Presentation on RRA CP project at Bankura By PRADAN

1. Presentation on RRA CP project at BankuraByPRADAN (7-8 May, 2013, New Delhi)

2. Contents • Context • Plan • Progress so far

3. The CP Block BANKURA DISTRICT HIRBANDH BLOCK

4. Features of the District • It comes under AEZ-VII • Blocks: 22 • Total population : 32 Lakhs • SC, ST population : 41.59% • Literacy : Male-77%, Female-49% • HDI -11/17 (Source: Human Development Profiles 2007, West Bengal) • Around 43% of the families belong to BPL category

5. About the CP block- Hirbandh

6. About the area Contd. • Total area:31,015 Ha • Forest: 9,708 (31.3%) • Cultivable area:17,678.55 (41.7%) • Fallow land : 1644 (5.3%) • water bodies: 744( 2.4% ) • Other use: 1241 (19.3%) • % of Small farmer : 32 • % of Marginal Framer: 65

7. About the area Contd. • Block has undulating topography with localized steep slope • It receives annual rainfall of around 1250 mm, but it is very much uncertain and erratic • High rainfall, undulated topography, less vegetative cover and inadequate rain water harvesting structures result in huge run off and soil erosion. • Soil depth and organic matter in the soil is very less and lateritic in upper region and valley region is full of alkaline.

8. Livelihoods • The major sources of livelihood are agriculture followed by wage earning/ migration • Agriculture is mono cropped paddy and production is as low as 1 to 3 MT/Ha depending the type of land • Lack of assured irrigation, improved agriculture practices, timely availability of quality seeds, draft power, adequate credit supply lead to poor yield and food insecurity • Livestock selling & migration act as coping mechanism

9. Context for CP • PRADAN could mobilise around 160 Million INR under MGNREGS to invest in land & water development in collaboration with local PRIs & Govt • Livelihood assets created like small water bodies , Agro- horticulture, forestry in the fallow uplands, and Land development etc for 5,100 families • But this has not been able bring significant change/ impact in the overall agriculture production systems in the area. • There are still gaps in enhancing the overall productivity of resources in the area

10. Broad Interventions proposed • Improving soil health though green manureing & composting • Crop diversification • Improving productivity of water bodies through fish rearing & introduction of cash crops • Promotion of CBOs like women SHGs, sub clusters & producers’ organisations • Linking SHGs/ POs with bank for Credit supply, linkages with markets, PRIs and Govt departments for services & leveraging fund • Situational analysis to develop better understanding & designing detailed proposal

11. Major Deliverables • Finalising the Mouzas / Revenue villages covering 15,000-20,000 ha area for the comprehensive pilots (CP) • Deploying human resources for implementation of the CP. • Documentation to capture the learning drawn from pilots. • Sharing the findings of situational analysis and learnings of pilots with block, Govt Dept and Gram Panchayats for larger acceptance and wider replication • Establishing functional relationship with different thematic nodes of RRA network for cross learning and sharing.

12. Progress so far • Promoted 85 women SHGs covering 1,045 families of which 79% ST&SC • Village level plan for pilots completed & incorporated in Annual Action plan of GP • Sanction taken for 54 no of WHSs & Work order issued to GP by BDO • 18 Community Resource Persons trained on basic of crop Production & kharif planning process • 15 SHG Leaders trained on INRM (Phase-I)

13. Progress so far Contd. • A meeting on convergence was conducted with govtdepts with the help of SDO at sub division level • A meeting on SRI conducted with ADOs at sub division- shared last year experience

14. Thanks

15. Deliverables by end of the first year • Local PRIs have been influenced for creation of farm Pond ( Hapa) under MGNREGS to provide protective irrigation to 150 families • Improved way of fish rearing with proper varieties done with 100 families on pilot basis and proper PoP developed for fish rearing in farm ponds in the area. • The fishery department is influenced for replication of PoP and system • 500 families have adopted SRI method of paddy , mustard and wheat cultivation and a movement been created in the area for wider replication

16. Deliverables by end of the first Contd. • Glaricidia plantation done in 5Ha land covering 150 families on a pilot basis and local Govt & PRIs has accepted this as way to generate Biomass under MGNREGS • Soil health analysis done to understand the gaps and required interventions decided • 25 Compost pits created benefiting 25 families on pilot basis and the concept accepted by block and GP for implementation of same under MGNREGS. • In-situ soil & moisture conservation structures created in 15 Ha - benefiting 50 families. Plantation in 16 ha of fallow upland -benefiting 65 families under MGNREGS. This would lead to greater and wider acceptance by PRIs, Govt and horticulture department. • A pool of 50 CRPs cum supervisors developed to facilitate SHGs in INRM planning and implementation