“Let us not forget that the cultivation of the earth is the most important labor of man. When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers therefore are the founders of civilization.”
~Daniel Webster
Dear Supporters,
With rains ditching our farmer friends in many parts of the country and floods causing damage in others, Indian farmers continue to fight with the extremities of the climate change. Twenty one major cities in the country are expected to run out of groundwater by 2020, whereas hundreds of people have been killed and thousands still suffering over the past few months due to the floods.
Amidst the climatic challenges, Save Indian Farmers continues to help and support farmers by running various projects focusing on water conservation techniques, sustainable agriculture and organic farming.
Here is a summary of our activities during the past few months.
Kurnool Region
Partner: Rural Reconstruction and Development Society(RRDS)
We began the clean up of Mannenkunta village reservoir in Spring this year. A total of about 58 acres of the reservoir was restored over the course of the summer. SIF’s project to cleanup Mannekunta Chruvu would help to retain more water and it is expected that it should increase water storage capacity by at least 25%. According to rough estimate, the water storage capacity should have increased by 225,000 cubic meters, helping conserve about 225 million liters of water. Please read a detailed report and “Thank you” notes from villagers, here
Water Cup 2019
Partners: Paani Foundation , Jnana Prabodhini
SIF supported 20 villages in the Satyamev Jayate Water Cup organized by Paani foundation. Sixteen villages from three districts, supported by SIF won a total of ₹13.2 Million as reward money from the ‘Satyamev Jayate Water Cup’ 2019 competition. SIF was and continues to be proud to support Devryachiwadi, a village in Beed taluka and Beed district which secured an award for second runner-up in the competition. Moreover, Devryachiwadi was awarded 1.333 Million Rupees each from Paani Foundation, the patron and sponsor of Satyamev Jayate Water Cup competition and the Maharashtra Chief Minister’s Fund. Please read a detailed report of this project here
Nellore Region
Partner: Rural Reconstruction and Development Society (RRDS)
We supported 4 widows last year, as part of our “adopt -a-widow” project. We have been getting regular feedback from them and it gives us immense pleasure to let you all know that they are now earning about Rs 2500-3000 extra every month. We helped 3 more widows this year (2 for buffaloes and one for grocery store).
Continuing our efforts for sustainable farming and water conservation in Nellore region, we recharged 9 common wells which will benefit 42 farmers for total of 112 acres of farmland. We also completed water bunding for 15 farmers. Check dams& reservoirs were repaired in 3 villages of Thokalpaddi, Lingasamudram and AnantMadagu. Farmers from Nellore expressed their happiness as they were able to save rain water and use it, after the Checkdamn was cleared. Please see one of the videos below.
Bundhelkhand Region
Partner: Parmarth Samajh Sevi Sansthan
We have been working in 30 villages of Rampura and Madhougarh block of Jalaun district for sustainable Development Project for Kitchen Garden and Improved agriculture practices. In 2019, the second phase of this project was implemented. SIF contributed 85% of the total budget [INR 17,90,000] whereas community contribution was 15%.
In the 20 out of 30 villages, 60 Self Help Groups have been formed and capacitated with a total of 480 women members. 42 SHGs have been linked with banking services by opening their bank account. 32 SHGs have been linked with NRLM [National Rural Livelihood Mission]. These groups have funds of Rs 15 thousand as revolving funds available.
15 New Community Kitchen Gardens were established. 7 landless women farmers were provided land by the community on lease. Women farmers were successful in collecting seeds that are conducive to the local conditions. Seed bank ensures timely availability of seeds, preserve traditional seeds in the village and financial saving for the farmer. Farmer Producer Organization [FPO] of 50+ women farmers was formed with the objective of bulk marketing of vegetables produced in Kitchen Gardens under the project area.
Uttarakhand Region
Partner: UANA
Earlier this year, with our partner UANA, we started our efforts in this region for horticulture. Plants like masala elaichi, walnuts and spices have proven to show resistance from wild animals and helped farmers to prevent income loss. Village tourism is being promoted to help villagers earn extra income. SIF is also spreading awareness on water conservation techniques in this area.
Tumkur Region
Partner: Avishkar
We started training 15 farmers from 5 villages in Tumkur district, on Organic Farming techniques in August 2018. All those farmers have successfully adopted organic farming and we have added 17 more farmers to the project in August 2019.
We are looking to scale this by forming a Farmers Producer Organization Project (FPO) and started working towards it in Sept 2019 with our on-ground NGO, Avishkar. This is to extend the organic farming project which would include 250 farmers in the span of three years and establish an FPO. Through FPO, organic outlets and markets will be established where the farmers will be able to sell their organic produce and have a self sustainable model. We recently organized Organic FPO training session with KVK scientist and retired agriculture officer, Mr. Ramesh.
Micro-financing
Partner: Rang De
Your support has helped us realize the dreams of many farmer families and also give them an opportunity to change their lives. With help from our partners, Sarvodaya Youth Organisation and Rang De, we could support 20 families across 7 states, through micro-financing.
One of the widows, Kola Rajni, from Geesugonda village of Telangana’s Warangal district, shared her story with us. With a little earning of Rs. 150 a day (4500/month), she could only save a little to open a grocery store. With the Micro-finance special category loan, she could buy provisions for her store. She could upgrade the store with steady income and now has an earning of about Rs. 11500 per month. Please read her story in detail here
Recent events
July 7th, 2019: Our NJ chapter had the opportunity to host Mr. Satyajit Bhatkal and his wife Svati in July. Mr. Bhatkal is the CEO of Amir Khan’s Paani Foundation which runs the Satyamev Jayate water cup challenge across various drought affected villages in Maharashtra. Event was attended by well over 250 people and attendees were delighted to hear Mr. Bhatkal’s views on decentralized water shed management and how this competition is helping farmers regain the valuable resource that is Water, which is the key to their survival as well as prosperity.
Mr. Bhatkal also applauded SIF’s efforts in bringing about a change in the lives of poor and marginal farmers and also recognized some of our youth volunteers.
August 25th, 2019: Walk-a-thon, Cary North Carolina: We successfully conducted a walk-a-thon event which was attended by around 150 people in the RTP area.We raised about $6000 during this event, which will be used for help farmers back home.
Upcoming events
- November 8th, 2019: Marathi Play at HSNC, 309 Aviation Pkwy, Morrisville, NC.
- November 9th, 2019: SD se RD tak, a musical fundraiser and a tribute to the Burmans at JMPAC, 200 Rues Ln. East Brunswick, New Jersey. Details can be found here
Best Regards,
Jitendra Karkera
President, Save Indian Farmers
