ashok kumar facilitating women farmers for lasting development
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Facilitating women farmers for lasting development outcomes on the East India Plateau
A Kumar2, WD Bellotti1, A Komarek1, A Choudhary2, PS Cornish1, et al
LWR/2002/100 Water harvesting and better cropping systems for the benefit of small farmers in watershedsof the East India Plateau
LWR/2010/082 Improving livelihoods with innovative cropping systems on the East India Plateau
Partnerships for Progress
The story is about..
• Socio-economic and biophysical variability in EIP
• Enabling farmers particularly women is key to bring-out sustainable change in human condition
• Context specific learning/decision making tools which can be institutionalized in development agencies.
Introduction to PRADAN (www.pradan.net)
PRADAN Today: In Poorest Districts of India
• ~272 Thousand families,
• ~ 1 million population
• 8,300 habitations,
• 19,000 women SHGs,
• 44 districts,
• 7 states.
ST
57%
SC
15%
OBC
26%
Others
2%
Social Composition
Purulia
Theme 1Why is it so?Does it need to be this way?What can be done about it?
Rice on medium uplands - EIP
Rainfall varies from year-to-yearBut what about soil water and ponding
The duration of ponding in medium uplands is much more variable even than rainfall (0-106 days)
This why transplanted rice crops fail so often
Multi-partner approach to Action Research
Taking a “learning approach”, and learning to reflect,
are amongst the most important process adopted all through
Plan
Do
ObserveReflect
Plan
Do
Observe
The role division in Agriculture: Women as Farmers !
Process Male (%) Female (%)
Jointly
(%) Tools
Seed Selection 93 5 2
Broadcasting seeds 37 33 30
FYM usage 2 98 0
Ploughing and puddling 100 Traditional plough
Uprooting of paddy seedlings 3 97
Transplantation of seedlings 100 Manual
Choice of fertilizers 92 3 5
Fertilizer application 88 1 11
Irrigation 29 15 56
Crop Monitoring 25 6 69
Weeding 100
Using of pesticides 99 1 Pesticide Sprayer
Reaping 100 Traditional sickle
Bringing paddy for threshing 31 8 61 Manually/ Bullock cart
Paddy threshing 5 23 72 Manually/ Thresher
Processing paddy 100
Marketing agricultural product 100
Women do much of the physical work in
agriculture – yet do not think of themselves
as farmers
What we didIn addition to regular SHG development with ACIAR scientists ....
• A series of jointly-designed workshop and field research activities designed to meet our needs as scientists, and at the same time, progressively build capacity in the community
Perceptions (of self and resources)
Knowledge (soil, fertiliser, water, crop choice etc)
Skills
• Together with these activities, we observed the process and gathered relevant sociological data
Process followed..• The planning meetings not held without women• The research questions decided in a joint meeting • Farmers participating in research activities decided by SHGs• Progress review at regular intervals- weekly• Discussion on the problems and concerns- find solution• Equal partner with the men in grounding the trials• Designed field visits to the research plots and reflections
– share their observations and reflect
• The learning’s shared to all women through weekly SHG meetings. • At the end of trials- the learning shared with the villagers,
presence of women in large numbers.
Rain-fed cropping with non-flooded crops (including aerobic rice) a safer option than paddy
Soil water in medium uplands with no ponding, Pogro 2006-2011
Rainfed – bunds open
Results
In project villages cropping systems are becoming more intensive and diverse
Crop intensification and diversification in Amagara during the post-monsoon
rabi seasons of 2007 (left) and 2011 (right).
All of the crop in 2007 was experiments with farmers except boro rice
Tools for Outscaling: Season-Landscape Crop Matrix Learning Tool
Self Help Groups planning ‘year-round’ cropping
Impacts• Change in perception towards self, their land and Water
• The cropping intensity and diversity has increased – 3 crops to 10 crops, The cash flow in the families doubled.
• Action Learning Cycle as effective learning tool
• Trans-disciplinary collaborations to address poverty, learning and perception related issues
• Learnings incorporated in ongoing large development project and in-house staff training for out-scaling
• NGOs acceptable as scientific research partners
• A follow-up Research cum Development project with ACIAR & AusAid to address sustainability
AcknowledgementsSpecial thanks to
Prof Peter Cornish - “Dadu”
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