Support Small Farmers in India

Dear Friend,

Let me start out by wishing you and your loved ones the season’s greetings. 

Seva Mandir has been working in the tribal communities of south Rajasthan in India for 50 years to ensure food, fodder and water security, thus enhancing the incomes of rural households.

Jetharam is a resident of Kotra block which is listed as one of the most backward areas of Rajasthan on Human Development Index. He used to earn an annual income of Rs. 46,000 ($720) by growing cotton, lentils and maize on his farmland. To make the ends meet, he used to migrate to work as labor during the non farming season. He had no idea of benefits of growing short term crop like vegetable in between the major crops until he attended a workshop for farmers organized by Seva Mandir in his village. 

With guidance of agriculture experts and rigorous training sessions, he learned new techniques to taking multiple crops in a year. To begin with, he took 120 saplings of chili, 200 saplings of brinjal (egg plant), 250 plants of tomato. This season he seems to be overjoyed with the production of vegetables on his farm. So far, he harvested 70 kg of chili, 200 kg of brinjal, 300 kg of tomato and the production is ongoing. While he took some for his own consumption, he also sold the surplus amount of vegetable. This year, he has already secured an additional income of Rs. 39,000 ($610) from vegetable (apart from regular crops) after household consumption.  Looking at the benefit, he has already set up a nursery for the upcoming summer season.

Jetharam is one of the 270 farmers who have learned the new techniques of farming and have improved their income. Growing vegetable have not only improved their economic status but will also help in overcoming malnutrition among children which is very common among children in this area.

Seva Mandir runs various farm based activities with farmers to improve their condition. These activities include setting up orchids, vegetable farms, backyard poultry, providing agriculture expert’s advice, quality seeds, agriculture trainings etc to help farmers grow good crops and attain a dignified earning.

It is all because you, we have been able to extend support to 10,000 poor farmers in this area. These farmers can now grow enough food in their fields and don’t have to migrate from farming in absence of basic necessities.

Along with that, I also wanted to tell you that this year we have been selected by the GlobalGiving Foundation to participate in its YEAR END CAMPAIGN!, a fundraising opportunity for nonprofits around the world.

In order to succeed, we must raise $3,000 from 30 donors by end of this month. If we meet this threshold, we will be featured on GlobalGiving’s website and could earn bonus prizes from GlobalGiving for raising the most money. Please help us reach the goal! Be one of the first people to make a donation.

Please do reach out to us at atul.lekhra@sevamandir.org 

Thank you, as always, for your continued support!

With warm wishes, 

Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team

Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir

Links:

• Seva Mandir's Facebook Page

It’s 1 o’ clock in the afternoon and Omkar is ploughing his field while his daughter is sitting and playing songs on her mobile phone. He seems happy and is enjoying his work, but this wasn’t the case earlier, as he says.  “Farming was a difficult task earlier and I could not even grow enough for my family as we had to rely on rain water for irrigation and I had no money to adopt modern farming methods. But after Seva Mandir set up its seed bank and helped me and others to set up a lift irrigation system, things changed. Now the yield is double what it was earlier.”

Omkar is a small-scale farmer in Kaya village, Girwa block, southern Rajasthan. Agriculture is the only way he can earn a living as he has no skills which can be transferred to any other occupation. He grows wheat and maize in his field for his family’s consumption and sells the surplus. Omkar used to buy seeds from the city shops, but this was expensive because of the transportation costs. This made it hard for him to achieve a surplus. He was also heavily dependent on monsoons as there was no other water available for irrigation. Insufficient rainfall would result in crop failure. This was the reality for most farmers in the region. Because of the hilly terrain, low rainfall and lack of fertile land the farmers would struggle to even grow for their subsistence.

So Seva Mandir set up a seed bank in that area. A seed bank is a place where seeds are preserved and stored. They are situated in villages. The main objective of a seed bank is to maintain the local biodiversity of the area and provide good quality seeds to the farmers. These seed banks are funded and maintained by Seva Mandir. Farmers take good quality seeds on credit. When they harvest their crop, they repay the seed bank with 25% more than the amount of the seed taken. No cash is required and farmers are now less dependent on the market for seeds.

In addition, with the help of the farmers, Seva Mandir has set up lift irrigation in a 80:20 partnership, where 80% was contributed by Seva Mandir and 20% by 20 farmers of that area. Now Omkar‘s farm produce has doubled and he is able to sell his surplus in the market and earn a living.

We thank you for your continued support to our “Provide Enough Food for Poor Farmers in India” project.

Kind regards

Atul Lekhra and Seva Mandir Team

Follow us on www.facebook.com/sevamandir

Links:

• Seva Mandir's Website
• Seva Mandir's Facebook Page