02 May, 2013

Women Farmers Garner Knowledge, Pool Agriculture Tools to Adapt to Climate Change

In eastern Uttar Pradesh, Village Resource Centres, with Farmer Field Schools, is an innovative and cost effective intervention that helps women farmers adapt to climate change.

In the flood plains of Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group (GEAG), a local NGO, has taken just such a step by setting up Village Resource Centres (VRCs) with a special focus on women farmers who undertake 60-80% of the agricultural work (GEAG Survey, 2006). This is an innovative and cost effective way to disseminate information on weather parameters and to provide easy and cheap access to climate-resilient varieties of seeds, bio-fertilizers and bio-pesticides. The Centres also pool agricultural equipments like irrigation pipe, winnowing fan and spray machine for members to use.

20 Nov, 2013

State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs)

State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) include several existing policies, programmes and schemes across sectors related to climate change adaptation in agriculture and disaster management. These state-level policies and programmes are being analysed from a gender lens to understand how gender-responsive the SAPCCs are.

20 Nov, 2013

Gender Budgeting

Focusing on the four States of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, our ongoing study shows that there is a wide variance between what different States spend on adaptation-oriented programmes. Also, not all States report on gender budgeting. Some still work with the more limited ‘Women’s Component Plan’ that earmarks 30% of funds/benefits for women; rather than the broader and more transformative gender budgeting  approach which is an ongoing empowering process and not just an accounting exercise. This gender budget computation will help us compare whether gender budgets within adaptation-focused policies and programmes do justice to the work-load of women engaged in adaptation practices on the farmland and allied activities.

20 Nov, 2013

National Policies and Climate Change Adaptation

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. 

14 Nov, 2013

National Policies and Climate Change Adaptation

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.

14 Nov, 2013

State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs)

State Action Plans on Climate Change (SAPCCs) include several existing policies, programmes and schemes across sectors related to climate change adaptation in agriculture and disaster management. These state-level policies and programmes are being analysed from a gender lens to understand how gender-responsive the SAPCCs are.

09 Mar, 2014

Nutrition gardening can tackle malnutrition, poverty

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.

09 Mar, 2014

The importance of managing Common Property Resources (CPRs)

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.

06 Jun, 2013

Kanika Mistry, Hingalgange, North 24 Paraganas, West Bengal

“Land must be in the name of both my husband and me, as both of us work on the land and give the same kind of labour for cultivation.”

11 Jun, 2013

Sudha Gurwant, Guna, Uttarakhand

“When I came into this village as a 13-year-old bride, it was green. We never had problems getting fodder. Over the years, I have seen our forests vanish. Thankfully, things are slowly recovering. Two years ago, I joined the van panchayat samiti and have seen what we can achieve if we work together. Thanks to the fodder I now get from our protected forest,  these days I earn most of my income from the milk I sell.”