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Indian Farmers:
From Distress to Empowerment
Kirankumar VissaAssociation for India’s Development
www.aidindia.org; [email protected]
AID’s 3-Pronged Approach
RELIEF
FROM
DISTRESS
BETTER
INCOMES & SUSTAINABILITY
MAKING
GOVERNMENT
WORK
Assisting Farmer Suicide Victims: Sugunamma, Anantapur dist., A.P.Rs.25,000 helped her buy 5 sheep for livelihood
1. Relief to Farmers in Distress
Support to Disaster-Affected Farmers
Fodder for sheep-rearersduring Drought
Drought in Andhra Pradesh, Floods in Telangana & Tamil Nadu, Cyclone in West Bengal & Odisha
Submerged crops due to Floods
Leveraging Broader Support for
Farmer Suicide Families
Working through a statewide network, Rythu Swarajya Vedika
Mobilized support from various sources: Telangana Women Writers’ Association, Hope for the Needy, software engineer group, Mana Bhumi Foundation, Gati Logistics, I4Farmers
IMPACT:
Leveraged Rs. 20 lakhs (~$30,000)
Helped 380 farmer suicide families in 1 year
Organic Farming in Sunderbans, West Bengal
Dileep Mandal,
completely organic farm
Archna Munda grows 8 to 9 varieties
of vegetables
2. Enhancing Incomes & Sustainability
1st All-Women
Farmers’ Cooperative
formed in A.P.
by AID partner
Millet Initiative as response to Drought
Farmers shift to Millets from
Groundnut mono-crop
R&D on Processing Unit
Sugunamma from Anantapur districtRs.25,000 helped her buy 5 sheep for livelihood
2010•Value Chain and Enterprise Approach
•Establishment of Processing Unit
2012
•Working with hundreds of farmers in 4 blocks
•Best quality whole grain millets processing
2016
•Processing capacity increased from 50 to 300 tons/yr
•Break-even & crossed Rs.70 lakh Turnover
Millet Enterprise: Journey from 2010!
SCALING EFFECT
A.P. Govt. “Comprehensive Revival of Millets” Program
6 districts, 440 villages, Covering 1 lakh acres
New Enterprise to Develop Machines
Millet Machines & Tools company launched
MOBILE &WOMEN FRIENDLY
New Improved Grading
Machine already on market
3. Making Government work for Farmers
Brought farmer suicides & agrarian crisis into public debate – building pressure on government and civil society to act
IMPACT
700 Farm Suicide Families get Govt support of Rs. 6 lakh each due to our efforts ~ 6 Million Dollars!
Advocacy Example: Tenant Farmers
Working on Tenant Farmers’ issues, Drought and other disasters, Crop Insurance, Women Farmers
Increasing numbers of Tenant Farmers
No Recognition to Tenant Farmers, No Bank Loans, Crop Insurance or Rythu Bandhu
Past 4 years, we are campaigning for government to include Tenant Farmers in all support systems
IMPACT
1 Million Tenant Farmers included in Annadatascheme (A.P.) of Rs.15,000 per family incentive
Kisan Mitra Helpline to prevent Farmer Distress
• Working with Dist. Collectors in 3 districts of Telangana
• Adilabad, Vikarabad, Mancherial
• Helpline managed by Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA)
• Follow-up of each call until resolved
• More than 10,000 cases till date –60% already resolved
• Going beyond individual issues to target systemic solutions
How Your Support Helps
$50 per month: Help 3 children from farmer
suicide families go to college
$100 per month: Help 10 farmers shift to
sustainable agriculture
$2500 per year: Support one district coordinator
of Kisan Mitra helpline
Let us Collectively tell our Farmers
“Anna Data Sukhi Bhava”
O Giver of Food, May you prosper!
Resources
www.aidindia.org/agriculture/
www.rsvonline.org
Facebook: kiranvissa
Email: [email protected]
