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”