Agriculture is the primary source of income for rural communities of Chhattisgarh. The State’s agriculture economy is characterised by reliance on nature, low investment, low productivity, monocropping, insufficient irrigation facilities, and small and marginal land holdings. Unirrigated land accounts for 92% of total cultivated land. The state’s cultivable land resources have a high potential for increased production.

On the other hand, soil fertility has been depleted due to soil erosion and a failure to recycle biomass. The rainfall data show that the state receives adequate rainfall, but surface water availability is insufficient due to inadequate water storage facilities. Groundwater, on the other hand, is not recharged due to a lack of appropriate artificial measures. Day by day farmers has been shifting from healthy to unhealthy agriculture practices. There has been little change in agricultural practices in rural communities, resulting in low production. Younger generations are abandoning even traditional methods. Gradually, a scenario emerges in which community members are forced to relocate to nearby cities and other states due to crop failure.

Caritas India, with support from Caritas Australia, has launched the Gram Nirman Programme in 11 districts across Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh in response to a perceived need in the agricultural sector. Some of the programme’s objectives are to strengthen rural economies through small-scale integrated farming systems, linking the potential small-farm-agri-products to local and urban markets ensuring a healthy income for the tribal farming communities.

While setting this context, the Gram Nirman core team facilitated training on November 22, 2022, for selected farmers from 6 districts in the Chhattisgarh region at Xavier Institute of Social Action, Raipur. There were 32 farmers and 18 community educators from the districts of Bastar, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Jashpur, Surguja and Raigarh who took part in the training session.

Identification of farm components and management of own farm waste and resources was the key talk point in the second session. The small farm and its contributing components presented by Mr Pradipta Chand, Lead – Climate Adaptive Agriculture & Food Sovereignty (CAA&FS), was well received by the smallholders’ representatives. The small farm components and how to establish connections among each component explained was the key to the entire session which successfully drew the attention of not only the smallholders but also the community educators of the Gram Nirman Programme. Revival of traditional agroecological practices to manage cost-effectiveness in agricultural inputs, documentation of indigenous knowledge, wisdom, innovations, and best practices were the major discussion point during the session. Smallholders were oriented on 12 types of botanicals and bio-pest repellents which can be prepared from their own farm waste and resources to reduce the external market dependencies and input costs.

In the second session, smallholders were oriented on the process of identifying potential products for the development of a smallholder-led value chain for a collective market linkage by Mr Pradipta. The participants were also oriented on the trader’s mapping, the volume of production, and institutional innovations to make the smallholder forum visible at multiple levels to take the lead in accessing markets and negotiation. Smallholders from each district have decided to initiate the process of forming smallholder forums at different levels to ensure collective actions on the small-farm-agri-food value chain and linking to local and semi-urban markets.

Dr Pratap Toppo, Assistant Professor from the Department of Forestry, Indira Gandhi Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya (IGKVV), Raipur facilitated a session on agroforestry where the role of forest in small farm agriculture was explained. 

The farmer participants stated that they learned new agricultural practices and better management of farm components such as recycling farm waste, using livestock waste to improve the health of the land, and using two methods when cultivating crops on the land.