| Location: Koraput, Orissa |
| Number of Fellows: 1 |
| Language: Oriya |
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In 1978, displacement via a national dam project gave Jyotirmaya Khara (Jyotirmaya Ji) his start in community organizing. A 35-day march. 20,000 villagers. A mass movement for potable water, roads, electricity, and schools.
In 1991, Jyotirmaya Ji launched Sahara to promote village self-sufficiency and holistic community development including economic, public health, and education activities. Formerly a technician with Hindustan Aeronautical Limited, Jyotimaya has leveraged technology as a tool for community development. Accordingly, Sahara runs a virtual technology laboratory behind its administrative offices where staff members experiment with housing materials and farming methods. Young members of the Sahara staff have modified inexpensive bricks and roofing tiles. Through these efforts, Sahara has developed and promoted a micro-concrete roofing tiles technology which is more durable and helps save trees (as it eliminates the need to bake mud roofing)
Similarly, in 2007, Sahara developed its own energy-efficient solar LED system to replace sooty kerosene lamps. To date, Sahara has distributed the LED lamps to 2,000 families. Sahara hopes to replace one million kerosene lamps with solar LED lamps by 2020. To help in the upkeep of the LED light system, Sahara has formed village energy committees (VECs). Sahara provides the VECs with tools and training to maintain the LED systems. The VECs collect a monthly maintenance (Rs. 10) fee from the villagers to buy necessary replacement parts.
With respect to farming, Sahara has tested and implemented paddy cultivation using the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) technology which doubles the yield of rice for almost the same input cost. Sahara promotes diversification of crops, encouraging farmers to grow sugarcane, corn, and vegetables. This has increased the farmers’ income 1.5 to 2 times from the same land. Sahara has promoted vermin-composting, seed improvement techniques and organic fertilizer to improve the soil fertility and reduce the input cost. Sahara is in the process of developing a soil-less agricultural technology where sand on plastic sheet is used to grow plants. Plastic below the sand reduces water wastage and heated sand in the sun kills insects.
With 13 full-time and 8 part-time employees, Sahara currently reaches 30,000 villagers in 105+ villages. Sahara has formed over 50 women self-help groups (SHGs). SHGs promote savings and micro-loans among women. SHGs also collaborate on women and children’s health, technology solutions for livelihood, and education. Sahara SHGs support families engaged in a variety of livelihood activities, including selling pickles and running flour mills.
Sahara has organized SHG groups in two large cooperative units, called federations, which represent over 25 SHGs each. Sahara plans to empower these federations to run mini village-level banks (“micro-banks”). These micro-banks will provide services to the individual members of the associated SHGs. Advantages of such micro-banks include:
• Interest paid on loans will remain within the village and help maintain the micro-bank
• Villagers will have easy access to the micro-banks
• Villagers will develop basic banking skills
At present, CENDERET center at the Xavier Institute of Management at Bhubaneswar supports the micro-bank with training in banking activities and pays the micro-bank salaries.
Sahara has motivated the villagers to regenerate the degraded forest of their respective villages. Approximately 500 hectares of degraded forest have been regenerated through Sahara’s effort in Koraput district. To ensure long-term protection of the forest, Sahara has formed 30 forest protection committees. Villagers protect trees from being cut in designated areas of the forest.
Need for Project:
A large percentage of the farmers in the Koraput area are below poverty level (BPL). Farmers use traditional low-yield methods. Most only grow rice and millet, which does not provide a sustainable income. Lack of information on the market and techniques leads farmers to plant the same crops and utilize the same irrigation techniques year after year. Sahara endeavors to raise economic standard of farmers through awareness and implementation of new techniques and crops.
In the past two years, Sahara has convinced 47 farmers in eight villages to adopt new techniques and crops. 2 staff members in Sahara dedicate full time on the faming project. New techniques bring higher yield and higher income for the farmers. With a local role model, other farmers from the village have started adopting the same techniques.
Sahara has begun to select 5 farmers in each village to become model farmers. Sahara provides information input and other assistance in over 100 villages.
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As an August 2010 Indicorps Fellow, you will assist in raising the economic standard of BPL farmers through awareness and implementation of new farming techniques.
Initially, you will survey farmers in target villages to learn about the economics and practicalities of local farming. You should understand local crop cycles, cash flows, and common challenges each season. This survey will help you form relationships with the farmers. You will analyze the data and compare it with Sahara’s understanding of the situation to define areas of focus and techniques to implement.
Next, you should engage local community leaders to assist with field implementation of select programs. You should also find and engage government agencies and private institution for the same cause. You should help link local farmers to the government-based support structures that can provide them with financial and logistical assistance. At various junctures in your Fellowship, you should organize and share your learnings; strong documentation, proper note-taking of your surveys, and case studies will enable Sahara to scale your work to reach their entire target population.
Target Community:
Your target community will be BPL farmers in the 105+ villages in the Koraput area of Orissa. Farming is the main vocation in Koraput and more than 80% farmers are below poverty level. Farmers on average have enough land holding (1-2 acres) to generate sufficient earning for their families. More than 95% of villagers have not received any education. New government primary schools have increased basic educational opportunities. However, the village children find it difficult to travel for high school. Traditional music and dance is well developed in the villages.
Objectives:
• To understand existing farming practices in villages
• To assist in developing new farming technologies and crops for the region
• To engage government officials and local community organizations
• To plan and implement an awareness campaign on new farming techniques
Challenges:
• Convincing farmers to change old habits might be difficult, especially as many depend on their current practices as their sole income source and because advantages of the new farming techniques are not immediately apparent.
• Engaging government official in the program will require patience and understanding of bureaucratic norms
Team-Based Model:
Each project is designed as a three-way partnership between you, Indicorps, and a partner organization. Each grassroots partner organization – in this case Sahara – will be hosting two to four Fellows. Consequently, the August 2010 Fellowship will have both an individual and a team component.
As a team of Indicorps Fellows, your focus is to empower villagers through technology and skill trainings. Team members will focus on different areas including expanding the reach of solar LED lamps, assisting farmers in improving their livelihood through use of technology, and capacity-building to run federation micro-banks.
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