By Atul Lekhra | Manager- Resource Mobilization
Dear Friend,
Omkar is a small-scale farmer in 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.
Omkar is happy now and is enjoying his work. He said “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.”
Thank you so much for joining hands with us! Your support is making a huge difference in the lives of these poor farmers.
Warm Regards,
Atul Lekhra and the Seva Mandir Team
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