Newsletter June2020

Droughts, Floods or Pandemic: We stand by the Farmers of India

World has changed, since the last time we reached out to you. With India’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the agricultural sector, making up half of the workforce, is suffering great losses. Although most cases were found to be concentrated in urban areas, the lock-down has financially affected millions of farmers. An estimated 70% percent of the country’s population is dependent on agriculture according to the NSSO. As migrant workers, making up about 37% of India’s population, returned to their home villages, many farmers have faced devastating losses due to labor shortages. Fruit and vegetable farmers tend to suffer the most, as their crops have a shorter shelf-life. If crops are not left to rot on farms, they are sold at market at an extremely low price. With the closure of farmer markets, the cost of crops have reduced to a fraction of their normal wholesale prices.

In addition to this, the closing or restrictions put upon the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) and other wholesale mandis, are leaving many farmers without venues for sale. Limited transport facilities and safe storage are also large contributors to waste and loss. Many farmers are now struggling to find alternative sources of income amidst the crisis in order to pay back creditors. Although the Indian government has relaxed some of the restrictions for the farming sector, these issues are still causing great loss. Read more about such challenges of our farmers in the farming in the news section below.

Educating village population on covid prevention techniques

Save Indian Farmers, along with our on ground partners, have been working effortlessly towards helping farmers across the country by providing grocery kits, masks and other essentials during this crisis. We have also been educating villagers on preventive measures for Coronavirus.

Volunteers distributing Grocery Kits to Farmers

Our Support to Farmers during Covid-19 Lock-down

The impact of this pandemic has left small and marginal farmers as well as daily wage workers suffering without food or work. We have provided relief support to families who have lost their livelihood or daily wage due to the crisis. We have helped around 600 families of small and marginal farmers combat these impacts over the last 2 months.

Save Indian Farmers plans to support an additional 1400+ such families across India with a 1-month Grocery and Sanitization Kit. We are raising funds for this cause. Whether you donate $5 or $500, every little bit helps. Please help us support those farmers by donating through our Facebook page or use the link below.

Donate for Covid Support

Prakasam District, Andhra Pradesh

We helped 80 families in Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh last week, by providing them grocery kits to support them with food for one month.

With the help of our partner Haritika, we distributed dry ration kits to 200 beneficiaries in the Panari Village. We also generated awareness by educating the villagers on preventive measures to be followed pertaining to COIVD-19.

Dabralsyun Patti, Uttarakhand

SIF with partner Uttaranchal Association of North America (http://uttaranchal.org/history-uanna) , distributed over 350 masks and soap cakes in 3 villages (Timli, Jaamal & Syalna) of Dabralsyun Patti, Paudi Garhwal in Uttarakhand. Further, the distribution of masks will continue as needed. Volunteers of UANA also educated all the residents to take precautions.

While many of our regular activities were paused due to the lockdown, water conservation initiatives being impacted the most, here are some updates on our ongoing projects for the past few months.

Nellore, Andhra Pradesh

We have trained 5 farmers for community kitchen gardens and 5 farmers for natural farming in the Nellore area, with most of the activities led by women farmers. The communities are already seeing a reduction of almost 50% in the cost of fertilizers by the introduction of natural organic farming methods.

9 community wells and some old canals have been repaired and 25 farmers from 3 villages have been identified to form a mutually aided co-op society. Although our regular work was stopped due to the lock-down, SIF in partnership with the local partners, supported 150 poor farmer families by distributing food and sanitation kits. Keep Reading.

Tumkur, Karnataka – Organic Farming

There are a total of 32 farmers who are now participating in the organic farming initiative in the Tumkur region. The selling of farm produce at district levels was impacted due to the lock-down. We conducted a few training sessions through our organic farming experts and will resume our activities once the lockdown is lifted. Keep Reading .

Bundhelkhand Initiatives

We have 60+ families being supported through our self help groups and we have added 10 more families to this initiative. 42 self help groups have been linked with banking services and 41 with NRLM. 3 Farmer Producer Organizations were also formed in this area. Keep Reading .

We also partnered with Haritika for Pragati Gram project in Bundhelkhand area, with the aim to augment groundwater in severely water-stressed areas in Bundelkhand. 10 beneficiaries have been identified for farm bunding and 1 farm pond and 5 acres of bunding has been completed. Keep Reading

Uttarakhand Region

We are continuing our efforts and supporting 80 families from 2 regions in Uttarakhand with the help of our partner UANA (http://uttaranchal.org/history-uanna) . We are promoting integrated farming of ginger and turmeric crops and also plan to distribute sandalwood saplings.Keep Reading (https://www.saveindianfarmers.org/project/project-uttarakhand/)
New projects were initiated in the beginning of this year and here is an update on the progress we made so far.

Trichy, Tamil Nadu

People’s Educational Awareness Service Trust identified 30 beneficiary farmers in 3 villages and did an orientation with all the beneficiaries in March and a baseline on seed distribution was established. Seeds of tomatoes, lady’s finger, brinjal, bitter gourds and chillies were purchased and distributed to beneficiary farmers. Keep Reading

Khammam, Telangana

The first phase for Crop to Kitchen began earlier this year as part of our Sustainable Agriculture initiative and 37 farmers joined the Farmer Producer Organization. The goal of the FPO is to encourage farmers to adopt organic farming techniques and also help them with establishing a supply chain so they can sell directly to consumers. So far, the FPO has processed 3,000+ direct to consumer orders.

Shohratgarh, Uttar Pradesh

Save Indian Farmers has collaborated with Shohratgarh Environmental Society to form a Farmer Producer Organization (FPO). The FPO will encourage farmers to produce and provide training on marketing basics to promote Kala Namak, an indegenious variety of rice with an objective to increase income levels of 100 small and marginal farmers. Keep Reading.

Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir

We started a new project along with ASEEM foundation to help women farmers in Poonch, Jammu and Kashmir by providing Education, Skill Development and guidance for Self Employment. We established a co-operative of women to produce caramelized walnuts and a bakery to bake cookies.

Unfortunately due to Covid-19, the production is paused at this time. 75kg cookies and walnuts that were produced earlier, have been distributed to the police force, healthcare workers and students who could not go back home. SIF also funded ASEEM foundation to continue paying the monthly salaries to 12 women workers during this crisis.