From Distress to Empowerment Kirankumar Vissa Association for Indias - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Indian Farmers: From Distress to Empowerment Kirankumar Vissa Association for India’s Development www.aidindia.org; kiranvissa@gmail.com

AID’s 3 -Pronged Approach R ELIEF FROM D ISTRESS B ETTER M AKING I NCOMES & G OVERNMENT S USTAINABILITY W ORK

1. Relief to Farmers in Distress Assisting Farmer Suicide Victims: Sugunamma, Anantapur dist., A.P. Rs.25,000 helped her buy 5 sheep for livelihood

Support to Disaster-Affected Farmers Fodder for sheep-rearers during Drought Submerged crops due to Floods Drought in Andhra Pradesh, Floods in Telangana & Tamil Nadu, Cyclone in West Bengal & Odisha

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

2. Enhancing Incomes & Sustainability Archna Munda grows 8 to 9 varieties of vegetables Dileep Mandal, completely organic farm Organic Farming in Sunderbans, West Bengal

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 district Rs.25,000 helped her buy 5 sheep for livelihood

Millet Enterprise: Journey from 2010! • Value Chain and Enterprise Approach 2010 • Establishment of Processing Unit • Working with hundreds of farmers in 4 blocks • Best quality whole grain millets processing 2012 • Processing capacity increased from 50 to 300 tons/yr • Break-even & crossed Rs.70 lakh Turnover 2016 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 New Improved Grading Machine already on market MOBILE &WOMEN FRIENDLY

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 Annadata scheme (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: kiranvissa@gmail.com