- To increase food security and enhance income through increased productivity in Aman Rice.
- To ensure irrigation through harvesting water.
- To enhance farmers’ income through productivity enhancement of livestock and fisheries.
- To ensure farmers’ income through productivity enhancement of cotton and cashew as second crop to Aman Rice.
- To trigger entrepreneurship among small and marginal farmers and landless labourers through commercial seed production.
- To trigger entrepreneurship among women community and landless labourers.
Project Partners
Activity-wise the project is broadly divided into Research Partner and Delivery Partner. The Research Partners are Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswavidyalaya (BCKV), West Bengal University of Animal & Fisheries Sciences (WBUFAS), Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (), Kalyan Krishi Vigyan Kendra (Purulia Ramakrishna Mission, West Bengal) and Seva Bharati Krishi Vigyan Kendra (SKVK, an independent NGO ). The Delivery Partner is Access Development Service and Indian Grameen Services (IGS) which are non-profit agencies equivalent of NGO status.
Project operational area
The project will be implemented in 3 districts, which belong to the list of disadvantaged districts provided by NAIP Component 3. The districts are Purulia, West Midnapur and Bankura. Three clusters (1 cluster from each district) will be selected from the three districts. Altogether 15 villages will be selected for the project. The cluster here means administrative block of the district.
Project Operational Mechanism
- Technology Validation
The technology will be demonstrated in the farmers’ field and this particular process in the present project parlance is termed as Technology Validation. Technology Protocol will be standardized and validated with farmers’ participation. Research partners will play active role in technology protocol standardization and validation processes with their supporting research staff. The delivery partner will extend service as requisitioned by the research partner in technology validation process.
- Feedback Research
The results of the farmers’ demonstration field and farmers’ response will be recorded and will constitute the theme of the research. In the present project parlance this feedback is interpreted as Feedback Research. The associated scientists after getting the feedback will be working on it further and make necessary changes for fine-tuning. The findings of the Feedback Research will be sent back to the farmers’ field. The Feed Back Research is the building block of Technology Refinement process. The Feedback Research will involve scientists in the laboratory, on-station trial and in the farmers’ field.
The Role of Technology Delivery in the Project
- Broad based activities
The notable innovation is the establishment of Producer Groups and Producer Company to empower Producers by making them active entrepreneur-cum-primary stakeholder in the process of development. This would be further enhanced by tie-ups with the market by helping them to negotiate and bargain to get better price for their produce. Following activities will be taken up:
- Confidence building, attitudinal change, entrepreneurship development and skill development in all the clusters.
- Technological and knowledge empowerment.
- Formation of Producer Group and Producer Company with established link with private market channels.
- Linking of private sector partner in Agribusiness with farm producer groups.
- Establishment of SPARC (Small Producer Agribusiness Resource Centre) for bringing higher profits and returns.
- Developing strategies for natural resource management (NRM), capacity and skill development and entrepreneurship and market outfit for the farmers.
- SPARC and Producer Company: Role in Production and Market Linkage
Linking the farmers with new and innovative technology in hand, providing better inputs to increase productivity and quality input, capacity building for processing and value-addition for higher income, enabling farmers’ access to larger market segment and collective participation of all the producers in business and income generation will ensure continued livelihood security. Further, aggregation of produce will help small producers bargain for better input and output prices. Small Producers Agribusiness Resource Centres (SPARCs) will help producers adopt improved technology / cultivation practices (as per the chosen sub-sectors) and increase total production. Organizing into groups will help the producers identify value-addition and marketing options. Increasing women’s ownership and control of resources will promote women’s participation in the value-chain. Landless labourers through different entrepreneurship development programme will enhance their income. The marketable surplus arising out of all the interventions will be sold to the markets after analyzing prevailing prices in different markets through Producer Company. The knowledge management exercise will supply the market intelligence related information while the Producer Company will act on it to fetch premium pricing.
Project Deliverables
| Proposed Activities. |
Expected Outcome |
| 1. Interventions related to productivity enhancement of aman paddy |
70-100% of income enhancement. Increased food security (100 days) throughout the year. |
| 2. Interventions related to water harvesting through watershed development |
Increased income (30 - 50%) of farm families in the watershed through mitigating seasonal drought and growing vegetables. |
| 3. Interventions related to productivity enhancement of cotton and cashew |
Increased productivity of cotton (600 kg/ ha) and impressive benefit to cost ratio (1.8:1). 30% enhancement of income in both cotton and cashew |
| 4. Interventions related to productivity enhancement of fisheries |
1. Enhancement of income by 100%
2. Increased fish consumption in the family, leading to better
nutrition. |
| 5. Interventions related to productivity enhancement of livestock |
1. More milk availability in the family.
2. Enhancement of income by 100%.
3. Strengthening coping mechanism by augmenting supplementary income by 70-100% |
| 6. Commercial seed roduction of paddy, maize, mustard, lentil, jute and wheat |
Income enhancement of the entrepreneurs by 70-100%. |
| 7. Enterprise related to vermicompost, medicinal plant, commercial nursery and dry flower |
1. Income enhancement of individual entrepreneur by Rs.500 per month. |
Sustainability of the Project
The sustainability of the project will be ensured through following activities:-
-
The Small Producers Agro-business Resource Centre (SPARC) will address the linkage issues with the technology producer institutions. The SPARC will link farmers with the market and technology. The SPARC will operate in each cluster. SPARC will take care of all coordinating jobs in technology delivery.
-
The project has addressed the issues of sustainability by forming farmers’ institutions like Producer Groups converging to Producer Company. These institutional mechanisms will sustain the initiative after the project is phased out.
Exit Plan
- Linkage with Development Departments
The State of West Bengal is blessed with well-defined three-tier PRI system of governance, which works in tandem with the Development Departments and Line Agencies. The Line Agencies have got good working relations with PRIs. The PRIs take active roles in implementation of different programmes of Line Agencies. The present project will maintain linkage with the Government Line Agencies and PRIs through the networking triggered by the Delivery Partner of the Consortium. One of the main responsibilities of the Delivery Partner will be to forge need-based linkage with the District Administrations, DRDA and Block Level Line Agencies.
- Linkage with NGOs and CBOs
The delivery partner will identify the NGOs/CBOs for implementing activities under project delivery. The selection and identification of NGOs/CBOs will be on the basis of certain tools like Institution Capacity Building Assessment.The selected NGOs/CBOs will be the partner in implementing programmes at the project site.
|
