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Pratiques alternatives pour protéger et promouvoir la souveraineté alimentaire et obtenir des ressources vitales

 

La population du district de Karur vit dans des conditions très difficiles. La pollution des eaux, notamment par des activités de teinturerie illégale, et la sécheresse réduisent l’activité agricole qui constitue la principale source de revenus de la population. Les migrations saisonnières vers les villes et le bas niveau d’emploi conduisent à un fort endettement de la population et la rend dépendante des prêteurs. La pauvreté chronique conduit les gens à se réfugier dans les superstitions et le fatalisme.

 

L’action territoriale vise particulièrement les femmes, les journaliers agricoles et les paysans petits propriétaires en développant leur capacité à mener des activités économiques alternatives procurant un revenu décent.

 

Elle s’appuie notamment sur des groupes d’agriculteurs (Farmer Interest Groups,   FIGs), des groupes de femmes (woman SHGs, Self Help Groups) et des organisations de producteurs ( Farmer Producer Organisations, FPOs). Elle mobilise nombre d’institutions de formation et de recherche.

 

Les activités sont la formation et l’accompagnement d’entreprises de l’économie sociale. La formation prend notamment la forme d’échanges entre agriculteurs engagées dans des pratiques alternatives. Une action particulière vise à préserver les terres agricoles : « Transformer des terrains nus en jardins » (« Conversion of barren land into an orchard »).

 

La principale organisation qui anime l’action est AREDS (ASSOCIATION OF RURAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICE).

 

 

Pratical alternatives for protecting and promoting food sovereignty & reclaiming the livelihood sources 

India (Karur District)

 

Main characteristics of the territory:

• Large scale unemployment, lack of education and lack of good health among a section of society due to traditional practices of exclusion and socio-economic abuses.
• Major economic activity that provides livelihood in region is agriculture.
• Land is the only livelihood resource for the farmers.
• Most parts of the district, farming is carried out in dry lands
• Majority of the population are agricultural landless workers.
• During the non-agricultural seasons, workers migrate to towns for other livelihoods for survival.
• Water scarcity looms due to erratic rainfall over last few decades and the destruction of surface water bodies.
• High levels of industrial pollution is an additional hazard to the agriculture crisis in the district.

 

Human Economy issues:

• High water pollution as several illegally operated textile dyeing units drain untreated effluents on the local land or into the near by rivers.
• Water shortage crisis clubbed with environmental pollution causes a great damage to the agriculture and forces the farmers to quit agricultural practices.
• Chronic poverty makes people seek refuge in superstitions and accept fatalism.
• Poverty leads people to also send their children to labour work and makes them get married young as children.
• The volatile economic conditions make the local women more prone to vulnerabilities, get them dispossessed, and their burden in handling family needs gets further complicated.
• Seasonal migration and low employment makes these communities extremely délicate and make perennially indebted to the money lenders and all forms of exploitation.

 

Main objective of the action:

Enhancing the capacity of the woman collectives, agricultural laborers and small farmers towards food sovereignty through practical alternatives. Towards this particularly, promoting Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs), woman SHGs and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), promoting sustainable agriculture practices and ensuring economic stability of groups and trading of farm produce

 

Main actors:

• Women Self Help Groups
• Different farmers’ associations in Karur district.
• Various people’s movements in Karur
• Regional agricultural and veterinary universities
• Agriculture centric financial institutions – NABARD
• Financial institutions (Government & Private)
• District Rural Development Agency - DRDA
• Block Development Office - BDO
• Local government and Village Councils
• Regional organic farming experts.
• Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), a Agriculture Research Institute

 

Main activities:

• Village meetings for the formation of Farmer Interest Groups (FIGs), Woman SHGs and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs).
• Residential training and capacity building on farming methods and producing value-added products as well as marketing through seminars, field visits, audio-visuals, experience sharing, etc.
• Training and creating models on practical alternatives for food sovereignty, like social enterprise on animal husbandry (native cows, hens and goats), raising herbal garden and nursery, establishing production unit of native medicines & nutrition mix, organic farming, organic fertilizers and pest repellents
• Organising exhibition on organic food products /locally available traditional products / value added products, and native medicines. Also training on practices and preparation of them to impart awareness and disseminate the information on practical alternatives
• ‘Conversion of barren land into an orchard.’ The effort is on countering the sale of cultivable land to non-agricultural activities and provides viable practical alternatives to the farmers and for their sustenance.
• Cross-learning visits to neighboring districts/states to gain knowledge on organic farming, social enterprise, and animal husbandry. Workshops /seminars/ meeting by inviting various stakeholders from veterinary university/centers, agriculture university/ research institutions, NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), elected representatives of the local body, and other similar institutes
• Studies and surveys for establishing small shopping outlets contributing towards social enterprises and on direct marketing of farm products.
• Periodic review, consultation and reorientation meetings

 

 

Organization that animates the territorial dynamics

Field team of AREDS (ASSOCIATION OF RURAL EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT SERVICE), India in partnership with a team of local community based organizations (CBOs), regional government officials, and grassroots civil society associates of the territory

 

 

Organization that animates the investigations

INHE-Asia office in collaboration with INHE-India (evaluation & monitoring team), the Director and core committee of AREDS, India