Presented by Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India

1. Medium-term Cooperation Programme with the Farmers’ Organizations in Asia and the Pacific Region: South Asia Sub-programme • Presented by • Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India

2. MTCP-South Asia Partners • India: Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) • Nepal: All Nepal Peasants’ Federation (ANPFa) • Sri Lanka: Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR)

3. Snapshot

4. INDIA

6. Coverage and Partners in India

8. Impact • A strong and vibrant network of small and marginal farmers has been formulated. National Programme OversightBoard has been formed. • SEWA has built a web-baseddatabase to maintaindetails of memberorganizations of the forum. • Studiescommissioned to understandvarious aspects of marginal farmers and womenfarmers in particular • Currentstatus of farming and the role of women in the same • Ownership of land and demortgaging of land • Mitigatingmeasurestaken by farmers to addressclimate change and its adverse effects • Marketintegration of small and marginal farmers

9. Developedlearning modules on twotopics • land acquisition issues aimingatmakingsmall and marginal farmersaware of the importance of their land holdings, advisedthem on valuations, and provided hand holding support in the necessarypaperwork in the transactions. • handbook on relevant governmentschemesthatlisted in exhaustive details the aspects of schemesfarmerscouldbenefitfrom, thusimproving the poorfarmer’saccessibility to governmentschemes.

10. Network actively working with government bodies and policymakers and has brought about change in policies and administration for the betterment of small and marginal farmers. • Network has been able to understand the needs and challenges faced by marginal farmers and has acted as a platform for knowledge-sharing among diverse farmer groups acrossgeographies. • Network has also been able to catalyzeskill building amongwomenfarmers in various areas resulting in improvedlivelihoods. • Over 11,684 grassrootwomen have been trained in various aspects of Agriculture, Nursery raising, Food processing and Salt production. • 44 master trainers have been identifiedfromvarious districts in Gujarat and Rajasthan, and trained in variousskills, therebycreating a cadre of local resources.

11. In North East member of one farmer group has donatedher land, approx 6 Vighas of land for sowing of mustardseeds. • The group has planned to makemustardoil and sell the refinedoil. • Theyalso plan to sell the cake. • The group members are contributing by putting in their labour in the farm. • Inspired by the farmer, one more farmer has willinglydonated 25 vighas of his land and their group isalsogoing to sowmustardseeds. • The office of the farmerorganization in Assam has verybig open space. Farmer groups have startedvegetablecultivation on that land. • Farmer groups fromBiharwereinvited in one of the network meetings and they have showninterest in gettingassociatedwith the forum.

12. Throughconcerted efforts, Farmerorganizations have been able to gettheirdemandsrecognizedunder the National Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM). • SEWA’s pilots in warehousereceipt system, future prices information and weatherinsurance in Gujarat now stand a better chance of beingscaled up at the national levelthrough support from the NRLM programme. • Relentless efforts have alsobrought in a MahilaKisanSashaktiKaranYojana for the womanfarmer. • With the FDI bill beingdiscussed, farmerorganizations are discussing on how the small and marginal farmers’ interestscanbesafeguarded and also how the marketintegration for themcanbeprovided.

13. Network has helped strengthen market linkages for the small and marginal farmers. • Through managerial and institution building trainings now farmer organisations are capable of preparing their own business plans. • Knowledge sharing platform in the form of workshops and round tables has helped strengthen the network and has enabled building strong linkages.

14. In India, 3000 farmer organisations have joined the network with over 50000 farmers part of the network. • Currently, the network is continuing to providetechnical and marketing support to the farmer organisations. • Two new Farmerfieldschools have been inaugurated in Assam and Meghalaya. • We have more farmersfromBiharjoiningour network.

15. NEPAL

16. Progress • National Programme Oversight Board formed and 25 meetings held • Active in policy advocacy through its NOB and has developed an operational manual for effective functioning of the NOB • demanded an increase in budget for the agricultural sector • submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister on the right to safe, nutritious and healthy food at a fair price. • lobbied for minimum support prices for sugarcane, rice and maize. Government’s response has been positive and has already fixed a minimum support price for sugarcane • demanded compensation for farmers whose crops have failed, which was accepted by the government • The forum has also been lobbying for minimum support prices for sugarcane, rice and maize. Minimum support prices for sugarcane has been subsequently fixed by the government. • Capacity Building of farmers as well as NOB members

17. SRI LANKA

18. Linking Farmer Organizations (FOs) and establishment of Oversight Board. • Capacity building – Module on Ecological Agriculture. • Policy advocacy • The Divineguma Campaign • Demand for higher prices for paddy • Demand for chemical free agriculture • Demand for land for poor plantation workers

19. Project Costs and Financing

20. Challenges faced • As Sub-Regional Coordinator, coordination funds not allocated to SEWA. • In the absence of sufficient funds, SEWA has faced great difficulty in coordinating, monitoring and getting the reports from the partner countries. • SEWA feels the need for more investment in the field of capacity building of the farmer organizations. • There is a need to frequently meet and interact with members and Farmer Organizations scattered across geographies.

21. Replication, Scaling up and Sustainability: Focus Areas for MTCP-II • Expand to cover more states and regions. • Greater focus on capacity building and market linkages. • Better cross-country coordination. • Greater synergies with IFAD country programs. • Building visibility for the Forums. • Separate identity to Fos and Sustainability of FOs. • Skills development to prepare FOs to maximize opportunities in growing market integration (production and post harvest technologies, on-farm processing, etc.), with attention to modern technologies that will attract young people. • Engaging the private sector. • Building the FAFO identity at state and national levels.

22. SEWA as Technical Partner • Proposal for Technical Partner for capacity Building of Farmer Organisations in South Asia • Strengthening organizing and working in integrated manner • Build up agro business supply chain and provide market integration • Skill Building and Capacity Building of Farmers and farmer organizations

23. Methodology • Learning is mostly demonstrative and emulative • Master trainers selected from among the grassroots members. • These master trainers trained in imparting technical skills, life skills and management skills to members of SHGs, producer collectives, federations, and for profit company shareholders. • This cadre of master trainers then train grassroots women in the Community Learning Business Resource Centres (CLBRC) established by SEWA at the cluster level. • The training is designed to be hands on, demonstrative and need based.

24. Our Proposal • Organize exposure visits for knowledge sharing, training needs assessment and practical on the job training. • Identify potential master trainers from each region and facilitate in creation of cadre of master trainers. • These master trainers then be provided trainings through peer to peer learnings. • Thereafter, SEWA team would provide handholding support for a period of two years.

25. Area and Duration • Two Years • India and South Asia