Livelihood Improvement by retaining educated youths in agriculture sector by imbibing entrepreneurship with innovation

Deshpande Foundation
supported Water Harvesting & Entrepreneurship

Volume II

Progress Report
JuneSeptember 2010

JANAKALYAN
A Team Committed for Peoples Empowerment
Shantinagar, R H Colony No.4, Sindhanur-584143

Raichur District, Karnataka State, India

Tel: +91 8535-264488, 264140, email: jankalyana@bsnl.in website: www.jankalyan.in

Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

Livelihood Improvement by retaining educated youths in agriculture sector by imbibing entrepreneurship with innovation Quarterly Progress Report
July - September 2010 Diversifying farming system to resolve irrigation needs of tail end farmers in Gadag district is the objective of taking up a project in Gadag district by Janakalyan with the support of Deshpande Foundation. The project commenced in April 2010 and this report is prepared at the end of 2nd quarter to keep track of the Project. The format prescribed by the donor agency is adopted for reporting on quarterly basis. A. Description of Project Activities: A.1 What project activities were planned and proposed? The extract of the project proposal that was submitted to Deshpande Foundation for funding support is presented here.
List of month-wise action plan and the deliverables for the 2nd quarter for Completing the proposed project activities Sl. Month Activities Deliverables for Quarter-II No. 1 July 2010 District Level Convergence 10 farm ponds excavated by cost sharing Workshop with farmers. 2 August Excavate farm-ponds with cost Form 3 Youth groups in 3 working villages 2010 sharing basis & train them on EDP to start agro-based 3 September Form 3 MEC in 3 villages & train IGPs 2010 them on EDP to start IGP activities

Effectively the activities planned for the 2nd Quarter of the project period are; 1. District Level Convergence Workshop 2. Excavate Ten farm-ponds with cost sharing basis (40:60:: Farmer : Project) 3. Formation of 3 MEC & train them on EDP & facilitate them to start IGP activities A.2. what activities were implemented as a result of this funding? Following sections of the report describes the activities translated onto ground as per the plan listed above. A.2.1 District level Convergence Workshop: We met The Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Panchayat, Gadag and fixed the date. CEO agreed to call the meeting of all District level officers of all development departments like, Fishery, CADA, Jal-nirmal, Watershed, Agriculture, Horticulture, Sericulture, Fishery and EOs of two blocks i.e. Ron and Naragunda taluk on 4.10.2010. We keep rapport and follow up ZP & ensure this workshop is conducted in the first week of October 2010. Project staffs already met EOs of Ron and Naragund taluk of Gadag district and shared the project concept and vision; requested for possible collaboration and to take up the

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departmental demonstrations for the project beneficiaries to see impact after excavation of irrigation tanks. We also met ADH & Officers, ADA & officers and officers of all 3 GP and discussed about exploring the possibilities of support to take up demonstration of line departments. All departments have shown positive response and agreed to visit the project location and work out the scope for possible collaboration. A.2.2 Excavation of 10 farm-ponds: As per the deliverables, we had to complete the excavation work of 10 farm ponds, but we have completed only two irrigation tanks during the reporting period in Yavagal village of Ron taluk of Gadag district. Both the farm ponds received water from natural rains as well as from major Malaprabha Canal and through pump sets adapted to Benne Halla. Both the irrigation tanks got good water feeding natural streams and we expect to fill just for one good rainfall. The complementary activities implemented in order to make best use of the irrigation tanks Bund strengthening and fish cultivation in the farm pond: Sri Ashok Udikeri of Yavagal village has released 3000 fish seedlings of 3 types of finger lings i.e. Mrigal, Katla and Rohu on 14th September 2010. He brought seedlings from Fishery Sangha of Neerusagar village of Kalghatigi taluk. Vegetable cultivation: Sri Ashok Yallappa Udikeri is growing onion in 2 acres of land with the water from the irrigation tank. Sown seeds on 25th July 2010 and irrigated 2 acres of onion during the intermittent dry spells as life saving irrigation. Technical Training to the farmers: Organized training on IFS at KVK, Raichur on 24-9-2010 wherein 4 farmers and all project staffs participated to gain knowledge about the activities to be adopted with the irrigation tanks. This training mainly focused on IIFS, horticulture crops, animal husbandry, agriculture extension practices for rabi crops, fish cultivation, etc.. Dr. A.R. Kurubar, Horticulture Specialist and Dr. B.K. Desai, Specialist for IFS and Mr. Mohanchandra Chawhan and 3 professors from KVK and UAS, Racihur were involved during this training program.

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Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

Due to heavy and continuous rain-fall in the project villages during the reporting period, we could not complete remaining 7 farm-ponds, even though we have identified 7 farmers in Hadli, Yavagal and Surkod villages for excavation of tank by contributing up to 40% to 50% as their share and the balance 7 farm-ponds will be excavated during next quarter.

The details of two farm-ponds excavated furnished belowThe first farm pond is excavated in farm of Sri Ashok Yallappa Udikeri of Yavagal village of Ron taluk in Gadag district. Farmer got a total of 9.00 acres of land in this village. Farm pond is excavated in 15 gunta land. The details are given in the fallowing table: Sl. No. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Details of Expenses Excavation started Excavation work completed JCB worked for total 55.4 hours @ Rs.750/- per hour Tractors hired to lift soil to the low lying areas of the farm Tractor & JCB Drivers Bhatta Food Expenses of tractor/JCB drivers and cleaners, etc. Total Amount of Investment overall Farmers Share (more than 50% of total investment) Important Dates 10-7-2010 19-7-2010 Amount (INR)

42000.00 19200.00 1000.00 1000.00 63200.00 33, 200.00

Project Share

30,000.00

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Sri Ashok Udikeri and his family from Yavagal village of Ron taluk in Gadag district
Already 3000 fish seedlings released on 15-9-2010 in this farm pond by the farmer; Katla, Rohu and Mrugala varieties, each variety 1000 each. Farmer brought the seeds from Government fishery farm of Neersagar village in taluk Kalgatigi taluk of Dharwad district. He is regularly providing feed to fish as per the technical guidance provided by the fishery department & also learnt during the technical training. He also puts grass i.e BN2 and Punjab Napier variety seeds brought from Gadag and transplanted subabul tree species on the tank bund to protect the bund from soil erosion and to ensure bund strengthening. Farmer already started using the tank water and taken onion vegetable in 2 acres of land. He has already provided a life saving irrigation in a dry spell to save his standing crop. He has also sown sorghum and maize crops in the farm pond command area. Another irrigation tank is excavated in the farm of Sri Basavaraj Gali in Yavagal village of Ron taluk in Gadag district. The tank is excavated in 1 acre area. The Total amount of Investment is Rs.103000/-, of which farmer contributed to the tune of Rs.53000/- (which is more than 50%) and the balance amount (Rs.50000) is spent from the project funds.

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Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

The detail of the irrigation tank is given in the fallowing table: Sl. Details of Expenses No. 1 Excavation started 2 Excavation work completed 3 JCB worked for total 55.4 hours @ Rs.750/- per hour 4 Tractors hired to lift soil to the low lying areas of the farm 5 Tractor & JCB Drivers Bhatta 6 Food Expenses of tractor/JCB drivers and cleaners, etc. Total Amount of Investment overall Farmers Share (more than 50% of total investment)

Date 5-9-2010 16-9-2010

Amount (INR)

63200.00 41600.00 2000.00 2000.00 1,08,800.00 58,800.00

Project Share

50,000.00

This photo is of Sri Basavaraj Gali of Yavagal village in Ron taluk of Gadag district Excavation of irrigation tank commenced on 5th September 2010 and completed on 16th September 2010. The runoff generated out of rain is fed directly to this tank through natural course and also can be fed by the pump set; in addition it can also be filled with the canal water of malaprabha irrigation project whenever it is available in excess. Mr. Basavaraj is waiting for rain to fill the farm pond by rain, instead spending amount to lift it from the Benne Halla. However, if it does not rain in time, he will lift the water from the Benna hall through pump sets and fill his tank to start fishery and vegetable cultivation. Farmers will fill the water during the night hours when power is available and irrigate the crop during the day hours. 5|Page

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A.2.3 Formation of Micro Entrepreneurs Clubs organizing the Youths to sustain the program and replicate the idea in other villages: We have organized youths from all the 3 project villages and formed 3 Micro Entrepreneurs Clubs (MEC). The details of MECs and the members are given in the following tableSl. Name of Micro Village Taluk / Total # of Weekly Savings per Fortnightly No. Entrepreneurs Club District members saving day week Meeting 1 Dr.Pandith Puttaraja Yavagal Ron13 Tuesday Rs.20/Tuesday Gavayi ME Club Gadag 2 Sri.Swamy Surkod Nargund11 Thursday Rs.20/Thursday Vivekanand ME Club Gadag 3 Dr.B.R.Ambedkar ME Hadali Nargund15 Friday Rs.10/Friday Club Gadag Total 39 About 39 educated rural youths have been brought under the umbrella of 3 Micro Entrepreneurs clubs. Every group collected Rs.50/- per member as membership fee and resolved to save Rs.20 per week. All the 3 MECs identified two people as a Representative-1 and Representative-2 to operate the bank accounts and nominated them to deal with bank.

MEC Club Youths participated in Orientation training at Nargund office

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Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

The following trainings were organized for MEC Club members during the reporting period: One day vision building training was organized to 39 youths on 7-9-2010 in Field Office of Janakalyan at Naragunda; resource person was Sri M. Basavarajaiah, Project Officer of Janakalyan. One day training on General EDP was organized for all the 39 youths on 24th September 2010 at Hadli village; resource person was Sri. M. Basavarajaiah, Project Officer of Janakalyan. Facilitated all the 3 MEC to start thrift & credit activities & to open Bank account. The date of formation of these MECs is provided in the following table. Sl. No. Name of the MEC Village Date of formation 1 Dr.Pandith Puttaraja Gavayi ME Club Yavagal 13-9-2010 2 Sri.Swamy Vivekanand ME Club Surkod 13-9-2010 3 Dr.B.R. Ambedkar ME Club Hadali 14-9-2010 All the 3 MEC members will be provided with EDP training for 3 days during 3rd quarter to start agro-based micro enterprises for at least 10 members i.e. 3 members from each group. A.3 Did the actual project comply with the terms of grant? If the actual project activities differ from the proposed, please explain why. Yes; all the planned activities for the 2nd quarter of the project have been complied with the terms of the grant. None of the activities has differed from that of the agreed terms. However, some of the activities remained incomplete during the reporting period due to various reasons beyond our control, which are discussed in the subsequent sections of the report. B. Impacts: B.1 Why was this project important? This particular project intervention was essential in the tail end of Malaprabha irrigation project in the following context Inadequate irrigation water allows cultivating hardly 30-45% of land and salinity / alkalinity are other major issues at tail end. The educated youths are moving away from primary sector i.e. agriculture due to lack of ability to find entrepreneurial opportunities in farming. Many existing schemes of State / Central governments are not being used effectively to create productive irrigation assets by farmers due to lack of information. Chemical-heavy farming leading degraded soil, infertile land causing least productivity. Pest immunization caused by application of overdoses of pesticides over a period of time. Requirement of credit and inputs is very high in present system of cultivation practices which Makes farming loss-making; also inputs are not reliable and costs double the actual price. Irrigation tanks to address two extremes of water availability with sub-surface drainage, IIFS, chain Completion approach, etc could be an answer, with this assumption this project was proposed for Sandbox.

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B.2. what impact did this project have? Though there is no direct economic benefit from the tank during this period but a penny saved is a penny earned. The amount spent towards lifting the water from Benne Halla for irrigation is now saved by the farmer through the irrigation tank. Similarly, the youths have learnt the importance of group activity and how they can become first generation entrepreneurs. Since the project has commenced only in April 2010, it is yet not the time to measure impact of our Interventions; however, at the end of the project period, we are expecting the following impacts All tail ends of irrigation projects are exposed to 2 extremes of water availability causing loss to standing crops; total available land is not cultivated: irrigation tanks could resolve this issue. Entrepreneurial skills to be developed among educated youths and employ them in agriculture sector to make it profit-making. Creation of first generation entrepreneurs in the villages i.e. job-creators and not jobseekers. Chemical-heavy practices caused land degradation, least productivity, pest immunization; Chemical-free practices to be introduced to retain land for future generations. B.3 Please include numbers of beneficiaries served and how they were affected. Include success stories, letters, or reports from beneficiaries where possible. Number of beneficiaries served by the activities under the project up to the 2nd quarter is summarized belowActivities completed Number of Impacts by the interventions during the 2nd during 2nd quarter Beneficiaries quarter on the beneficiaries
Exposure to farmers printing literatures & 49 farmers 49 farmers learnt the importance irrigation tanks in tail end, rights and entitlements under NREGA and how agriculture can be made profit making 9 youths have learnt how employment opportunities could be created in agriculture sector also 50 families understood their family situation 10 farmers have got opportunities to secure their livelihood Rs.30000 & Rs.50000 worth irrigation tanks are excavated, which provide life-saving irrigation to crops, grow vegetables and fishery to earn additional income. Farmers trained on IIFS at KVK to diversify cropping pattern to intensify resource use. Farmers started vegetable and fishery after the training. Entrepreneurship concept introduced among the rural educated youths. They are now aware of importance of group formation and its benefits through MEC.

Identification of 10 potential entrepreneurs & training Baseline Survey of individual households & identification of beneficiaries Irrigation tank excavation

9 youths

50 families 10 farmers 3 families

Farmers training on IIFS

4 farmers and 5 staff 39 youths & 4 Staffs

Formation of Micro Entrepreneurs Clubs in villages

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Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

Amount saved is amount earned

Case of a farmer with irrigation tank
Sri Ashok Yallappa Udikeri is small farmers living in the Grama Panchayath headquarter in a village viz. Yavagal in Ron taluk of Gadag district. He is very sincere, hard working and a good agriculturist. He has got 5 acres of land in this village. His land is located in the tail end of Malaprabha and thus does not get enough water to irrigate his crops during the peak season; thus dries up his standing crop. However, during the rainy season, lot of runoff generated out of rain inundates his standing crops. Two extremes of water availability is a peculiar problem of the farmers of this region. When Janakalyan come to his village with a new project concept of water harvesting and livelihood agriculture, he was the first person to accept the call and initiate action immediately. He has excavated a farm pond with a total investment of Rs.63200/- where his share is Rs.33200/-. He had a dream for years to have an irrigation tank but never been able to make such huge investment and thus he & his family members are extremely happy that Janakalyan assisted to come out of two extremes of water availability by creating a lifetime asset. He could fill his irrigation tank thrice since excavation and used the water to irrigate his crop. He growing onion crop with the help of irrigation tank without any expenditure to lift the water from Benne Halla (lifting water from Benne Halla to irrigate his crop would have incurred few thousands, had this tank not been filled with runoff).

He has also started fish cultivation by releasing 3000 seedlings (total 3 variety seeds, 1000 each variety i.e. Katla, Rohu and Mrigala) in the tank on 15/9/2010. Now he is providing food as per guidance given during the IFS training. He is also going for 15-20 varieties of vegetable in about half an acre of land. He has procured seeds from Dharwad during krishi mela held on 1-5th of Oct 2010. Farmer is very happy and strongly believes that the investment he has made in excavation of the irrigation tank could be earned in 2 years.

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C. Issues for Give2 Asia Attention: C.1 Please explain any challenges or difficulties that were experienced in carrying out the original plan and any adjustments that were made The major challenges / difficulties are listed below 1. July-December is totally not a right time to excavate new irrigation tanks, because farmers remain busy in agriculture operation in their farms. 2. Farmers face difficulty in arranging their cost-share as they already invested in farm activities during these months. 3. Farmers are not ready to loose their standings crops as they have crops in the land where they actually want to excavate farm pond and distribute the excavated soil. 4. Difficult to operate soil-removing machines due to intermittent and continuous rains. 5. Some of the needy farmers find it difficult to contribute 40%; farmers, though interested, waiting for return from their land. C2. Please also include any future plans for this project that you would wish to bring to our attention: Excavation of 7 irrigation tanks with the selected farmers: Farmers need lot of conviction to decide for big irrigation tanks. Need to be exposed to the area, where this concept is successfully adopted in the past to build their vision and to motivate them. Simultaneously, farmers feel it is an investment-heavy on their part (40%-50% as their share for tank excavation). To develop conviction and to demonstrate the benefits of irrigation tanks, at least one complete crop cycle has to go. With several attempts, the field staffs motivate the farmers to go for farm pond over a period of days and all of a sudden they change their decisions and drop from the project. So far, the project team must have discussed the concept, its vision with not less than 500 farmers while about 100 farmers approached us for excavation of the tank and at final stage, they changed decisions. Now we have finalized 10 farmers, whom we believe that they wont change their mindset. We must complete this task on priority within 3rd quarter. District Level workshop: We have made all the arrangement to conduct the District level workshop in the presence of CEO, ZP, Gadag inviting all district level officers from all line departments and PRI members. Taluka Level workshop: Subsequently, decided to conduct Taluka Level workshop in Ron and Nargunda taluka to mobilize support from the line departments for possible collaboration and support in field level activities with our farmers. Training to farmers for judicious use of water & extract multiple benefits: Several rounds of training for the farmers to make effective use of water and other resources available at their end. Entrepreneurship training to organized youths: Training to youths (Micro Entrepreneur Club Members) on Entrepreneurship Development to start micro enterprises to create jobcreators and not job-seekers.

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Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

On-farm trainings & exposure to farmers: Facilitation support and on-farm technical trainings to the farmers on intensified use of water, to grow high income crops and to draw maximum benefits from it. We will take the participating farmers to Sindhanur area, where farmers who have successfully demonstrated the benefits of farm ponds by taking up fish, fodder paddy nursery, vegetable and also how they are marketing these produces and how they are planning for getting regular and seasonal income by using the farm ponds.

D Supporting Materials: D.1 Please provide photos, DVDs, copies of news reports or other materials related to the grant. Digital photos are preferred, but printed photos are also welcomed. The project has developed 3 types of brochures on the project concept in English & local vernacular languages, which have been widely circulated in the project villages. The soft copies of the same are annexed to this report while a sample is presented below.

Brochure on Project Concept in Kannada language

Brochure on JANAKALYAN 11 | P a g e

Brochure on Project Concept

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PHOTO TOUR ON AGRICULTURE INTERVENTIONS IN SANDBOX

Meeting with farmers to assess their needs

Project Concept Orientation to farmers

Farmers field visits by the project team

Learning exposure to Sindhanur Project

Socio-economic household survey by team

Role clarity workshop with stakeholders

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Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

Commencement of excavation of tank

Excavation of irrigation tank in progress

Water harvested in the irrigation tank

Onion crops sown with the tank water

Crop grown with life saving irrigation

Technical training to farmers at UAS, Raichur

Technical training on IIFS concept at UAS, Raichur with practical field visits and theory

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PHOTO TOUR ON MICRO ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Vision building workshop for the rural educated youths of project villages in SANDBOX

General Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) for the Micro Entrepreneurs

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Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

Appreciation letter from the Beneficiaries

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JANAKALYAN

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Water Harvesting to Improve Livelihoods of Tail-end Farmers & Inducing Entrepreneurship

II. Financial Report Please complete the following table or attach a financial report listing and summarizing all grant expenses. If necessary, please refer to page 7 8 of the Give2Asias Grantee Handbook for sample financial reports. The manual can be downloaded from our website: www.give2asia.org under About Us / Publications and Forms / Grantee Publications. A. Include original budget submitted to Give2Asia for this project: The original budget submitted to Give2Asia through Deshpande Foundation is used for reporting for this quarter. B. Itemization of expenditures made from grant funds, such as salaries, rent and electricity, travel, and supplies (for interim and final reports). EXPENDITURES PLEASE PROVIDE DETAILS UNDER EACH CATEGORY Personnel Program Costs Equipment Travel Staff Training/ Capacity building Office/ administrative costs Measurement & evaluation costs Stipends Other Expenditures TOTAL C. Grantee fiscal year end date: 31.3.2011 D. Total grant funds spent by the end of grantees most recent fiscal year: Total amount spent as on end of 2nd quarter is Rs.306294 E. Amount of grant funds unspent to-date*: INR 177315 ORIGINAL BUDGET 240000 513000 10000 66000 24000 110000 12500 0 0 975500 FUNDS EXPENDED Quarter Quarter TOTAL 1 2 60000 60000 120000 17418 80000 97418 5080 0 5080 5060 15299 20359 4955 6488 11443 13543 32021 45564 6430 0 6430 0 0 0 0 0 0 112486 193808 306294

*If this is the end of the grant period, and grant activities are complete but not all grant funds have been spent, please contact Give2Asia as soon as possible to discuss.

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