SAMBAL - Livelihood Projects for small and marginal farmers
by Rise Against Hunger India
RRise Against Hunger India works with grassroots groups, especially those facing hardship to organize foods round the year, to augment their capacity to earn sustainable livelihoods. Unlike food distribution and service provision, these projects take time to mature. However, successful implementation of such projects ensure that local vulnerable groups have found sustainable solution to their food and hunger problems.
We have implemented few such pilot projects earlier in Odisha (vegetable cultivation, organic farming), Bihar (Moringa cultivation), Meghalaya (commercial cultivation of banana and pineapple), Maharashtra (goat farming), Madhya Pradesh (goat rearing) and Kerala (fishing tools for fishermen after the floods). While some of these projects are still ongoing, we had to stop most of it in 2020 as most of our attention went to COVID-19 response. Also, we had to redeploy quite a bit of resources to meet the overwhelming demands from many locations for immediate food supply.
This year, we have reinitiated our livelihoods support projects under which we aim to initiate livelihood projects in hunger hotspots in India. Through a secondary data analysis, applying a composite set of indicators such as rate of malnutrition, infant mortality, anaemia, household incomes and few others, we have identified 6 clusters of around 40 Districts that can be termed as India's hunger-hotspots. We have already initiated the process and are ready to implement first set of 20 micro-projects that aim to support rural households with skills, technical knowhow, technological inputs, marketing etc. Each of these projects supporting 200 to 250 households will cost around $10,000 for one year. In 2021, we plan to support 4,000 families with farming tools, seeds, storage facilities, common marketing system and other inputs as required. With an investment of around $500 per household, we are very confident of showing remarkable transformation in securing their livelihoods.
COST BREAKUP:
Per Project cost = $10,000 (per household cost approximately $500)
Total cost for 20 Projects planned in 2021 = $200,000
