Presentation on RRA CP project at Bankura By PRADAN (7-8 May, 2013, New Delhi)

Contents Context Plan Progress so far

The CP Block BANKURA DISTRICT HIRBANDH BLOCK

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

About the CP block- Hirbandh Details of Demographic Data No of GP 5 Total R. village121 No of Households13,611 Total Population72,502 Comparison Hirbandh block with district data ItemHirbandhBankura Dist SC %2532 ST %2911 Literacy %5874 BPL family %5043

About the area Contd. Total area:31,015 Ha – Forest: 9,708 (31.3%) – Cultivable area:17, (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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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)

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

Thanks

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

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