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Jalkund

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Gene Campaign has been working for the last few years in about 80 villages in Kumaon/Uttarakhand helping families conserve rainwater in plastic lined tanks called Jalkunds. Given the growing water crisis in the Himlayan region, such jalkunds provide lifesaving irrigation which enables farmers to cultivate vegetables. This work is supported by the Bajaj Foundation.

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Jalkund / rainwater harvested Over 25 lakh ltr of water has been collected in 300 jalkunds
Improving soil health/ Vermicompost. 4.10 lakh kg of vermicompost was produced in 300 vermicompost pits.

Improving household nutrition through Nutrition Gardens. A total of 66,117/– kg of vegetables with a rupee value of roughly 24 lakhs were grown and consumed in Poshan Vatikas helping to help improve household nutrition.

Skill building About 1200 farmers have been trained in improved agronomic practices and seed production

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COVID Crisis

Challenges Faced by Farmers:

Traders started black marketing of agriculture inputs – Prices up

Labor not available – Timely Harvesting etc are done by family members only

Most of the markets / APMC are not open / open for few hours with reduced demand

Problems in interstate transport of produce

Prices of certain commodities like Tomato are low – prices of Potato up

Perishable commodities – Prices down

Trading of nonperishables stopped – storage is a problem
Farmers canceling pre orders to nurseries

Farmers not procuring Seedlings – Over aged seedlings – Losses

Cash flows are almost zero for farmers

Unable to go for work as advised by police and health workers – no wage income
Source-APMAS

COVID crisis

Challenges faced by livestock keepers

Cattle feed shortage for milch animals

Milk procurement almost stopped and prices fallen as all of the hotels & restaurants are closed.

Fodder shortage and not able to access

Small ruminants – fodder shortage and drinking water problems

Weekly mandis closed – sale of small ruminants is a problem – fear of virus of eating chicken / meat

Source-APMAS

Covid crisis

Problems faced by SHGs & Federations:

No meetings at all levels – SHGs, VOs & Cluster Level Federations.

No savings & credit activities which may affect the financial discipline

Many of the SHG members engaged in economic activities, non-form & off-farm, are deeply affected by the lockdown, particularly eateries.

Cash-flow management problems for SHG members are transactions stopped

There is no specific counseling or support available for addressing the situation

SHG members dependent on wages are not able to get NREGS works and other informal labor work, which is not available.

Not able to conduct trainings for farmers, organize FFS, field days, etc.

FPO Board of Directors meetings not held and FPOs unable to serve members

FPOs don’t have any contingency plans to deal with the crisis.
Source-APMAS

Dealing with Covid crisis

• Ensure that all regulated markets are fully functional with new norms due to the Pandemic.

• Increased procurement of agriculture commodities under Price Support Scheme (PSS) / Minimum support Price (MSP)

• Mobile procurement of agriculture commodities at village level can be managed by the PACS, FPOs/ FPCs & SHG federations.

• Supply of free rations for agriculture workers and farmers.

• Special package for small poultry farmers & small ruminant farmers

• Use banking system, electronic payment systems & PDS effectively

• All the pensioners in India can be paid their 3 months pension in one go through the DBT system.

• For a period of at least 3 months the entire loan interest burden of farmers, SHG members and MSME borrowers is borne by Centre Govt.

Source-APMAS

Dealing with Covid crisis

• Provide adequate storage facilities for farmers to store their non-perishable commodities and provide negotiable warehouse receipts

• Support FPOs / PACS and other farmers organizations to use all the channels – APMC, retail chains, wholesale markets & Processers – to market their perishable commodities.

• Develop a contingency plan to ensure that the farmers and SHG members bounce back after the economic crisis.

• NABARD should also be involved in providing relief to the affected farmers and SHG members through their NGO partners by providing necessary grants to NGOs

• NABARD to fund the transportation of the perishable commodities, particularly vegetables and fruits, to markets – retail chains, wholesale, processing industries and APMCs.

• FPOs be instantly give equity grant of Rs.10,00,000 to each FPO for the purposes of working capital for the FPO to buy the product of the farmers and supply to distant markets.

Source-APMAS