahyog matched on GlobalGiving.com.
Heera Lal Sharma, the founder and Executive Director of Sahyog was my guide. Heera Lal knows the area around Udaipur well; he was raised here, and understands the importance of sustainable agriculture methods.
Sahyog encourages vermiculture, a composting method using earthworms to create rich, organic soil. Sahyog has started a number of vermiculture projects and provides training and funds to initiate vermiculture. The soil produced enriches the land, fertilizes crops, and improves the soil’s ability to retain moisture. Even during drought years, crops grown with soil from vermiculture produce greater yields.
I met with 3 Self-Help Groups. In each case I saw how fulfilling water needs was the priority. Sahyog does this in two ways; they renovate wells and they build bunds or berms to control the flow of water and irrigate crops.
During the monsoon, soil becomes waterlogged, collapsing the walls of the well rendering it useless. Sahyog works with SHGs to renovate wells. They insist that the SHG contribute at least 25% of the costs, plus labor. Sahyog and the local government fund the rest. Sahyog’s goal is to build relationships between communities and government and ensure everyone is a stakeholder in the renovation.
To improve crop irrigation Sahyog analyzes the terrain and identifies the best location to build bunds. Bunds are dams, usually foot-high mounds of earth and small rock that run the width and length of fields. They are multi-purpose and slow the flow of the rainwater and minimize erosion by containing the topsoil. But the dams are carefully constructed to allow water to seep through the rocks, and onto other communities. This method of water harvesting ensures nothing is wasted.
With your support IDEX has funded a number of such projects. At Bharave Village, I was shown the newly renovated well and bridge across the fields. The bridge also operates as a levee during the monsoon. Women and children pointed happily at the well and told me they could now drink fresh water.
I was really impressed by everything Heera Lal showed me. Then we went to the community of Kundai, which completely blew me away. At Kundai there are no incremental changes. This community has completely adopted sustainable agriculture and managed biodiversity without looking back.
Since climate change has begun to take effect, rain has become more irregular. Farmers used to rely on local weather patterns to know when to plant their crops. But climate change renders this knowledge useless. At Kundai they have learned simple, yet effective meteorological practices. They monitor and collect data on rainfall, temperatures and wind and share this with both their local community and the Indian government.
I was introduced to Deepak who lives in Kundai; he showed off the benefits of the program, such as the renovated well, the irrigation channels strategically placed around fields and the diversity of the crops. Kundai farmers are growing plump eggplants, bright chilies, leafy greens, wheat, barley and much more. Close to the well, bamboo and sugar cane were growing. The crops are enough to feed families in Kundai while the bamboo and sugar cane help pay for their children’s schooling.
Kundai is in year 3 of a 5-year project. This was the first year the community had been able to plant their crops. Despite the monsoon in 2008 bringing just half of the expected rainfall, crops were flourishing Deepak was very happy at what they had accomplished so far. It meant he did not have to leave the family and migrate to Udaipur or Delhi to look for work. The family could stay together. His daughter clung to his hand, clearly delighted to know her father was not going anywhere.
Migration is a growing problem. As crops fail, people must move to look for work to feed their families. It was clear to me that sustainable agriculture is not just good for the planet, but also for families and communities who practice it.
Like many IDEX partners, Sahyog works to improve the livelihoods of rural communities. A focus on resource management and sustainable agriculture has helped people better prepare and surmount the growing threats of food and water crises. Water harvesting, vermiculture, and organic agriculture offer viable ways for communities to adapt to, and mitigate, the impact of climate change.
