Madhya Pradesh: The Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project (MPRLP) is being implemented in nine districts of the State. Grain banks are one such initiative that is helping small and marginal farmers at the time of drought and crop failure.

Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal: Grain bank is based on the traditional concept of keeping aside a little grain everyday for use in times of distress. Grain banks are being promoted in the flood-prone regions of Gorakhpur district in Uttar Pradesh and in the Sunderbans in West Bengal. 

“The Department of Women Welfare has been trying hard to bring all the women welfare related programmes and schemes under a single one. However, we have also been facing several challenges. Moreover, there is no interdepartmental coordination within the government. For instance, with regard to agriculture and livestock benefits for women, the Department of Women Welfare doesn’t have any linkage with the Department of Animal Husbandry.” (October, 2013).

"Central sector insurance schemes for crops and livestock must address the holistic issue of climate change vulnerability, agriculture and gender through a portfolio insurance for livelihoods because adaptive farming is about a basket of diverse agriculture-based activities. Development sector schemes contribute towards coping with climate change but adaptation expenditure is about building ecological and livelihood resilience. We need to address this matter." (March, 2014).

"There is now a lot of talk on climate change but agricultural impacts on women following climate change have been ignored. Women do suffer more than men. They do most of the back‎-breaking work. I do support the findings of Alternative Futures' research on this issue. If we talk about inclusiveness, then women need to be given more voice in capacity building, decision-making and ownership of land among other things. I feel more research should be carried out on this issue"  (March, 2014).

"Seed is a very serious constraint after droughts when farmers are unable to plant crops in rainfed areas. In the last 10 years we have seen 3 droughts - very widespread, significant droughts. Availability of seed is critical to adaptation. I think farm-saved seeds are key for adaptation following droughts and women have a great role to play in this.” (March, 2014).

"Womens self-help groups can act as farmer producer groups to access credit, seeds, fertilizers and pesticides. The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)  provides for  this. The benefits of dairy programmes mainly go to women as they perform the major labour  though generally, I agree, more women-centric  schemes are needed.  It will be good to introduce gender budgeting as this will help departments evolve more gender-centric provisions." (May, 2013).

In the last few years, malnutrition among the small and marginal farmer families in the Sunderbans, West Bengal, has further deteriorated. This has followed more frequent climate change-induced disasters like floods and cyclones which have destroyed acres of cropland.

Small and marginal farmers, especially women took up cropping of multiple food crops on the small plots around their homes to ensure them food and nutritional security through the year. Both in West Bengal and in the floodplains of Gorakhpur, East Uttar Pradesh, women farmers used their small front yard and/or backyard to grow different kinds of grains, pulses, vegetables and fruits through intercropping and crop rotation. Around 15-20 varieties of crops, including leafy and other vegetables, legumes, roots and tubers, spices and herbs, are grown in these gardens throughout the year. The different food crops fix soil nutrients.

West Bengal: Marginal and landless farming families of West Bengal suffer from chronic shortage of food, fodder and firewood, leading to male migration, which in turn increases the burden of work on women. The rapid disappearance of grazing lands along with reduced access to forests or common lands is creating an acute crisis for fodder. Conversely, common properties like fallow lands, water bodies, river and pond banks, embankments of irrigation canals, roads and railway tracks etc. either remain unutilized or are degraded due to overuse by communities, resulting in soil erosion and disruption of the local ecosystem. 

About six years ago, a local initiative began to revive fallow and degraded lands for use by local communities. Currently, across the State, this ‘common property resource (CPR) management’ has spread to over 50 groups comprising 1,055 members.

Uttarakhand: Abode of all rivers, the hilly regions of Uttarakhand are nevertheless beset by water scarcity. Villagers in districts Almora and Nainital are taking up roof rainwater harvesting with the help of a local organisation. Climate change, with erratic rainfall, higher temperatures, delayed snowfall and early drying of ponds, has further aggravated the problem. Rainwater harvesting has helped conserve water during monsoons for later use and also controlled soil erosion.

West Bengal: The Chhotonagpur range in the western region of West Bengal gets rain only for 2 months and faces drought the rest of the year. The soil on this undulated topography is rocky lateritic with very low water retention capacity. Excavation of ponds is difficult and expensive because the rocks are almost impenetrable. So the ponds are usually very shallow and, after the monsoons, cannot hold water till next summer. Wells also dry up in summer. Women have to spend 5 hours walking 5 Km daily to get water for their daily needs. 

A number of national policies, programmes and schemes are implemented in the State level, dwarfing in some sense the quantum and resources of State-level policies and programmes. Several of these national level policies and programmes have a gender component but how far are these able to help women adapt? Especially when there is a move towards ‘greening’ of these policies by focusing them on activities that will help rejuvenate natural resources and improve livelihoods of people dependent on them.