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Sustainable Livelihood for Women:

Goat rearing and ardu plantation


(Process Document on sustainable livelihoods
for women in villages of Rajasthan)
Dr. Amit Kumar
Isabel Sofia Lopes Antunes
Financed by Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT), Mumbai
Kumarappa Institute of Gram Swaraj
Jaipur (Rajasthan)
2014
Copyright (2014)
All rights reserved.
Any part of this work may be translated or copied in any form, by any means, without written
prior permission, as longas the source is properlyacknowledged.
The views and interpretations expressed in this report are of the author's and do not
necessarilyreflect those of the Sir Dorabji TataTrust (SDTT).
Photographs: Amit Kumar, HanumanSahaySharma
Authors: Dr. Amit Kumar, Isabel Sofia LopesAntunes
is Project Director with Kumarappa Institute of GramSwaraj in Jaipur. He
has been working in the field of rural development especially in water resource management,
rural livelihoods andmicrofinance for more than15 years.
is research scholar at Research Institute of Social Sciences,
Universityof Coimbra, Portugal.
Publishedby:
B-190, UniversityMarg, BapuNagar, Jaipur 302015
Rajasthan(India)
Phone: 91-141-2708695
Email: kigs_in@yahoo.com, kigs_in@rediffmail.com
Website: www.kigs.org
About theAuthors:
Dr. Amit Kumar
Ms. Isabel Sofia LopesAntunes
Kumarappa Institute of GramSwaraj
Contents
Chapter 1 Background 4 - 7
Chapter 2 The Goat Program 8 - 21
Chapter 3 Ardu Plantation 22 - 28
Chapter 4 Agriculture - Green Manure and other Initiatives 29 - 40
Chapter 5 Conclusion 41 - 43
Chapter 1
Sustainable Livelihood for Women's Cooperative Society and SHG
members
Background
The state of Rajasthan, especially in the villages, has been facing several problems
related to agriculture and farming. The unfertile and arid land along with the continued use of
poor agricultural techniques by the farmers makes this activity almost unprofitable. The
traditional way of doing farming is therefore outdated. There is a considerable hesitance in
implementing with new types of plantation, soil fertility etc. in the agriculture fields.
Insufficient productivity of the animal farming adds to the problem. The villagers don't have
access to information, or either knowledge to improve a good rear or to increase their
productivity (in terms of giving milk or other breeds). Agriculture is even though one of the
most important sources of income in the village's families, but as an industrial activity is
quite rare anduncommon.
In that context Kumarappa Institute of Gram Swaraj (KIGS) decided to take actions
and initiated a project with the aim to tackle the insufficiency of agriculture and animal
farmingproduction, inorder tocreate a sustainable livelihoodfor women.
Women have an important role in the family, although they have to face several
challenges: taking care of their children and the family and also to overcome their difficulties
to work outside home, along with the non-rights of owning property. For widows the
situation is even more difficult, as they don't have any other source of income. The only way
for them to deal with these problems is doing farming and animal husbandry in order to
increase their self-confidence andcontributinginthe familyincome.
The project
was thus prepared in consultation with the program staff of
(SDTT) which was based on natural resources, ecology, manpower, animal force etc.
available in the villages. Efforts were made to empower the Community Based
Organisations (CBOs) and Federation to demand services and schemes fromthe government
departments at their door steps. The project's aim was to make the best use of natural
resources andmanpower, so as toachieve the goal of overall development of the area.
Kumarappa Institute of Gram Swaraj (KIGS) has been involved in promoting Self
Help Groups in Niwai block of Tonk district in Rajasthan from the last ten years. As a result
Sir Dorabji Tata
Trust
BuildingLocal Partnership
of the great efforts put up by KIGSworkers and members of the SHGs, these SHGs have now
formed a women cooperative society
, registered with the Cooperative Society office at Tonk on
March 31, 2010. This society is wholly owned and managed by women of the Niwai block.
Presently the society has about 975 members which are increasing continuously. This project
lasted for three years i.e. from April 2011 till March 2014. Along with the cooperative
society KIGS wants to highlight the importance of local ownership in order to: facilitate
empowerment of Gram Sabha (village council); to promote democracy and strengthen both
civil society and the security of the individual; to support full participation of women as
equal partners in the society and to strengthen the grassroots capacities by building
confidence, problemsolvingcapacities, resilience andtrainingfor skills amonglocal people.
This was a new initiative where all decisions and implementations are in the hands of rural
women and they need support in terms of information dissemination and training. Presently,
the members of the society are saving Rs. 100/200/500 per month as recurring deposit which
is given as loan to the members. The society has started livelihood initiatives through micro
finance and goat farming along with fodder plantation as one of its main component.
Similarly, programs of womenempowerment andrural development are alsobeingtakenup.
The project is being implemented in nine villages of Niwai block in Tonk district and
its nearby hamlets covering about 700 families. The villages are situated within a radius of 15
km. fromNiwai andare as follows:-
1. Sakatpura (Seendra GramPanchayat)
2. Barodiya (Seendra GramPanchayat)
3. Abhaipura (Khandwa GramPanchayat)
4. Khandwa (Khandwa GramPanchayat)
5. Nala (Khandwa GramPanchayat)
6. Chikana (Khandewat GramPanchayat)
7. Jhujharpura (Khandewat GramPanchayat)
8. Damodarpura (Khandewat GramPanchayat)
9. Hingotiya (Khandewat GramPanchayat)
This project aims to increase food security and improve the socio-economic
conditions of the members of the Laxmi Nidhi Women Cooperative and SHGs through
interventions ingoat farmingandappropriate technologytransfer inagriculture.
Laxmi Nidhi Primary Women Multipurpose
Cooperative Society Limited
Background 5 F
It also wants to tackle the development and promotion of sustainable agriculture
practices for small and marginal women farmers and agro-forestry through fodder crop
demonstration and plantation of fodder trees in the project villages which are relevant,
affordable, ecological, sustainable and replicable. All this must be done by the women
cooperative society and CBOs in order to develop their skills, and empower themby linking
them with technical and financial institutions. It will prepare them to align themselves to
governmental projects and programs through advocacy and followup. One of the aspects of
'advocacy' in this project was taken under MGNREGA framework. Women have
participated in different trainings such as: women leaders on CBO promotion and
management; women leaders on leadership development and women leaders on basic
functions of PRI, rights-basedapproachandRTI use.
Finally the project aims at documenting the advancement in learning and enables
themtoshare themfor the replicationandadoptionat larger level.
In conclusion, this project wants to provide different avenues for agriculture (for
instance arduplantationandgoat rearing).
Village Meeting in Progress
Background 6 F
Women Co-operative Society Meeting in Progress
Background 7 F
Chapter 2
The Goat Program
AnIntroductionto the Goat Program: The role of the Stakeholders
The importance of Sirohi rearingoat farming
Kumarappa Institute in the beginning of the project didn't have a prior experience of
goat farming. The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust (SDTT) introduced them to The Goat Trust in
Lucknowto give themtechnical training. The technical expert and the Director of The Goat
Trust visitedthe project area tohave anidea about the environment andthe goats inthe area.
After the field visit they were of the opinion that the quality of goats was good
enough and that there is no need to go outside the villages to buy Sirohi goats. This has saved
a lot of money and time which was used in purchasing more goats and improving the quality
of goats. The technical team of The Goat Trust has also given a practical training to the
selected inthe villages.
The breed goat and buck are species native to Rajasthan, as referred by FAO .
This kind of rear is especially important as it provides a double source of income -
agricultural and animal (meat and milk). FAO does also recognize that this rear has a better
lactation even in severe weather conditions. In the Indian social context the goats can help
the provision of the livelihood and security for small farmers and to landless laborers, as it is
the case of most members of the women cooperative society. As Mahatma Gandhi stated, the
goat is Poor Man's Cow", as it used to be the only source of cash income for many families.
Therefore the goat has an overwhelming impact in rural India. It is also considered to be an
additional income andevenacts as aninsurance against disaster.
Goats are peacefully denoted in all religions (they are sacrificed to please God both
by the Muslims, and the Hindus to worship Goddess Shakti - Kali). There is no religious
taboo against goat slaughter and meat consumption is prevalent throughout the country.
Moreover goat has also a tremendous economic significance among rural societies as they
are one of the species that can efficiently survive on available bushes and trees and in adverse
environment with lowfertile lands in which no other crop can be grown. In comparison with
other species like sheep, goat is 2.5 times more economical insevere weather conditions.
Pashu Sakhi
Sirohi
1
1. In FAOANIMAL PRODUCTIONAND HEALTH PAPER 30,sheep and goat breeds of India, chapter 2, available in
http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/x6532e/X6532E03.htm#ch2.3.1
In addition to this, goats have also a great income because they are prolific breeders
and achieve sexual maturity at the age of 10-12 months. Their gestation period is short and at
the age of 16-17 months theystart givingmilk.
Realizing the importance of goat in the agrarian economy of the country, various
developmental activities have been taken up by Government of India. The Central
Government had established Central Institute for Research on Goats at Makhdoom, Farah,
Mathura District, Uttar Pradesh.
However, as it is pointed out by FAO the productivity of Indian goats is low. Some
major reasons are concerned with disease and serious lack of organized efforts for genetic
improvement. There is little selection of bucks used for breeding. Along with these problems
goats suffer also fromdeprivation of good food. Therefore this project has made compulsory
the plantation of ardu trees (fodder livestock) for those who wanted to carry on with goat
rearing, so that the qualityof milkremains good.
In that sense, this programhas given an opportunity to the participants to participate
in the micro credit programwith the , in order to learn all the methods to
achieve a good goat rear.
The model works on the premises that the participants would be able to manage its
administrative expenses as well as improve the knowledge and self-confidence on goat
rearing. The distribution of the loans has taken this into account, assuming that the credit
should have ethical principles and give ownership to the women. This revolving fund was
given by the Cooperative of women which have preferred to ask for loans and not for a grant
(grants are non-repayable funds disbursed by one party grant makers). The loans schedule of
payback installments is trimestral; it creates a cycle of investments with the Cooperative
Society being able to make circulate funds thereby produced to offer further loans for the
purchase of more goats.
At present, the cooperative society provides loan to its members for goat farming.
Under this scheme a loan of Rs. 4000/- is given for one goat (Rs. 7,000 for buck) @12%p.a.
at reducedrate payable quarterly.
The project was launched planning to make available to the women cooperative
society 10 Sirohi bucks and 175 goats of genetically improved local breeds. The
reimbursement of the loantookplace every3 months withthe scheme below:
2
Cooperative Society
Micro-Credit programongoat rearing
2. FAOANIMAL PRODUCTIONAND HEALTH PAPER 30,sheep and goat breeds of India, chapter 1, available in
http://www.fao.org/docrep/004/x6532e/X6532E02.htm
The Goat Program 9 F
1st EMI (after 3 months) Rs. 1000/- +Rs. 120 =Rs. 1120/-
2nd EMI (after 6 months) Rs. 1000/- +Rs. 90=Rs. 1090/-
3rd EMI (after 9 months) Rs. 1000/- +Rs. 60 =Rs. 1060/-
4thEMI (after 12 months) Rs. 1000/- +Rs. 30=Rs. 1030/-
Total Rs. 4300/-.
Aseparate bank account was opened for this purpose where the entire capital as well
as interest is deposited. Approximately Rs. 10 lakhs have initially been transferred to the
cooperative society from the project for this purpose. In this way a revolving fund has been
createdfor womencooperative societyfor promotiongoat farminginthe project area.
The local ownership is at the same time always presented in the women cooperative
society. Firstly the cooperative of women could select the (the name for local
veterinarian) in order to bridge the community with the governmental veterinarian among
other support services for the goat rearing for women. Secondly the women of the
cooperative lead the project deciding among themwho should have the loan money and who
should purchase goats. Along with this decision several trainings and a monthly exchange
of experience with the local veterinarian has also been taken. This process started when two
project staff, along with one member of Laxmi Nidhi Cooperative went to The Goat Trust,
Lucknow, in order to have the technical support and the training to better understand which
goat to purchase by choosing the best quality of rear. It was referred by Geeta Devi (Pashu
Sakhi) that this training was an important step forward; they could know the basic diseases
of a goat (which kind of vaccination, medicine, how to feed a goat) and how to avoid some
health problems. Therefore, they could get from the project the first medicine kit. This
lesson learning provides to these women a tremendous autonomy to buy from themselves
and know which kind of medicine is most suited for their animals. At the same time they
could have a better perception about the nutrition that they should use and which
components should be present (it was discover that not enough quantity of salt is given to
goats). After that long training course about 13 days, another one has took place with more
than 30 women. Simultaneously the regular trainings fromthe veterinary of the government
from Niwai Hospital were also done in a regular basis. All these good practices described
above were also recognized by the government which gave to the cooperative more 20
bucks.
Pashu Sakhi
The Goat Program 10 F
Table 1: No. of Goats and Bucks distributed
The sustainability of the local ownership
The first steptowards the empowerment of local ownership was the possibilitytobuy
goats locally with a good quality of breed. With this accessibility they could save the travel
and feeding costs, in order to buy more goats. This possibility paved the way for sharply
increase in the numbers of goats among the community as 2267 goats have been treated by
. This is meaningfully as KIGS has distributed 31 bucks and 557 goats and it has
largely over passed the initial target of the project (175). More than 446 families have been
benefited from this project and this has been leading to proper management of the
community. This also defines the willingness of these women to improve by themselves and
manage their animal husbandry inthe most profitable andcost efficient way.
Therefore one of the achievements of this project is that these women have been able
to generate goat milk worth Rs. 8,27,825. They could get Rs. 20,55,300 for selling goat, kids
and buck. This could be possible because of the regular efforts of and the
womenalongwiththe local veterandoctor.
Pashu Sakhi
Pashu Sakhi
Name of Village No. of Goats distributed No. of families
No. of Bucks
distributed
Hingotiya Ki Dhani 43 24
5
Seendra 24 20 2
Chikana 52 44 5
Damodarpura 22 19 3
Abhaypura 55 43 3
Hameedpura 85 59 4
Nala 13 12 2
Khandwa 8 8
Barodiya 42 30 2
Sakatpura 42 19 4
Niwai 107 107 -
Sukhadiyanagar 32 30 1
Lodera 17 17
Jhujharpura 6 5 -
Palai 9 9 -
Total 557 446 31
The Goat Program 11 F
Actually this effort was largely considered when, in these areas the goat milk is not
sold in the market but made only for home consumption for children and making the tea. It
was during the training that women could get the information about how goat business was
undertaken. Early they used to sell bucks and goats without having any information about the
criteria of selling but under the project they were told that the price of goat depends upon its
weight. And they were also informing about various criteria on which the price of the goat
depends. For this a weighing machine was given to the cooperative society from the project
to regularly monitor the weight of the goats and their kids. Nowthe villagers are aware of the
goat business andtheyare able tomake good gains fromgoats.
In this way the exploitation of the villagers in goat business has been reduced. Also
the mortality of goats has drastically decreased after the introduction of in the
villages.
Earlier under the traditional system the goats were fertilized once in a year but now
with the introduction of good quality and training given to the they
are able to fertilize goats twice a year. This has doubled their income, also timely vaccination
by andinhouse treatments have reducedthe mortalityof goats toits minimum.
Traditionally the villagers don't do insurance of their animals, but under the project it
was emphasized that women should be encouraged and be aware of animal insurance. After
lot of persuasion the villagers were ready, in October 2011 to get their goats insured. This
range of the time (6 months) after the launching of the project was necessary to settle down
the information sessions as well as the distribution of goats. One of the main reasons of not
getting their animals insured was that when an animal is insured their ear is punched and
there is a general belief among the villagers that punched animal is associated with some
government scheme and is of bad quality. So when the villager wants to sell this animal they
find difficult to get a buyer. But in the end they also agreed to pay the premium of their
animals andthe project was able tosave that moneytobuy more goats for the people.
The competitions of rears in the second year of the project, as well as, the
implementation of the best practices were good incentives of lessons learned by the
community. The larger number of participants 187 reveals the self-confidence and
enthusiasm of the people on rearing the best quality of Sirohi breed and to achieve the best
standards of procreation. This figure has widely over passed the initial target of the project
from 2 competitions to 8 competitions. More than doing goat rearing the villagers are now
building up their awareness about food security and sustainable livelihood income, and they
are proud toimprove their animal husbandry perception.
Pashu Sakhi
Sirohi Bucks Pashu Sakhi
Pashu Sakhi
The Goat Program 12 F
In the competition of rears the winners were given some useful object to collect milk
such as milkdrum, tubandbucket.
The social transformation was reached due to the savings and investment made by
the community which has allowed the addition of more families to this program. In addition
to this these women are able to do their own activities and participate with guaranteed
income for their families.
The initial targets were more than accomplished, 470 (446+24) families are being
benefitted fromthis project. As the table shows, the number of goats treated by
is more than the double. This increase is reflecting the work done in the trainings as well the
experience andthe exchange of best practices that the has done amongthem.
Pashu Sakhi
Pashu Sakhi
Table 2: Summary of Goat activity
S. No. Particulars Target for the
project
Achievements
till 31 March
2014
1. Sirohi Buck 10 31
2. No. of families benefitted - 24
3. No. of bucks treated by Pashu Sakhi - 427
4. Induction Females (Goats) 175 557
5. No. of families benefitted - 446
6. No. of goats treated by Pashu Sakhi - 2267
7. No. of trainings organised for Pashu Sakhi 2 2
8. No. of Pashu Sakhi trained 10 31
9. Exposure visit (Pashu Sakhi and goat
rearers)
2 2
10. No. of people participated in exposure
visit
- 31
11. Competition among rearers 2 8
12. No. of competition organised - 8
13. No. of people participated - 187
14. Monthly meetings for Pashu Sakhi 30 27
15. Income from sale of goat, kids and buck
(between October 2011 to March 2014)
Rs. 20,55,300
16. Goat milk produced (between August
2013 to March 2014)
33,615 litres
Rs. 8,27,825
The Goat Program 13 F
Goat rearing: a sustainable source of livelihoodforvillage women
Rs. 5400/-.
Rs. 3375 Rs. 675
Rs. 450
Rs. 900/-
Rs. 10,000/-
Rs.16,300/-
Sita Devi w/o Ladu RamNayak of village Hingotia (Hamlet: Nayakon Ki Dhani) and
her family (5 members) are not financially sound; family owns a 2.5 bigha (0.5 hectares)
piece of land, since the land is not big enough for crop cultivation, the family earns their
bread and butter by laboring elsewhere. Sita Devi is a hard working woman who has also
triedtorear goats as anincome generationactivitybut faileddue toinadequate knowledge.
During a session of the members of the cooperative society meeting she kept forward
her situation that because of not so good quality breed of goats and inadequate knowledge
about goat rearing she failed at this venture. So if we are provided with proper knowledge of
the goat rearing and money to buy a good quality goat, having a good breed, it will be very
helpful for their sustenance.
Thus, this time with proper knowledge at her disposal and money to buy a good breed
goat, Sita Devi bought a goat along with two kids from the animal market from the money
providedtoher by the womencooperative society.
Sita Devi bought the goat of Sirohi breed and along with her a male and a female kid
on 20 October 2011 for Rs. 4000. Now Sita Devi was equipped with enough knowledge to
take better care of her investment. Sita Devi gave special attention to the health of goat and
ensured the timely vaccination as per the vaccination schedule. With proper maintenance the
goat startedgiving1.25 litres milkper day.
By the help of the Kumarappa Institute the goat was fertilized by a Sirohi breed buck
available within the village on November 2011 and gave birth to 2 female and 1 male kids on
April 2012. With availability of the buck in village the goat was again fertilized on June 2012
and gave birth to one female kid on 21 December 2012. During 14 months' time the goat
gave milk for 5 months which fetched Sita Devi monetary return of approx. The
milk was used for family consumption and was not sold in the market. (value: 2.5 litre/day x
3 months x @Rs. 15/- litre = ; 1.5 litre/day x 1 month x @Rs. 15/- litre = ; 1
litre/day x 1 month x @Rs. 15/- litre = ). The female kid which was brought with the
goat also gave birth to one male kid and one female kid on 30 November 2012. She is giving
2 litres milk per day since then (value: 2 litre/day x 30 days x @Rs. 15/- per litre = ).
On the occasion of Ed in October 2012 she sold two male kids for and repaid her
loanfromthe cooperative society.
In about one year time Sita Devi has increased her small animal stock from one goat
and two kids (total 3 animals) to 2 goats, one male kid and 4 female kids (total 7 animals in
December 2012). Apart from this she has also earned . This she has achieved in
st
th
The Goat Program 14 F
hardly 14 months' time (October 2011 to December 2012). She is very grateful to
Kumarappa Institute which provided her with proper knowledge of goat rearing and finance
at the time of need. Usually due to lack of proper knowledge of goat rearing and
unavailability of the buck, most village goat owners are able to get their goats fertilized once
in a year, among which mortality rate was high. Good quality breed goat and buck ensure less
mortalityrate of the infants.
Table 3: Income from sale of goat and kids
Mamta Meena lives in Sakatpura village and she has studied up to class eight. In her
family she has one boy and two girls, she is a lady who believes in social service as well as
looking after the family. Her husband works in the police department and she engages herself
in agriculture as well in animal husbandry. Her husband always encouraged her for social
service. Since her childhood Mamta was interested in agriculture and animals and after
marriage at her husband place she has taken good care of animals; she is equally expert in
Veterinary(Doctor) inthe village: The case of PashuSakhi
S.
No.
Name of
Village No. of animals sold (between October 2011-March 2014)
Goat Amount
Male
Kid Amount
Female
Kid Amount
1
Hingotiya Ki
Dhani 16 1,46,400 40 1,01,900 1 7,500
2 Seendra 6 38,000 30 89,800 8 18,500
3 Chikana 31 1,53,500 81 3,65,500 14 36,500
4 Sakatpura 4 26,000 48 1,67,000 0 0
5 Abhaypura 12 78,000 34 1,66,300 1 6,000
6 Hameedpura 2 11,000 50 2,47,000 0 0
7 Nala 0 0 6 21,900 0 0
8
Sukhadiya
Nagar 4 22,600 18 47,800 1 1,100
9 Damodarpura 1 6,000 24 84,500 0 0
10 Barodiya 17 1,01,000 26 1,02,500 4 9,000
11 Grand Total 93 5,82,500 357 13,94,200 29 78,600
Total no. of goats along
with kids sold 479
Total Amount 20,55,300
The Goat Program 15 F
looking after small as well as big animals. And her family is very satisfied with her work.
Sometimes when animals get sick she used to treat themwith traditional therapies but when
they become serious they have to take themto the doctor. Small animals are more prompt to
diseases and in many cases due to the non-availability of doctor small animals like sheep and
goat die in large numbers. As a result the family had to suffer financially and also they feel
verydisappointedfor this, but there was noway out.
In May 2011 when Kumarappa Institute was looking for in her villages
she voluntary came forward to do this job, but she was a little hesitant to take up as she was
not very literate. Kumarappa Institute main focus was to look for such Para veterinary
volunteers who have love for animals and who could carry on this service once the project is
over. Mamta was seen as a perfect choice for this job. The Institute assured to give her
support and training. In return, Mamta showed full confidence and interest in doing her job
skillfully if she gets the training. When Mamta was selected she was very happy and went to
each family in the village and informed themthat she has been selected as Pashu Sakhi of the
village. The Institute gave five days of training to Pashu Sakhi in which the experts gave first
aid and basic goat farming training. During the training sessions whenever Mamta was in
doubt she used to ask again and again. After five days of theoretical aspects of training,
Mamta got the first place in the exams. This shows her love and dedication towards the
animals and the Institute was confident that in future she will do a good job. Mamta had a
passion of learning new things and moving forward. She did more than her capacity and
always encouragedpeople totake good care of the animals.
After training Mamta started to look after goats in her village and slowly she also
started giving injections to them. Her self-confidence increased and her work was
improving. During the time of vaccination of goats she used to go from house to house to
each family in the village to give the vaccine. If some goat gets sick she was giving them
treatment and the villagers are very happy that they don't have to call doctors every nowand
then. Mamta believes in the saying that prevention is better than cure and focuses on proper
timely vaccination and timely treatment. NowMamta is also treating big animals. Her work
is so good that during government vaccination drive the government veterinary doctor takes
her help in giving vaccination to the animals around her villages. Due to her efficiency she is
able toapproximatelyearn600 rupees per month.
Vimla Devi story tells us how she has made goat farming as the main livelihood
activity. Vimla and her husband Pappu Lal are villager laborers. Both of them are doing
Pashu Sakhi
Promotionthroughgoat rearing
The Goat Program 16 F
agriculture and goat farming. In her family there are total six members - husband, wife, two
girls and two boys. Both husband and wife are very hard working and are simple in nature.
They both are illiterate. They earn their livelihood by agriculture and doing labor in the
villages. Both of themwork very hard and what they earn is not enough to run the family, but
they want their children to study because they don't want their children to be like them. They
want their children to go to school and work hard for a bright future. Under the livelihood
promotion program for the members of the woman cooperative society; members were
given one goat. Along with the goat she got two babies one male and one female. Within six
months her goats increased to six. Vimla used to keep the goats with her and sell the buck.
Slowly she startedearninggood amount of money.
Kumarappa Institute has also introduced good quality of bucks in the village as a
result of this, the people have started getting good quality of goats. Vimla says that whenever
she is in need of money she sells one buck. In a period of two and half years (after October
2011, onwards) the number of the goats withVimla increasedtosixteen.
Now she has the problem of rearing these goats, when both husband and wife were
busy in the fields and children were off to school then the problem of rearing the goats
become serious. Vimla suggested her husband that why they don't sell the goats and get one
buffalo. Her husband agreed to her suggestion and purchased one buffalo from the nearby
villages for Rs. 32,000 by selling six goats. Both husband and wife proudly says that
Kumarappa Institute taught us goat farming but we have promoted ourselves to dairy and the
familyis veryhappy.
This option taken by this family expresses also the openness towards other forms of
income that are more feasible for their family conditions. The difference between goats and
buffalo are related to the fatness of the milk. The buffalo's milk normally is fatter that gives
an additional market value. On the one hand goats are less risky and can better bear the dry
seasons. They are small animals that can easily be reared. So this family could realize all the
pro and cons of goat and buffalo rearing. In the end they have realized the importance of goat
in family economy and they have learnt how to rear other animals without losing the daily
income. Withthis buffalothis familycouldearnRs. 240 per day.
This case study is of Jhamari Devi (lives in Hingotiya village) who was able to treat
her burnt son with the income of goat farming. Jhamari Devi is a fifty year old widow who
has two sons but both of themlive separately. She lives alone and does agriculture and labor
Goats: Lifeline forwidow
The Goat Program 17 F
for her livelihood. The small piece of land which she has is also given to his two sons who do
agriculture on it.
Jhamari is able to survive herself with whatever people give to her. She is honest and
hardworking lady and in this age also she doesn't want to be dependent on her sons and she
does labour and cultivation. In this, whatever she earns she spends on herself and from time
to time she also helps her two sons. In 2011 when Kumarappa Institute started working in her
villages, she came in contact with the project. She was made one of the partners in goat
farming activity. She told about her family conditions and informed that she had one goat but
due to the family problems she had to sell her. Now she doesn't have any money but she can
take care of the goats. She was given a goat fromthe project and slowly she started increasing
the number of goats. Jhamari Devi was doing agriculture along with goat farming and slowly
her economic conditions begantoimprove.
Now when she had money, the attitude of son also changed and the younger son
started asking for money from her and when she refused to give him money he started
fighting with her. The youngest son was unemployed and slowly he started taking alcohol.
Jhamari was disappointed and she didn't know what to do. Kumarappa Institute workers
talkedtoher son but he didn't listen.
One day his son's wife left himand went to her parents place. Nowthe son was alone
and started creating more problems for his mother. After the wife left, her son used to come to
her mother's place andwas always fightingwithher.
Jhamari Devi is an honest hardworking and self-respecting woman but she is a
mother too. This is a unique example of a mother who takes care of her good-for-nothing son
and tries to help him out with food and with money even though in this age the children
should take care of their mother.
Jhamari Devi's life came to a cross road when the son who was creating a lot of
problems for her burnt himself in the house. His sixty percent of body was burnt. This
accident was causedbya cigarette that he threwaway, when he was drunk.
But the mother hadn't lost hope and confidence and took up the challenge of his
treatment. With that regard, from her work this mother was convinced to repay back Rs.
44,000 fromthe loans that she took fromother people by doing goat farming. She spent about
Rs. 60,000 on her son's treatment which she was managing to get by selling the goats and the
bucks. She could get Rs. 16,000 fromgoat supplies. Nowthis son is able to walk and Jhamari
The Goat Program 18 F
Devi gives full credit to the goat project in saving his son. She proudly admits that if she
didn't have goats she will be not have beenable toprovide good treatment for her son.
Kanchan Devi lives in Nayak Ki Dhani in Hingotiya village. There are six members
in the family, they are very poor and they don't have much land for doing agriculture. They
earn their livelihood by goat rearing and doing labor in the field. In the village about fifteen
families are engaged in goat farming but the main problem for all these families was non
availability of buck in the villages for their goats. They have to take their goats to nearby
villages for fertilization. Sometimes the buck owner used to refuse and in that case they have
to bring back their goats empty handed and sometimes they also ask for money. When this
problemwas put forward in front of Kumarappa Institute workers the villagers informed that
since the number of goats have increased in the area nobody leaves their buck alone and they
have to give money to get their goats fertilize. After much discussion with the villagers it was
suggested that someone in the villages should take the responsibility of keeping buck with
him.
Kanchan Devi who belongs to this hamlet agreed to keep buck if she is helped with
some money. In 2012 she was given a good quality of Sirohi buck from the nearby village
Bhatadiya (Gurjaron Ki Dhani) from Mr. Ramsukh Gurjar, Kanchan Devi bought this buck
for rupees six thousands and this buck started living with the goats of the village. Kanchan
says that when there was no buck in the hamlet their goats did not receive heat on time and
there was a gap in the pregnancy of the goats but now since the buck is living with the goats
they get heat on time and the goats are able to give birth two times in a year. She could get the
income of Rs. 8,000 by selling2 bucks, as eachbuckis 4,000 rupees.
As the buck lives in the hamlet it saves lot of time and money. Other woman in the
area Santara, Vimla, Sita, Jhamri, Santosh etc. are very happy and inform that due to good
quality of buck given by Kumarappa Institute they are getting good quality of goat kids.
Kanchan Devi informs that her goats are bearing babies every sixth months and in two years'
time she has learnt a lot. All the families in the hamlet have benefited and they all thank
Kumarappa Institute for this.
Improving goat breedinthe area: Case Study of Sirohi Buck
ooo
The Goat Program 19 F
Training of Pashu Sakhi
Goat Distribution
Weighing Goat Before Selling
The Goat Program 20 F
Goat Distribution
Goat Competition
Prize Distribution to Goat Competition Winner
The Goat Program 21 F
Chapter 3
Ardu Plantation
Background
The deforestation in the villages has been going on for several years. The causes
behind this are essentially economic ones. Wood is used for industrial purposes and the
income generated by that are a meaningful resource to a poor family with vulnerable
economic power. Another reason of deforestation is the fact that wood is very important for
domestic work of cooking and heating. Along with this, the major challenges in Indian
agriculture are related to renewing and overcoming ancient and traditional beliefs of
agriculture. The low access to a more efficient agriculture in the villages can be also
understood by this poorness status as it was stated by FAO inequality is growing and the
two-thirds of the population living in rural areas are depending on agriculture, is being left
behind.
In the Rajasthan districts' this social-economic scenario can be even more
challenging in poor soils, arid and unfavorable climatic conditions. Agriculture and goat
rearing are therefore a hazard. In that sense, goat rearing needs to have a diversified source of
fodder andfeed, inorder tohave good breeds.
Ardu plantation is a landmark in this project as it has created new forms of good
nutrition for the animal farming especially the goats. It is known that these animals can
survive insevere temperatures as well as eat improper food like the barkof the trees.
However with the Ardu plantation the quality of good food was really improved in
the animal farming. Their leaves are highly palatable and protein rich nutritious fodder for
sheep and goats are said to augment milk production, even if the animals have to get used to
acrid smell of these leave. In addition to this, these plants give also green fodder for animals
on the farm. These trees are also easily procreative, once the same yield is again possible
fromcoppice cropafter 6 years (2nd cropon the earlier harvestedstumps).
Ardu is therefore is largely planted on farmlands, as it has been used successfully in
agro forestry for planting around the margins of cultivated fields. Lopping of foliage is done
twice in a year during the main cropping season, thus reducing competition, mostly during
November-JanuaryandMay-July.
http://coin.fao.org/cms/world/india/en/CountryInformation.html
In addition to this, this tree has also a considerable income. The spacing is doing only
in 5 m along the bunds and in 1 acre will accommodate about 60 seedlings. In 10 years the
whole tree could give an earnings of about Rs 7000/-. If a farmer has 1 acre ofArdu plantation
this earning could increase and in 10 years will be Rs 4,20,000/- acre. Besides this, Ardu
wood is alsoused inpackingcases, plywood, matchwoodboxes.
Kumarappa Institute set up this project along with the villagers, to overcome all the
traditional beliefs about the plantation of these trees. This possibility allowed them to
develop their skills as well as to bridge the technical knowledge with economic one, by
increasingthe avenue fromagricultural andanimal farming, especiallyfor the goats feeding.
The Ardu plantation was one of the important components in undertaking goat
farming in the project villages and one of the most challenged one, to implement in the rural
agriculture. Two fundamental lessons were learnt during this project by the Institute among
the people about the nursery performance, and secondly only by the people, who had to make
some efforts toovercome their unwillingness about Ardu farming.
Therefore, KIGS developed its support on an advocacy level among these women.
Its purpose is not related directly to educate women in formal education schemes (going to
school and studying) but to discuss and work with them in order to raise awareness of the
issues and to be selfsustainable, by improving their capacity-building. In that context, KIGS
staff went for an exposure visit in Tapukara to see ardu plantation and multi-level farming
techniques. Along with this, the project staff Sh. Hanuman Sahay Sharma and Ms. Geeta
Sain from the cooperative society participated in the Dahod workshop organized by SDTT.
Another exposure visit took place to PRADAN field in Balrampur, Puruliya (WB) to see
farm pond activity with Dr. Awadh Prasad/Dr. Amit Kumar. Besides this, Dr. Amit Kumar
also participated in Program on Credit Aspects in Rural Development organized by
Banker Institute of Rural Development (BIRD, Lucknow) at Jodhpur, in order to follow up
newaspect of the microcredit rural development.
Hingotiya a small village in Khandewat Panchayat is an overwhelming example of
the disbelief of the people about Ardu plantation. This village comprises fifteen houses of
The arduplantation: challenges andachievements
The first challenge of Ardu plantation in the village: the impact of new agriculture
farming
Ardu Plantation 23 F
nayaks and ten families of bairwa community, whose main activities are agriculture and goat
farming. Some families also do some work in the famous Banasthali Vidhyapeeth
(University) that is close tothis village.
Kumarappa Institute knowing the importance of the main income of these families
organized a meeting, where both men and women participated to discuss the methods and
techniques of agriculture and goat rearing activities, especially the availability of fodder for
goats, withArdu plantation. However the majority of the villagers were very skeptical. They
believed that Ardu could be a threat for the crops if it was planted on the farm boundary and
also that under its shade any seed could fertilize. Although these disbeliefs were largely
accepted in the community who were not conscious. When they were asked if anyone has
plantedArdu or if theyhadseenthis plant, the answer was negative.
Kumarappa Institute based its methodology in an open discussion, which helped
some farmers ending up to agree for planting Ardu, in order to freely check if it has any
arduous effect on their regular agriculture production. It is known by that local
ownership cannot be imposed, but selfconstructed among the people, as the only drivers of
change are these villagers, especiallywomen.
This fruitful discussion, therefore, resulted in one thousand saplings being planted in
the hamlet in the first year. Along with the plantation, the farmers have also fertilized the land
with goat manure, as a result, the Ardu plants have grown very fast and no problem was
noticed with the other crops. This experience convinced people that their disbeliefs about
Ardu plantation were unfounded, and in the second year they all started to plant Ardu on the
boundaryof their farms, as a proof of the self-trust towards this plantation.
In two years the agricultural, social and economical landscape has changed. People
realized that from now on they could feed their goats in their fields instead of going to the
jungle as the fields had plenty of Ardu plantations. Therefore they could improve the health
of the goats as well as the quality and quantity of the milk produced. This lesson learnt in
three years was the biggest Kumarappa's project which allowed people to learn by doing and
creatingconstructive work withinthe community.
In conclusion the people of these hamlets have benefitted very much and if one goes
after five years the scene of these hamlets could be very different. The result of that can be
seen in the figures when the Ardu plantation has been four times more than the initial
provisions.
Kumarappa
Ardu Plantation 24 F
Table 4: Ardu plantation and its survival in the third year (2014)
The secondchallenge ofArduplantation: the nursery of the plants
In the first year as KIGS didn't have any previous experiences inArdu plantation, the
plants were purchased from the government nursery in Chaksu. But before this, a group of
farmers went to Tapukada village to see Ardu plantation. After this visit the farmers started
showing interest in this. However in that year a lot of saplings were destroyed when they
were transported from Chaksu to Niwai, as we all knowArdu saplings are very delicate and
needextra care intransportationandthis was a bigprobleminthe project.
After much discussion the Director of the Institute Dr. Prasad suggested to train
someone from the project in the village in nursery. In this way Kumarappa Institute could
distribute more plants to the farmers. Due to this fact some specificity on ardu plantation
were also discussed. Ardu excelsa is a strong light demanding tree. The seedlings get easily
suppressed by weeds as a result of shading and hence nursery should be kept weed free.
Prolonged drought kills seedlings, though the trees are drought resistant. Seedlings should
be planted in the rainy season and must be hand watered during the summer season. The tree
is very susceptible to water logging or excess of moisture in the soil. Hence plants in nursery
should be watered with care and planting in the field should be in well drained areas. Some
threats can also occur as seedlings are susceptible to damping off disease therefore heavy
watering should be avoided and only optimum level of moisture should be maintained.
Ailanthus webworm is fatal and serious defoliator (occurring from April to June), which
damages fruits, seeds andleaves. If detected, some commonpesticides maybe sprayed.
Name of
Village
No. of
beneficiaries
Ardu saplings
Distributed
Plants Survival in
April 2014 Percentage
Hingotiya 86 3670 3294 90
Chikana 47 9255 4873 53
Jhujharpura 34 2486 1716 69
Sakatpura 37 3680 2377 65
Damodarpura 28 480 336 70
Seendra 41 1234 822 67
Chourpura 33 3278 2606 79
Abhaypura 11 1582 1216 77
Sukhadiyanagar 22 1550 1158 75
Hameedpura 31 3620 1711 47
Total 370 30835 20109 65
Ardu Plantation 25 F
During all this discussion in the villages Rasal Devi from Chikana village came
forward to set up nursery, provided she is given proper training and hand on support. In
March 2012 she was sent to Sir Syed Trust to take training in setting up of a nursery for Ardu
plantation. There she learnt how to select seed, how to prepare beds and precautions to be
takenetc.
She was able to raise 10,000 saplings in the first year out of which only 6,000
saplings were able to survive. But she was not disappointed and assured of preparing more
saplings in the next year. In the first year she was able toearnRs. 30,000.
In the next year she motivated one more farmer to prepare the nursery and both of
themtogether started working on it. Their efforts went in vain when the nursery prepared by
themfrommarket seeds didn't growup. Nowthey decided to collect fresh seeds fromnearby
villages and started preparing new saplings at their respective wells. While preparing the
nursery whenever they were faced with any problemthey used to consult among themselves.
With joint efforts the nursery was a big success and they were able to raise about thirty
thousandsaplings whichgave themanincome of Rs. 1,05,000.
Table 5: Status of fodder plantation during the period April 2011-March 2014
S. No. Particulars
Achievements till 31
March 2014
1. Fodder crop demo - rajka 79 farmers
2. Fodder crop demo plot 1.5 hec.
3. Plantation of fodder tree 43,339
4. Fodder trees survived (ardu, neem and babool)
26,880
(62.02%)
5. No. of families benefitted 710
6. No. of Ardu saplings planted 35,233
7. No. of Ardu saplings survived
22,130
(62.81%)
8. No. of Neem, Babool saplings planted 8,106
9. No. of Neem, Babool saplings survived
4,750
(58.59%)
10. No. of Fruit saplings planted 3,239
11. No. of Fruit saplings survived
2,197
(67.82%)
12. No. of Village Nursery set up 8
13. No. of saplings prepared 50,000
14. No. of saplings distributed 39,935
Ardu Plantation 26 F
In the dry conditions of Rajasthan the survival of plants is a big challenge but the
project area was fortunate to have occasional rains after the sowing. As a result the survival
rate of fodder plants which include ardu, neemand babool was 62%. Survival of ardu plant
was about 63%, neem and babool are native plants of the area their suvival was about 59%
and fruit plants survival was 68%. In the second year the villagers advised to sow babool on
the boundary of the field instead of preparing saplings, this gave us satisfactory results. Since
fruit plants are expensive and only selected farmers took this initiative their survival rate was
more thanarduandneem/babool.
To conclude we may say that this activity encouraged farmers to go for plantation of
indigenous fodder plants whichwould give themfodder andfuel infuture.
Ardu Distribution
Ardu Plantation 27 F
Ardu Plantation
Ardu Nursery by Women Self Help Group
Ardu Plantation 28 F
Chapter 4
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives
Agriculture in Rajasthan is a very challenging activity, as it is stated by the
government 20 million hectare are cultivated but only 20% of this area is irrigated.
However since Rajasthan is one of the largest states of India, where 66% of the population
depends on agricultural for their livelihood, the improvement in agriculture is fundamental.
There are several reasons behind this poor and vulnerable agricultural status. One reason
tackled by our project is the lack of natural fertilization in the soils. In that regard,
Kumarappa Institute has started training the villagers about green manure. The main aimwas
to prepare the agriculture more sustainable and less dependent. The technique, for instance
about fertilization, is related to a green undecomposed material used as manure. It is obtained
in two ways: by growing green manure crops (such assunnhemp, dhaincha, pillipesara,
cluster beans and Sesbaniarostrata, usually belong to the leguminous family) or by collecting
greenleaf (alongwithtwigs) fromplants grown inwastelands, fieldbunds andforest.
The benefits of this method are various in order to avoid soil exhaustion. The soil
deterioration is significant under a monoculture cropping. With green manure it will increase
the organic humus as it will raise the soil nitrogen supply. Another advantage is that it will
help the upturn of water holding capacity in the soils. Finally the natural organic fertilizer
could be easily available among farmers, and would be cheaper than buying chemical
fertilizers that oftencannot be afford by them.
This was the study case of green manure of a village 10 km from Niwai town.
There are about 200 (two hundred) families living in the village mainly comprising of Jat,
Bairwa, Brahmin, Khati, Meena community. All families are engaged in agriculture. The
main crops growing in the area are wheat, mustard, gram, millets, groundnut etc. Along with
agriculture all the families keep animals, but most of the families have big animals such as
cows and buffaloes. Average number of animals in one family in this village is between five
to ten. Since this village is near the town, the people are able to sell milk easily which gives
them good returns. Since majority of the villagers were or are engaged in animal husbandry
they need fodder for their animals in large quantity and for this they have to grow lots of
fodder for which they use chemical fertilizers. Due to excessive use of chemical fertilizers in
Nal
their fields the soil has become unfertile. Earlier due to use of chemical fertilizers the
production increased but the people's greed increased too and they started using more and
more fertilizers. The impact of this on the land was that in some fields the seeds stopped
fertilizing and over the period of years due to less rainfall the fertility of the soil kept on
decreasing.
Now the people have realized the bad effect of chemical fertilizers in their fields
which have destroyed their land and soil. The villagers of Nala started looking for
alternatives in which the use of cow dung was suggested. But these people did not have
sufficient quantity of cow dung in the village. Moreover most of the people were using cow
dung as fuel in the kitchen. As a result its use as fertilizer was insufficient. The villagers also
approached the agriculture department for some solution but they didn't receive any practical
solution.
In 2012 the villagers come in contact with Kumarappa Institute social workers and
discussed about their problem. The institute advised them to grow green manure (dhaincha
grass) in their fields. The villagers agreed to it and ten of them were given training by the
Institute and out of them seven farmers grow green manure in their one bigha of land. After
this theytookmustardcropfromthis land.
In the first year they received better production fromthe previous year and the people
got convinced that this manure helps production and it also restricts various diseases in the
crop. Also the fertility of soil has increased. A number of farmers from the village such as
Harishankar, Puranmal, Shyojiram, Ratanlal, Sohanlal, Omprakash experimented green
manure in their field and have taken oath to take this task forward with other farmers in the
village.
After seeing this good production, other farmers of the village also come forward to
grow dhaincha grass in their fields. In this second year ten more farmers experimented this
grass in their fields and slowly when people got information about this green manure they
startedcontactingKumarappa Institute staff for advice andhelp.
Earlier the project staff was going to the village and making people aware about
dhaincha grass, but now the farmers are coming to NGO office to enquire about this. The
farmers who are using this manure for last two years have informed that in the third year
(2013) as a result of this grass the productions in their fields have increased two fold. In the
third year about fifty farmers used dhaincha grass in their fields which shows the growing
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 30 F
interest of the farmers in the villages about green manure. It is clearly visible that with the use
of green manure the crop is different fromthe other crop and it does not have infections. We
can clearly say that green manure is a boomfor the soil and it increases the fertility (nutrition)
andproduction.
In conclusion during the three years of the project several farmers come forward by
cultivatingdifferent crops of greenmanure as well as growing some vegetables.
The success of this venture is also connected with the trainings that has took place in
the community, where theycouldlearnbydoinganddiscuss the mainproblems.
Consequently the project provided six trainings on the best practices of farming
such as: on herbal pesticides, compost making and improved agriculture techniques at
Rajasthan Go Sewa Sangh, Jaipur; improvement of agriculture techniques as such; training
on organic farming for farmers at Go Sewa Sangh, Jaipur; the participation in Krishi Mela at
KVK, Banasthali with 200 participants from Barodiya, Hameedpura, Khandwa, Chikana,
Jhujharpura, Hingotiya, Abhaypura and Sakatpura; the participation in Organic Farmers
Conference at Bikaner, 9-12 March 2013, with 13 farmers; the training of vegetable growing
farmers organized and finally the training of Daicha growing farmers was organized on 21
June 2013 inNala village.
Therefore, there were different achievements that can be underlined. The
improvement of farming techniques has been one of the major successes of the capacity
building of these farmers. They have tripled the initial target launch for the project (it was
expect to have only 300 and then in the end it was reaching 675 farmers), what foresees a
lesson learnt of agriculture farming.
The second achievement is related to the good returns taken from their fields. In
average the people were able to earn twice their expenses. This is directly connected with the
good management of the lands, through agriculture differentiation. People could avoid soil
exhaustion; as a result, they have wisely chosen the products feasible for their land. To some
extent the figures are not the same for all farmers, as they have freely chosen which kind of
products and in which area of the land they could be grown. On the other hand this reveals the
maturityandthe openness towards their capacitybuilding.
The level of optimism could be witnessed among the community that has enriched
the social capital. All the new introductions were seen as another addition that encouraged
the farmers. In this climate KIGS has introduced fruit plantation and rose nursery which is
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 31 F
used as an incentive to the farmers in Jhujharpura village. It allowed themto experiment with
other formof activity and experiment another agriculture zone to increase the income of the
families.
Table 6: Progress in agriculture extension activities (April 2011-March 2014)
S. No. Particulars Unit Target
for the
project
Achievements
till 31 March
2014
1.
Demonstration of improved farming No. of
farmers 300 675
2. Demonstration Plots (area) Hec. 250
Demonstration of Moong/Urad/Chaula
3. Demonstration Plot Hec. 8.89
4. No. of farmers No. 99
5. Input cost of farming-cash expenses only Rs. 53,340
6. Output value of production Rs. 3,20,040
7. Income per hectare Rs. 30,000
Demonstration of Bajra
8. Demonstration Plot Hec. 8.05
9. No. of farmers No. 110
10. Input cost of farming-cash expenses only Rs. 45,080
11. Output value of production Rs. 1,15,920
12. Income per hectare Rs. 8,800
Demonstration of Til
13. Demonstration Plot Hec. 2.18
14. No. of farmers No. 29
15. Input cost of farming-cash expenses only Rs. 8,720
16. Output value of production Rs. 87,200
17. Income per hectare Rs. 36,000
Demonstration of Groundnut
18. Demonstration Plot Hec. 3.2
19. No. of farmers No. 28
20. Input cost of farming-cash expenses only Rs. 25,600
21. Output value of production Rs. 1,92,000
22. Income per hectare Rs. 52,000
Demonstration of Daicha
23. Demonstration Plot Hec. 26.5
24. No. of farmers No. 66
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 32 F
Seed Sovereignty:
Another cause of the poorness of agriculture farming is related to the inability of
preparing own seeds. Farmers are used to take seeds from the market, at a very expensive
price and often with a poor quality; ones that they are usually counterfeit products. This
was the case of Prem Devi a woman who lives in Hingotiya village.
Prem Devi lives in Bairwa Ki Dhani in Hingotiya village. The main occupation of
Prem Devi is agriculture along with animal husbandry. Her husband is a mason so she has
to do all the agriculture and animals' related work on her own. She is not literate but she
can do signature and she has a good knowledge of agriculture.
In 2011 when she came in contact with Kumarappa Institute, she informed that she
grows vegetables in her field, however when we asked about where the seeds come from, she
told that the seeds were bought from the market. She also informed that the seeds which she
purchases from the market are very expensive and sometimes they don't even grow. In the
project she was given training so as to how to prepare her own seeds. After the training she
startedpreparingher own seeds fromthe various techniques that she hadlearnt.
Initially she prepared the seeds of lauki (bottle gourd) which she grewto about three
feet. In the second year she prepared seeds of chili and slowly she experimented in palak
(spinach), methi, carrot, beans, ladyfinger etc.
Prem Devi prepares her own seed:
Demonstration of Vegetables
25. Demonstration Plot Hec. 104
26. No. of farmers No. 96
27.
Input cost of farming-cash expenses only
Rs. 12,89,600
28. Output value of production Rs. 1,04,00,000
29. Income per hectare Rs. 87,600
Demonstration of Guar Gum farmers
30. Demonstration Plot Hec. 97.25
31. No. of farmers No. 247
32. Input cost of farming-cash expenses only Rs. 7,78,000
33. Output value of production Rs. 37,34,400
34. Income per hectare Rs. 30,400
35. Well Recharge structures No. 9
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 33 F
Seeing Prem Devi the other women of the hamlet such as Kamla Devi, Ratni Devi,
Santara Devi, Sita Devi, etc. alsostartedpreparingrajka seeds whichis a fodder.
Prem Devi says that if one prepares one's own seeds then the seed also will be good
and it will reduce the expenses on seeds which they are buying from the market. Prem Devi
shares her experience and states that if the seeds are good then the vegetables are also of good
quality, they also need less pesticides. She also states that she herself prepares herbal
pesticides at home. She is against the medicines available in the market as they may lead to
various types of diseases. The vegetables which use organic manure and herbal pesticides do
not cause diseases, the taste is verygood andtheyare alsoproducedat a lowcost.
Today Prem Devi prepares her own seeds, grows vegetable and saves money. Prem
Devi accepts that she has learnt a lot fromthe project and also has been benefitted by it and in
future she plans toprepare seeds of other crops too.
The organic vegetables were also another innovation implemented for the farmers.
Kumarappa Institute was able to spread the message of a diversified agriculture instead of
putting all eggs in the same basket. The soil remains exhausted, the nutrition of the people
only turns repetitive with long force fasting. Therefore the Institute gave a strong support
for the ones that were prepared to grow vegetables, as they can be easily sold in the market
withquickreturns. This was the case of Sheoraj Mali.
Sheoraj Mali lives in Chikana village. He is 25 years old and his father died when he
was a child as a result he was not able to study and had to take care of the family. His mother
engagedhiminagriculture andlabor at a veryyoung age.
Due to their poor economic status other people in the village also did not support
them. With a lot of efforts his mother was able to marry him and now there were three
members in the family. Sheoraj and his mother started thinking of increasing their
agriculture by growing vegetables along with cereals. Since the vegetables seeds in the
market were very expensive they couldn't buy it, and it was a very difficult time for the
family. He and mother and wife had to work on the fields but they didn't have money to grow
vegetables. In 2011 when Sheoraj came with the contact with project workers he told them
that he has land and water but he does not have money to buy seeds. The project supported
him by giving him seeds of lady finger, turai (ridge gourd), gwar (beans), lauki (bottle
gourd), etc. He was alsogiventrainingby specialists about vegetables growing.
Sheoraj Mali: Propagating organicallygrownvegetables
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 34 F
With this encouragement he started growing vegetables in his two and half bigha of
land. Now he was getting vegetables from his field and he goes to Niwai daily to sell them.
One of the most important specialties of his vegetables was that they were grown with
organic manure and no chemical fertilizers were used. Also the medicines he was using to
prevent the crop fromdiseases were herbal. He used the leaves of neem, aak, dhatura to make
herbal pesticide. In this way he saved a lot of money and the quality of vegetables was also
good.
NowSheoraj is selling vegetables worth Rs. 40-45,000 every year. This year in 2013
he has sown tomatoes in two bigha of land in which he is using compost. Nowother people in
the village are also coming forward to growvegetables. Sheoraj accepts that it was only due
to the support and encouragement fromthe project that his economic condition has improved
and other people are motivated to move forward. People are coming to me to take my advice
which makes me very happy. I'm grateful for the project for putting me on the path of
development, myfamilyis alsoveryhappy.
Another case of entrepreneurship in agriculture is related to Mamta. This woman is a
real entrepreneur, more than doing just the farming of one crop she learnt through the
training imparted by the Institute how to cultivate and fertilize with organic farming in
several crops in the same area. From the flower cultivation especially the rose nursery she
grewfruit plants and fodder for the animals. All these activities had an overwhelming impact
inher life.
Mamta Sharma lives in Jhujharpura, she has studied up to class twelve. In her family
she has husband, father and mother in law and two daughters. All the family is engaged in
agriculture and animal husbandry, but their main occupation is rearing, they have buffalos
and they supply buffalo milk to nearby town of Niwai. Her father-in-law does this for the
family. Mamta and her mother-in-lawtake care of buffalos and agriculture. Mamta takes lot
of interest in all agriculture activities. She is always interested in doing newthings but due to
lackof informationit is difficult for her.
She is literate as well as hardworking and always looks for new experiments in
agriculture which would give more income and profit. She always discusses this in her
familyandwithher husband andfather inlaw.
She always felt sorry that even though they have land and good water but because of
limited information they are not able to utilize it completely. In May 2013 when KIGS was
Mamtaspreads the fragrance of rose: rose nursery
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 35 F
giving training in organic farming, Mamta was also one of the participants. During the
training Mamta showed her interest for flower cultivation along with organic farming but she
didn't have any information regarding this. During the training she was assured of getting
technical guidance from the Institute. Mamta was very happy to hear this and decided to do
flower cultivation with the help of project staff. After the training, Mamta starting preparing
her field for flower cultivation. She cleaned all the area and started making pits. She also
startedpreparingcompost fromanimal dung.
In July 2013 Mamta was given two hundred rose saplings and three hundred fruit
plants which included lemon, pomegranate, gooseberries, karonda, guava, etc. She planted
roses in half a bigha of land and fruit plants in other half bigha of land. The empty space
between fruit plants were used to grow green fodder for the animals and wheat. Mamta has
experimented a new thing she had grown fruits plants along with wheat and fodder in the
same field.
The land was suitable for rose plantation and in the second month it started giving
flowers. Mamta states that every alternative day she plucks roses and sells them in Niwai
town. She is earning between one hundred fifteen to two hundred rupees per day and her
family income has increased by more than three thousand rupees a month. Now Mamta and
her familyare veryhappyandthankful for the project.
The water harvesting and management is very important, not only because it helps to
store water but also creates a structure that can help to filter, which will allowthe irrigation of
the soils withgood qualityof water.
The artificial recharging of wells and ground water is an important technique for its
replenishment. The recharge of these wells is done when the runoff is deviated to a dugout pit
or a very small sunken pond close to the individual well. To help in this process sometimes
well is below the bottom of the pit then one or two cement pipes are connecting to the well
through the walls. These discharges act as a percolation or filtration method because of the
recharge of the aquifer. There can be also used some layers in the pit of filtering materials as
stones or pebbles, and sand in order to help the filtration process and the purification of the
water. This technique is very useful for the cleaning of the water removing all types of traps.
This was the case with Badri Narayan. After knowing how to use this technique he could
finallycreate good qualityof water andstore it toirrigate his fields.
Badri Narayan Bhanwariya lives in Barodiya village and is engaged in agriculture
and labor for his livelihood. There are thirteen members in this family who are dependent on
Collectingthe waterwhere it falls: well recharge throughthe rainwater
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 36 F
him. The family is middle class and all members are very hardworking and interested in
agriculture. Along with agriculture they also do animal husbandry they have cow, buffalo
and goats. But Badri says that earlier he used to do agriculture with bulls, even irrigation was
done by bulls. But slowly andslowly as time changedit was difficult for himtodo agriculture
by bulls. He remembers even today his experience of doing agriculture by bulls as it was very
useful since it requiredless capital.
Nowagriculture or farming is done by tractors which are very expensive. Sometimes
when the crop fails he has to bear huge losses. But Badri has fifteen bigha of land in which he
constructed new well about six years back. He received water in the well but it was not
enough and the quality was also not good, the bad quality water when irrigated in the field
made the soil even worse. The fertility of soil decreased and slowly he was not able to grow
anythinginhis field.
The family was facing a very big problem. He tried various measures to improve the
soil but all in vain. The well water as soon as it came in contact with the soil it made the soil
infertile. The production decreased and the water in the well also decreased. The diesel
engine on the well used to run for three or four hours only. In July 2013 KIGS worker
contacted Badri for well recharge structure. But he was not ready for it as he thought that if
rain water is diverted into his well then the well will be of no use because along with water the
soil will alsodeposit intothe well.
He was very skeptical that in his big well the rainwater would have any impact. He
had several questions like this about this activity, but with continuous persuasion he was
ready to make well recharge structure. He was informed that the soil which will come along
with water will be first put to a water filter which will separate soil from the water and only
fresh rain water will go into the well. When rains started and water started going to the well
he saw that no waste is going into his well and in two months of rainy season his well was
filled with water. After seeing the filled well Badri says that he hadn't seen so much water in
his well ever. After the recharge the engine on the well is running for ten to twelve hours per
day, and still it has water. Nowhe is able to irrigate his fifteen bigha of land, also he has taken
the neighboring thirty five bigha of land in partnership for cultivation. He didn't stop at this
and he sold water to other farmers for irrigation at the rate of one thousand rupees per day and
earnedeight thousandrupees. He is veryhappyandgrateful for the project.
ooo
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 37 F
Vegetable Production - Lauki (bottle gourd)
Vegetable Production - Tomatoes
Guar Gum
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 38 F
Seed Production
Well Recharge
Well Recharge
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 39 F
Rose Nursery
Participation in Krishi Mela
Fodder Development
Agriculture - Green Manure and other initiatives 40 F
Chapter 5
Conclusion
The principal aim of this project was to strengthen the women cooperative society
and SHGs by working in close collaboration with them. This lasting self-sufficiency was
achieved in different levels. Thus the local ownership was therefore manifold achieved as all
the activities were mainstreamed in a partnership perspective without compulsory rules, but
ina continuous process of learningandempowerment.
KIGS entailed always the civil society as key partner in this project. Before
starting the implementation of any of the activities (goat rearing and ardu plantation), KIGS
encouraged the women to participate in two exposure visits, to Lucknowfor goat rearing and
in Tapukada (to disseminate information about the nursery of ardu plantation). In that way
these women were motivated and contributed towards strengthening the social capital of the
community.
Besides this Women lead the process of deciding amongst themwho should have the
loan of money and who should purchase the goats in a self-responsible perspective,
providing a good interest rate of the loans. This avoided any kind of exploitation as well as
dependencyon the family's relatives.
Along with that several trainings have been implemented to share the best
practices among the community. People are now aware of the goat's diseases and how to
keep a goat properly. Before the project no one knew about the nutrition that should be used
for the goats, for instance the quantity of salt that should be given to them. All these efforts
and due to the work of the , women are nowmore confident and resilient in goat
rearing. Their avenues from the goats have increased abruptly; because of the sanitary
treatments and the better nutrition's components that nowthey supply to them. The centrality
of the work of is also proof in terms of social commitment, as 31 women i.e.
more than triple (of the initial target) have come forward to receive trainings in order to be
local veterans. With the same enthusiasm the competition of the rears was organized twice
duringthe three years.
In that extent, the results of the three years of the project largely express all these
achievements. The goats treated by the Pashu Sakhi have been 2267. This shows how the
Pashu Sakhi
Pashu Sakhi
goats are nowa part of the community economy. From31 bucks distributed by the project the
women cooperative society were able to increase it as much as they could. Therefore they
could also at the same time provide the induction female all the year round in the project
villages andthis has improvedthe qualityof the breedinthe area.
Along with that women have also taken the decision to assure the insurance for their
animals as they could understand with the project the benefits to have their animals insured.
This proactive attitude has safeguarded money and has contributed for their financial
independence.
All these efforts have resulted in an earning of Rs. 8,27,825 in three years due to the
good quality of the milk and the good returns from selling the goats, kids and buck in Rs.
20,55,300. Along with this women now are able to apply for the market criteria in terms of
quality of breed and weight of the goat. Thus the income fromthe goats is nowa sustainable
financial resource for several families, as it is largely express by the qualityof the milkand its
revenues.
The agriculture facilities were promoted during this project such as: the
intensification of Ardu Plantation and the improvement of agricultural techniques. These
initiatives were largely used among farmers, tackling the root cause of agricultural poorness.
Therefore the ardu nursery plantation performance in the villages was a step forward to
assure better nutrition for animal husbandry. People could overcome their disbeliefs as well
as intensify the plantation of these trees and this has changed completely the landscape of
these villages. More than 43,000 saplings were planted in the villages along with 3,239 fruits
plants to practice other forms of agricultural production. Before the project started the lands
were dry and only monoculture agriculture was being practiced. In the same way the
introduction of green manure techniques have assure a more sustainable livelihood incomes.
People were happy to realize that they were not more dependent on chemical fertilizers and
they could save money by creating their own compost. This technique also avoided the soil
exhaustion and this has improved the quality of the seeds, and the growth of products with
fewer diseases.
The enthusiasmfor newand more recent farming techniques allowed the villagers to
experience organic farming. They growa diversity of vegetables for their own consumption
and this has substantially improved their daily diet. It is meaningful, in a region that often
suffers fromsevere anddry conditions, causinga scarcityof food stocks.
Conclusion 42 F
In the same way the project aimed successfully at the artificial water recharge in the
wells. Due to the long harvest water periods, the farmers in this project could also experience
how to store water from the rainfalls in their well. This experimental technique also gave
good returns. People were able after using this technique to sell water for their neighbors as
well as toassure proper water intheir own fields.
In conclusion the social transformation of these villages was only possible by the real
commitment and the self-confidence that they put in this new way of doing animal
husbandry and agriculture. The local ownership was possible due to the fact, that these
cooperative societies of women along with the villagers were really the drives of change.
KIGS along with them could build up the social bridges necessary to implement a better
inclusive sustainable livelihoodfor all the villagers.
Conclusion 43 F
Compost Pit

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