The deepening crisis in agriculture and livestock
rearing which is forcing many people from the rural
areas to give up these occupations and migrate
to urban areas in search of jobs provided the impetus
for us to work on these issues using an approach
which is essentially people led. Lack of access
to and control over resources such as land, forests,
water, seeds, breeds, animals, pastures has in
many ways provoked the crisis. Rapid loss and erosion
of traditional knowledge and skills have deepened
it.
The overarching goals of this project are to help
marginal communities:
regain control and resist displacement and
alienation from their land, their forests, their
water, their crops, their livestock, their plants,
their diversity, their knowledge, their practice.
build resilience against the multiple forces
that threaten to overwhelm their lives and livelihoods – from
corporations to climate change.
sustain their knowledge through practice
identify and create the space for old and young,
men and women, to positively interact and work
together towards the larger objective
Democratize local governance systems that place
communities, particularly women at the centre
of these processes – from debates and dialogues,
planning and decision making.
Translated into practice the project aims to:
strengthen livestock-dependent food-farming
systems by small and marginal farmers, agro-pastoralists
and pastoralists in whose hands lie the future
of food farming.
encourage the cultivation of local food crops,
maintain local seed diversity, resist forces
which drive industrial agriculture such as monocultures,
GMO technologies.
sustain local animal genetic resources which
are best adapted to the local environment and
which maintain livestock biodiversity.
sustain the involvement of the youth and younger
generations in their land-based livelihoods and
look for other opportunities for employment which
relink them to their lands
create democratic spaces for women to play
a central role in the governance of agriculture
and food farming systems, sustaining their knowledge
and cultural practices. Ensuring increased and
active participation of women in the Local Gram
Sabha meetings
build alliances between pastoralists, farmers
and agriculture labour towards governance of
their resources
link local farmers and consumers
Since the process is essentially
people led the objectives are being led through
various farmers and pastoral groups and collectives
in the two states.
Ecological Agriculture and Livestock Rearing
for Small & Marginal Farmers
Location
Pune and Ratnagiri districts, Maharashtra
Medak district Andhra Pradesh
Livestock rearing is central to the livelihoods
and survival of a huge number of people across
agrarian rural India. Women play a key role in
local livestock production activities.
Livestock rearing assumes even greater importance
for small and marginal farmers as they cannot afford
to modernize their agriculture. Improved seeds,
mechanization, chemical fertilizers and external
markets have been the traps into which many unsuspecting
small farmers in the country have been lured and
ended up paying a bitter price.
For most of these farmers ecological agricultural
practices including local seeds, sturdy native
animals that do not guzzle fodder and water but
provide valuable farm yard manure and draft animal
power, mixed agriculture which caters to different
needs; food, fodder and energy, suitable preventive
and curative health practices that make use of
locally available medicinal plants are the programmes
which make sense. To this group, especially the
women from this group that ANTHRA reaches out to
with different programmes.
Summary of Activities (all
files are in the pdf format)
Small and Marginal Farmers PDF
Strengthening Adivasi Livelihoods - Building
Food and Fodder Security in Adivasi areas
Location
East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh
Team
Pottamma, G.Venkatlaxmi, Laxmi, M. Venkatlaxmi,
Rajalakshmi, Srinibabu, Suribabu
A study conducted by ANTHRA in 2003, revealed
that a growing number of adivasi farmers in the
East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh,, for
want of plough bullocks, were leaving their lands
fallow or leasing it out to others. The locally
run credit schemes had failed, as the farmers were
unable to rebuild their replacement stock of bullocks
and repay their loans. The declining livestock
population had resulted in a decline in the use
of manure in agriculture and increased dependency
on chemical fertilizers. The study also, goats-including
the local highly prolific dwarf breed called Kanchu
Mekha-- and poultry were vital sources of additional
income to the family.
In March 2004, the Adivasi Food Security project
began in East Godavari, with a view to improve
adivasi livelihoods and create food sovereignty.
ANTHRA has been working consistently on food security
issues and on conserving local food crops, local
breeds of cattle, goats and poultry, people's knowledge
systems and cultural practices related to livelihoods.
In close collaboration with Yakshi, a resource
group that works with Adivasi communities, we have
in the past year made substantial contribution
to communities practicing traditional forms of
bio diversity-based agriculture and livestock rearing.
Objectives
Although the aim of this programme is to ensure
food security for adivasi communities with perennially
threatened livelihoods, the broader agenda is to
work towards a better and sustainable quality of
living for them. The intervention therefore attempts
to:
Increase production levels both in agriculture
and livestock systems
Build people's health, stamina and capacities
Develop strategies to break the vicious circle
of debt
Promote independent marketing of forest and
agricultural produce without fear of the local
moneylender
Organise women into strong women collectives
that will at once anchor the work on building
food sovereignty in the village as also develop
their leadership.
Summary of Activities (All
files are in the pdf format)
Filename
Secure Livelihoods for Dalit groups - Dalits
and Rights to Resource
Location
Medak and Chittoor districts, Andhra Pradesh
Team Medak
Narsimhulu, Madhavi, Elliah
Team Chittoor
Murugamma, Anand, Krishnamma
Dalits comprise a section of the rural population
of India who have historically been denied access
to productive resources both land and livestock.
Comprising about 15% of the population of India
they have been forced to occupy a substratum of
the socio-economic order of traditional Indian
society. Since Independence, measures have been
undertaken to undo this wrong and various schemes
have been created and launched to bring about more
equity. For example land reforms and land redistribution
attempts in different states have sought to give
lands to Dalit groups. Like wise, livestock development
programmes have also sought to distribute livestock
to these communities.However, the attempts have
been few and usually poorly designed. Land distributed
has often been of poor quality. Very little training
has been given to the community before distributing
animals with the result that the animals quickly
succumb to disease and perish. Traditional caste
based occupations of Dalits such as the flaying
of livestock after their death has also meant they
are exposed to various zoonotic diseases including
anthrax.
Securing a future for these communities is one
of the focus areas of our work.
Summary of Activities (All
files are in the pdf format)
Dalits and Livestock
Supporting Pastoral Livelihoods
Location
Satara, Sholapur and Kolhapur districts of Maharashtra
India
Medak and Chittoor districts of Andhra Pradesh
The Developmental Context
The Deccan plateau of South Central India is one
of the driest parts of the country. Traditionally
the Kurumas, Kurubas, Gollas and Dhangars have
reared sheep and goat as their primary livelihood.
Some of them practice agriculture during the monsoon
months (June to September). In the dry season these
groups migrate with their animals to where fodder
is available. They have strong relations with settled
farming communities who trade agricultural produce
in return for dung, milk, meat and wool from the
shepherds. Allied livelihoods like the spinning
of wool and weaving have developed over time. These
different castes, groups and sub groups and their
specialized livelihoods together sustain thousands
of households in the otherwise harsh terrain of
the Deccan.
Today agents of change, under the guise of development
programmes are wreaking havoc on these communities.
Health care systems, educational, agricultural
and livestock development programmes, if and where
they exist, essentially cater to sedentary groups.
Migratory groups seldom have adequate political
representation, nor can they benefit from the Public
Distribution System. However, their mobility does
have advantages as they get to travel and can access
markets in distant areas, transporting their livestock
produce independently of middlemen and traders.
They are quick to adopt new technologies and are
exposed to developmental changes. They appear to
have more wealth than others by way of livestock
assets but lack access to basic amenities like
reasonable health and sanitation facilities and
primary education.
Within villages they are a highly unorganized
group, often exploited and never able to negotiate
their rights. Among their numerous problems are:
Restrictions on grazing, lopping trees and
watering of goats and sheep
Lack of recognition of customary rights to
rear their animals and graze them in forests
and other common property resources
Poor access to government health facilities
Excessive and uncontrolled use of antibiotics,
and other chemotherapeutics with high dependency
on private medical shops
High loss of livestock due to morbidity and
mortality
Threat to the local breeds, especially the
Deccani sheep, and their declining population
Low literacy levels
One of the key objectives of this project is to
equip the pastoralists to work on these issues.
It is not a prescriptive intervention and aims
only to enable the groups to articulate their key
concerns, prioritize them and work out suitable
alternatives. The process entails organizing meetings,
conducting different training programmes, initiating
key health interventions and other social / legal
/policy and advocacy interventions periodically.
Other objectives include protecting the diversity
of genetic resources and documenting pastoral cultural
practices.
