Support Small Farmers in India

Dear Friends,

Happy Holiday Season!

Hope you are enjoying the holiday season. This year the winter started a little later here but it is pleasantly cold right now. We hope it is also nice weather where you are.

Thank you for supporting the village farmers and families becoming food-secure in our region. The farmers we work with are mainly dependant on agriculture and animal husbandry. These tribal farmers own very small pieces of land i.e. less than 1 ha. Udaipur is a dry and drought prone area with an average annual rainfall of 625 mm.

However, with little encouragement and support, farmers can produce vegetables all round the year. Vegetables can be cultivated on small plots of land with very little inputs. Seva Mandir is encouraging farmers to grow vegetables on both small and medium scale.

In small scale initiative we promote vegetable nurseries. A number of farmers pick healthy vegetable saplings from the nurseries. For the medium scale production, the farmers are trained to grow vegetables on an intensive and professional way, called as sabji-wadi technique (Vegetable Field). The story given below – is of an explanation of the vegetable cultivation activity.

We are also very happy to share with you a detailed report on this program. Please find enclosed a midyear progress report on Vegetable cultivation program.

It is exciting for us to share the progress with you at the time of holiday season. Thank you for being an incredible partner to us. Please consider donating again to this program at this festivity and also tell about it to your friends.

Many thanks once again. Happy Holiday Season to you once again from all of us here.

With warm regards,

Deepti

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Dalu Bai and her husband are residents of village Majera of block Kumbhalharh. They are very happy and proud farmers because they underwent training last year and subsequently cultivated coriander in their fields. Dalu Bai and her husband used to cultivate mainly the field crops for subsistence, such as Maize or Wheat if there was enough water. Dalu Bai in one of the meetings conducted by the CIG (Common Interest group) learnt more about the vegetable cultivation.

Earlier, she and her family didn’t know that it could be possible in their region as well. A technical training on vegetable cultivation organized and supported by Seva Mandir helped them know more about the various aspects of vegetable cultivation. After the training Dalu was provided with one kg of coriander seeds. She and her husband sown the seeds on 0.1 hectare of their land. Dalu Bai was able to produce 400 kg of coriander leaves. She sold her produce in the vegetable market of Udaipur and Rajsamand for Rs. 55 per kg. In the end, she earned Rs.22,000/- (USD 489). She and her family is so very happy at this income.

Links:

• Seva Mandir Annual Report

• Half Yearly Report April-September 2010 (DOC)