India
About the Implementing organization
Sangham Women Farmers Group
Country: India
Year of establishment: 2003
Type of organization: Community-based association or organization, Women’s association or organization, Indigenous group or organization, Ethnic minority group or association
Description
The Sangham Women Farmers Group is a collective of 5000 women farmers belonging to 75 villages in Zaheerabad, Telangana state. The women in this region are working on innovative agricultural methods for combating global warming. The women have not been lured by the perceived benefits of the hybrid mono-crop species cultures. Rather, they seek to conserve traditional species along with traditional practices. This has not only sustained them during harsh drought years but also provided them food security in a fast approaching climate change susceptible environment.
Telangana is one of three regions in Andhra Pradesh which regularly faces drought and has high levels of chronic poverty. Most farmers in the semi-arid Telangana region are small farmers. According to the latest published agricultural data (covering 1995-96), 59% of farmers are marginal farmers owning less than 1 hectare of land and 23% own between 1 and 2 hectares. In other words, 82 per cent of farmers belong to the category of small and marginal farmers who own less than 2 hectares of land.
What started off as a way of ensuring the simple sustenance needs of the sangham members has become a tool of empowerment for them to address the larger issues of food security, natural resource enhancement, education and health. Farming is traditionally considered a man’s business in India. An all-women farmers group is a big step in the right direction – away from the business-as-usual conservative cultural practices in India.
The initiatives contribute to the following SDG and Aichi targets
Aichi Targets 13 (Genetic Diversity), 15 (Climate Resilience), 18 (Traditional Knowledge)
SDGs 1(No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger), 5 (Gender equality), 10 (reduced inequalities), 13 (climate action)
Nature Element
Grasslands︱Drylands
Type of Action
Sustainable use of natural resources︱Climate-resilient food and agriculture︱Low-carbon food and agriculture︱Nature-based alternatives to a carbon-intensive economy: green entrepreneurship
Sustainable Development Element
Jobs and livelihoods︱Food security︱Sustainable consumption and production
Related Sustainable Development Goal(s)
Environmental Impacts
The women use green manure, and manure from the excreta of sheep, goat and cattle, biopesticides (leaf/seed extracts) and innovative methods of application and harvesting like inter cropping methods, the crops are cultivated at intervals this ensures that there are no crop failures.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
The women are showcasing adaptation to climate change by following a system of interspersing crops that do not need extra water, chemical inputs or pesticides for production.
They use diverse land races suited to climatic conditions during the two growing seasons in a year. Each women farmer follows a unique cropping system. Based on the number of crops grown, they are high-diversity, medium-diversity or low-diversity farms.
During Kharif (July to October) 10 to 12 different crops are cultivated in a multi-staggered manner. Also known as Pannindu rakala bailu pantalu (12 varieties of rain-fed cropping), seeds of crops with varied growing periods are sown simultaneously in June. The mix is chosen on the basis of local knowledge and long-held traditions, to cater to each family’s specific food and fodder needs and allows the farmers to continuously harvest crops that mature at different times till March. Thus, the risk of crop failure due to changing monsoon cycles is minimized.
Sustainable Development Impacts
1. Since the inception of this initiative in the last 15 years ago, by using climate-resilient traditional seed variety and climate-smart agricultural practices, women farmers have not faced total crop failure even once
2. By using climate-smart agricultural practices, women farmers have ensured food security and nutritional richness for their families.
RESILIENCE, ADAPTABILITY, AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY
• The Sangham Group has set up seed banks, both individual and collective. The women store seeds in their homes using traditional methods.
• The women also run a community seed bank. The seeds from this bank are used only if a crop failed in the previous season, or if seeds of a particular variety are not available at home seed banks. The community bank is designed using traditional know-how.
• The women have set up a community radio which they operate themselves to provide information about weather and other farming issues every evening.
• Further, they have got their produce organically certified and are packaging it attractively to market in urban areas. They have innovatively used millet to make muffins, cakes, snacks and sweets.
• The women now run a uniquely evolved system of ‘crop financing’ and food-distribution that they have mapped out themselves.The 5,000 women members of Deccan Development Society are the poorest of the poor in their village communities. Most of them are dalits, the lowest group in the Indian social hierarchy.
REDUCED INEQUALITIES
The 5,000 women members of Deccan Development Society are the poorest of the poor in their village communities. Most of them are dalits, the lowest group in the Indian social hierarchy.
GENDER EQUALITY
The women have taken upon themselves to take care of the environment, combat climate change, ensure food security for the community, and become financially independent. The success of these farms has led to more and more women joining the Millet Sisters Group. The women, apart from dealing with issues of exploitation of nature, also addresses gender issues in the area, leading to women empowerment.
A Millet café in a nearby town serves as a marketing outlet for Sangham products, besides offering traditional delicacies like ragi and jowar dosas and idlis, millet pakoras, etc. The proceeds are equitably distributed among Sangham members, which has led to their financial empowerment.
To ensure that their heritage is safe, each year the Sangham Women Farmers join the Biodiversity Yatra organized by Deccan Development Society and participate in a Heritage Ceremony where mothers-in-law hand over traditional seeds to their daughters-in-law to be preserved for the future. In this way, they ensure that this initiative is inclusive and the women carry forward the legacy of continuity of traditional farming practices.
SOCIAL INCLUSION
It is a group of poor underprivileged Dalit women along with other members from a wide array of castes from Muslims to Gollas, Tenugus to Mangalis, Reddys to Sakalis. The society is spread over four mandals in Medak District- Zaheerabad, Jharasangam, Raikode and Nyalkal. The initiative has brought all these women together and has empowered them financially and has enriched their lives.
Scalability
Women of 75 villages are working towards conservation of local landraces and sustaining their cropping patterns. The practice of intercropping can be taken up by other communities to prevent crop failures.
Replicability
In the climate change framework, this system of dryland agriculture has the resilience to withstand all the fallouts of elevated temperatures. This system will work well in countries where multiple stresses from global warming are foreseen in water scarcity, groundwater salinity, food insecurity and hunger, loss of livelihoods.
Share this solution:
[do_widget id=a2a_share_save_widget-2]