Project Area : 20 Villages in Vidarbha region
Project Duration : 1 Year
Project Budget : Rs 11,25,000.
Context :
Child’s nutrition is among the biggest concerns for any mother. In India, women and children are often at the lower end of nutrition which affects their health and development. According to a UNESCO study, poor health can lead to poor participation, irregular attendance and high levels of School drop-out among children in the short-term and low levels of wages earned and productivity in the long-term.
As per the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in India 44% of children under the age of 5 are underweight. The last government study in 2006 by the National Family Health Survey, observed that 72% of infants and 52% of married women are anaemic.
About the Project Location :
The project is located in Wardha district of Maharastra. ‘Vidharba’ in Maharashtra, which is famous for the farmers’ suicides, is the poorest region in the state. Because of faulty agriculture policies there has been a shift in cropping patterns to large-scale monocultures of commercial crops like cotton, soybean, pulses and hybrid maize. This has led to heavy dependency on external inputs and as a result the small- holder farmers are in deep economic crisis. To add to the woes, in recent years, climate changes has resulted in recurring droughts, untimely rains, changes in temperatures, spelling disastrous effect on the farming sector. The, social and economic costs of droughts remain devastating as a large share of the population depends on agriculture for livelihood, employment, and income.
Project Details:
In the phase 1 of this campaign, we are promoting organically cultivated vegetable gardens to enhance intake of nutritional food for underprivileged families. In each village, 30 women will be supported to develop vegetable gardens in their backyard. One time support will be provided for vegetable seeds, land preparation, and preparation of water channels. Women will be encouraged to grow a variety of vegetables. This will provide the family access to diverse nutritious food around the year. The campaign will cover 600 families across 20 villages in Vidarbha making a positive impact on the nutrition levels of approx. 1200 children.
The project is implemented in partnership with Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA). The contracting partner CSA is a technically qualified organisation. It has 4 agriculture scientists in its team. Besides, there are other management and sociology professionals in the team.
Set of activities will include :
1) Village identification – The project will be implemented in 20 villages of Vidarbha Region.
2) Village meetings
3) Family identification – 600 families will be identified .
4) Field demonstrations
5) Exposure visits
6) Providing them one time support for seed.
7) Capacity building of women farmers on ecological farming techniques.
