I had no work since lockdown imposed. I find very difficult for me to get work and sometime, it was even hard to feed my children three times in a day. The pond construction work mobilised with the help of Caritas India and JDSSS, Mandla is truly much needed one. Like me there are more than 40 families who got employed and earn a good amount through MGNREGA. My humble gratitude to Caritas India, JDSSS and SAFBIN team members for this noble work. Chhotu Singh, one of the SHFC member shared

India is home to about 120 million smallholder farmers who contribute over 40% of the country’s grain production (FAO), and over half of its fruits, vegetables, oilseeds and other crops. Almost half of the population in India depends on agriculture for their livelihood. Every year, Indian farmers face risks such as low rainfall, drought, flood, price volatility and rising debts. But risks from the COVID-19 pandemic have put a new challenge in front of them which is already under threat.

In other hand, India’s nationwide lockdown amidst the COVID-19 pandemic has critically dislocated its migrant population too. Lacking jobs and money, and with public transportation shut down, hundreds of thousands of migrants were forced to walk hundreds of miles back to their home villages with empty hand and full of uncertainty. This has made the smallholder families more vulnerable since the families have neither sufficient food at home nor have access to any sort of employment to earn something for their families and children.

In this panic situation, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) widely considered to be the only hope to get employed in their respective locations while maintaining all safety precautions and social distancing norms.

During this lockdown, 90 smallholder farmers of Baigakheda got employed under MGNREGA through smallholder Adaptive Farming and Biodiversity Network (SAFBIN) programme initiative and received Rs. 3,32,640/- towards their labour payment in just 21 days apart from other reinforced cement concrete works. Out of the 90 smallholders, 45 are the members of smallholder farmers collective (SHFC) and 10 are smallholders who recently return from seasonal migration and had no other means of earning. A total of Rs. 14,00,000/- mobilised through MGNREGA towards water conservation.

Baigakheda, one of the remotest and tribal-dominated villages located in Mandla District. The major tribes living in belong to Gond and Baiga. The primary livelihood of people of Baigakheda is agriculture trusted on predominant rain-fed paddy crop. Since the lockdown and restrictions imposed, people were scared enough but due to lack of other opportunities like sale of surplus produces, transportation facilities at the local level, no other employment.

Further to this, all essential support provided by the SAFBIN team members in coordination and mobilisation of 60,000 local fingerlings from district fishery department, Mandla for small farm families through income generation program.