Agriculture Development
Helping farmers increase their agriculture yield
Need for the Program (Fact Sheet)
- As per the 10th agricultural census, small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land account for 86.2% of all farmers in India but own just 47.3% of the crop area.
- As per the agriculture census of 2010-11 by Karnataka Government, 77% of the farmers hold 40% of the total cultivable land with just an average of 0.4ha land.
- 65% total farmers in Koppal hold less than 30% of the agriculture land, with an average of 1.4ha per farmer.
- 82% of the total 500542 ha land is cultivated only once in the district due to lack of irrigational facilities and frequent drought and limited rains.
- A total of 4.53lakh ha of crop sown round the year under Kharif, Rabi and summer, which is below the average of other prominently agrarian districts.
- In 2015 -16 alone the consistent rains resulted in farmers suffering Kharif damage of Rs. 14471 crore. The rainfall in September persuaded some farmers to take up Rabi sowing, which failed because of deficient rains later in the season.
- Migration from the drought-affected areas start as early as November from Koppal and other northern districts. Villagers are migrating in search of water and employment. In some cases, entire families have migrated. In many instances, the entire working population has left, leaving the elders to face the hardships of searching for water and surviving on meagre amounts.
Activities - Integrated Farming System
Integrated Farming System is a whole organic farm management system which aims to deliver more sustainable agriculture. It is a dynamic approach which can be applied to any farming methods. By an informed management process, attention to detail and continuous improvement in all areas of farming, Integrated Farming combines the best of modern tools and technologies with traditional practices, made specific to a given location and situation. In simple words, it implies using many ways of cultivation in a small space or land.
Activities - Watershed Development Program
One of the major challenges that the country facing today is the scarcity of water and rapidly depleting ground water source. Watershed management is aimed at the sustainable distribution of resources, creating and implementing plans, programs, and projects to sustain and enhance watershed functions, that affect the plant, animal, and human communities within the watershed boundary.
We have successfully completed the NABARD Watershed program, where we covered over 1000-hectare land with over 2500+ families supported in Koppal. We have also successfully worked towards rejuvenating the Alangar Lake and de-weeding the Byramangala Lake in Bidadi.
Impact of the program
- Over 700 farmers and their families have been helped in the last 2 years
- We have converted over 100 hectares of barren land through integrated farming system.
- We have helped raise over Rs.50 lakhs from the government and allied services as part of the convergence and sustainability assistance.
- Enabled an active participation of government departments in sharing knowledge, assistance and support system.
- Improvement in income, economic and social status of the beneficiaries with regular income ranging from 10K per month to 30K per month.
- Reduced distress migration to just 5% from 70% five years ago in 5 intervention villages in Koppal.
