Biodiversity is the most important foundation for food security. Food security ultimately depends on the protection of the cultural and natural ecosystems services as well as the knowledge and resources needed to produce and process the food. Food security generally depends on three major sources i.e. agricultural (farm) production, wild harvest and trade. Small and marginal farm households depend exclusively on-farm production while wild harvest remains as one of their main alternative livelihood incomes during the lean season.

Since agriculture is the mainstay, it needs to be more sustainable in providing sufficient, safe and nutritious food. However, the present production system in many areas are still having increased dependence on external inputs and the conventional way of farming i.e. high use of chemical fertilizers, high yielding and hybrid seeds, pesticides, herbicides, packaged feed and supplements for livestock. This has a gradual but adverse effect on the environment, undermine the nutritional health of soil, crops and food we take, lead to reduced function of ecosystem services and result in the loss of biodiversity.

Considering the scenario, there are many well-established models with proven technologies that are in practice under the guidance of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) to improve the sustainability of agriculture but most of the service deliveries are practised by the big farmers and does not reach to the small farmers in need. Often small and marginal farmers lack such provisions due to poor knowledge, limited access to information and capacities to meet the requirements. To make them access the service facilities, Caritas India’s Smallholder Adaptive Farming and Biodiversity Network (SAFBIN) introduced smallholder-led Integrated Farming System (IFS) focusses on farm productions, income, nutrition (consumption), resilience and control over local resources to ensure food and nutritional security of small farms and families.

Smallholder adaptive farming and biodiversity network (SAFBIN) is a smallholder led program aimed to contribute towards SDG-2, co-funded by Caritas Switzerland and Caritas Austria for the arid and semi-arid zone, implemented by Caritas India through its partner organisations Manav Vikas Seva Sangh (MVSS) Sagar and Jabalpur Diocesan Social Service Societies (JDSSS) Mandla, implementing in 25 marginalised communities of Mandla, Sagar and Vidisha districts of Madhya Pradesh.

While working with smallholders, the IFS model of SAFBIN evolved as one of the key initiatives significantly accepted by the small farm households in Mandla, Sagar and Vidisha districts of Madhya Pradesh. The major components of smallholder led IFS established ways of improving both the sustainability of small farms and its capacity to deliver good quality (nutritious) food for a healthy family diet. Low cost integrated nutrient management, recycling of farm resources, integrated pest management, farm diversifications, promoting natural pollinators and predators and biological control measures are evidence of smallholder led adaptive farming research to improve sustainability that is based on enhancing efficiencies of biological processes and agro-ecosystems.

Over the years, with the help of these initiatives 756 small and marginalized farm households have adopted at least two climate adaptative practices (moisture management, improved soil health, farm diversity, increased farm asset base, reused & recycled own farm resources) and able to reduce almost 27% of their input cost. In an effort to restore the traditional seeds varieties, the programme helped to preserve 41 types of local (traditional) seeds with the help of smallholder farmers collectives in community-managed seed bank established in each community. Promotion of farm components like fruit plants,  livestock management and provision of small ruminants, poultry, fishery, fodder crop, and mushroom are major priorities to make small farms more resilient while ensuring basic amenities to survive and cope up with various climate stress.

Turning the adversity (Covid-19 pandemic situation) into opportunity, 325 small and marginalized farm households have sustainably doubled their farm production. Another 703 small and marginalized farm households consuming balanced diet having easy access to fresh green (healthy) vegetables from their homestead, 208 small farm families have improved dietary diversity with more than 32 local food items in a year, 286 small farms are climate resilient with increased biodiversity while 326 small farm families have increased income by linking of small-farm-agri-food to the larger market through smallholder led value chain.