From deprivation to sufficiency – a hamlet shows the way

The story came in Grassroots in October 2011


Web Link: http://www.pressinstitute.in/archgr2011/grassroots-oct-2011.pdf

From deprivation to sufficiency – a hamlet shows the way

A comprehensive, sustainable model of development – investment in agriculture, animal husbandry, kitchen gardens, vegetable farming and a grain bank – has led to a visible change in the lives of the families living in an Adivasi colony in one of Orissa’s backward districts.

- Pradeep Baisakh, Orissa

A woman plucks ripe tomatos. Vegetable farming has proved remunerative for the villagers . Photo: Adikanda Biswal

People in the Adivasi colony, Padia, a small sleepy hamlet in the Kechhodadar Gram Panchayat that comes under the Paikmal Block in Orissa’s Bargarh District, used to go to bed some years ago with only half their stomachs full. That was when their primary source of income was daily labour, and agriculture another source. People had to venture outside the village for work; some even left the State to find work elsewhere as migrant labour, often ending up in brick kilns and similar work. Needles to add, their lives were marked by abject poverty and exploitation by moneylenders. However, a marked change enveloped the village after it adopted a sustainable model of development, including paddy farming, vegetable farming, animal husbandry, and other initiatives such as growing a kitchen garden or developing a seed or grain bank.

Recalls an old woman in the village: “There was a time when the male members of the family would go out of the village for daily labour. The wives would be waiting with the children for them to return with some rice, so that they could cook food. We never had any stock to meet our daily requirement of food. Many a time we have had to starve as our husbands returned empty-handed or with a small amount of grain.” On most occasions, it would be the women who would starve to feed the children and the male members. Things have undergone a vast change in the Adivasi colony, with almost all the families confident and smiling whenever a visitor arrives, and narrating the success stories.

In the beginning, Manav Adhikar Seva Samiti, a local NGO, helped the women form Self Help Groups (SHGs) and persuaded them to save some of their income. Collective savings by the members supplemented by external support the NGO extended to the group at the block level created a small pool of money which met the immediate cash requirement. People borrowed money from the group at a low rate of interest and invested it in purchasing seeds for agriculture. They also invested in rearing goats or breeding chickens. Earlier, the villagers had to depend on moneylenders who would give them the seed loan that carried exorbitant interest. Investing in agriculture provided the villagers a fairly good return; this was in turn supplemented by income from animal husbandry.

With the seed support from the government, people also started kitchen garden in 2005 and conducted vegetable farming. As vegetable price in the country spiralled, the villagers not only has got a good return by selling the vegetable in the market but also enriched their diet. Premsila Bhoi, one of the first in the village to adopt the kitchen garden model, showed how the model has yielded a rich harvest and was financially remunerative. In 2010, she sold vegetables worth 7000 rupees with almost negligible investment in a  small patch of land. Premsila’s success has now led to almost all the 47 families in the village nurturing kitchen gardens.

Rearing goats also has provided returns to the villagers. For example, Kain Bhoi now has 6 goats. She sells each one at the rate of 6000 rupees. Prabha Bariha sold 6 goats over past two or three years and made 36,000 rupees. Most income was spent on food and on other consumption needs.

The village then started a grain bank with purpose of saving food grain for use in the lean season. During rainy days people had no food grains with them, resulting in dependence on the money lenders for rice. The money lenders would charge a monthly interest rate of 10%. This inescapable dependency on borrowing had created a kind of vicious cycle for the villagers, with no signs of getting out of it. After their harvest, almost all their income would go to the money lenders in form of repaying the debt and principal amounts. Effectively the villagers were not able to enjoy their own harvest forcing them to venture outside the state for finding jobs.

After the grain bank was established, villagers contributed a portion of their harvest to the community-managed initiative, the stock enough to feed them during - June, July and August. Once, according to a villager, rain continued for eight days without respite, keeping the villagers indoors. The sahukars (Money Lenders) came with rice wanting to lend as usual against a high interest return. But now, with the village having accumulated enough grain for self-sustenance, the sahukars had to beat a retreat. The grain bank had helped the villagers preserve dignity and self-respect.

Women who are part of Self Help Groups meet regularly to discuss issues. Photo: Pradeep Baisakh

The rising incomes in Adivasi colony have enhanced the confidence of people, positively impacting on the education of children. Today almost all the children attend schools. Some of the children have joined nearby Ashram schools run by the government. “The self sufficiency in living has particularly impinged on the girl child education, which was neglected earlier. There has been an increasing awareness of people through various exposures to training and meetings, accompanied by rise in income levels”, says Lata Sahu, Community organiser in the village.