Every year the coastal areas of Odisha face the brunt of several cyclones developed over the Bay of Bengal. The life and livelihood of the people living near the coast experience heavy damage due to cyclonic storms, tsunamis, tides. Agriculture is one of the major occupations of the people, suffers a great deal of inconvenience and loss.

For the vulnerable people of Ektal village in Sonepur District of Odisha, agriculture is the only source of livelihood to sustain their families. The ever-increasing intensity and frequency of natural disasters in the coastal region is the indicator of aggressive climate change. Coastal erosion is relatively more vulnerable to climate change, which brings serious negative impacts on coastal regions as most people depend on farming and fisheries for their livelihood.

With her local partners , Caritas India implemented a project to build resilient communities in the flood plain of Mahanadi River and Brahmaputra Basin covering 28 villages in Odisha and 32 villages in Assam to promote sustainable livelihood to diversify household income and catalyse inclusion and social protection. Supported by Caritas Germany, the project will build greater resilience of the communities of Assam and Odisha affected by recurrent disaster to have better preparedness and risk reduction measures with a special focus on livelihood.  

The project has worked to increase the income of the flood-affected communities by promoting resilient livelihood practices and upscaling innovating livelihood measures. Caritas India has promoted resilient livelihood models of soil & water conservation, integrated farming system, climate-smart agriculture practices and flood/drought-proofing mechanism, etc. 

Ramachandra Mishra, 52, a farmer from Ektal village used to do daily wage labour as he used to do have difficulty in getting higher-yield by using the traditional method of cultivation. He became part of the solution by exploring and adapting to innovative agricultural practices like the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) method of cultivation in one of the trainings provided by Caritas India along with her partner Anchlika Jana Seva Anusthan. 

Farmers like Ramachandra and others attended different training on organic manure, soil testing, seeds support, seed storage methodology, and integrated farming through theoretical and practical sessions tailored for both semi-literate rural farmers. 

Ramachandra cultivated paddy in his 2 acres of land through the SRI method and integrated farming and different vegetables like brinjal, tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkin, Coriander and chilli. He expects to harvest at least 20 quintals of paddy as compared to his previous production of 5 quintals. 

For the past 4 months, he has sold organic vegetables in the local market and earned Rs. 130-180 per day. He has also opened a hardware store which helps him to earn Rs. 5000. Now his monthly earning income is Rs. 8800 approx. which he invests in his two children Education. He says that “People recognize me and invites me to their farming field”. He is happy to provide technical inputs to farmers in the community. 

Like Ramachandra, three other farmers were supported with a resilient variety of paddy seed in collaboration with the District Agriculture office – Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Bhadrak. The project has supported 7131 households in 6 districts of Assam and Odisha in the last two years of its implementation.