Livelihoods
Women sustain traditional wisdom of conserving indigenous seeds
Understanding the close link between crop diversity and resilience, women farmers in Mandla ensure that the conservation practice of climate-resilient traditional seeds continues
Extreme weather events destroy Himachal’s apple orchards
Unseasonal rains, snow fall and hailstorms have damaged lakhs of apple trees, ruining Shimla’s famed fruits. This has dented the orchardists’ income and government’s revenue
Ostriches or supplicants? Missing home insurance in rural India
Disasters destroy houses. Despite living in disaster-prone areas, people do not opt for home insurance. They prefer to take the disaster relief offered by the government
Conservation of bio-resources improves farmer’s livelihood
Revival of non-forest timber produce species that are rare and have market value, and the species’ mass multiplication ensures conservation while enhancing farm income
Tribal women seize opportunities, turn micro entrepreneurs
With the right support, women in Khunti have overcome challenges and emerged as entrepreneurs. Each woman’s micro business has been her family’s financial mainstay during the pandemic
Kashmir’s cherry farmers face the impact of pandemic
Tangmarg’s cherry farmers, who find selling directly to tourists more lucrative, are in a fix as the popular tourist spots have been closed because of the pandemic
Forest-dependent tribes lose income to forest fires
Unable to collect mahua flowers and other forest produce because of fires in Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, tribal communities already impacted by the pandemic have lost their livelihood
Community seed banks help conserve climate-resilient crops
Combining community knowledge and scientific ways, farmers conserve stress-tolerant landraces in their fields, and distribute the seeds to other farmers through community seed banks
Empowered women dairy farmers create ripple effect
With the development of dairy cooperatives, some exclusively for women, dairy farming which supplemented agricultural income has led to full-fledged businesses and successful women micro-entrepreneurs
Why villagers are against a proposed marina
Government proposes to develop a marina of international standards to promote tourism. Residents of coastal villages oppose it, fearing an impact on their livelihood and the ecology
Lack of local livelihoods forces men to migrate far
With no industrial jobs, and low wages in agriculture, men from Bhagabanpur in Maldah district migrate to faraway places like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, to make a living
Constraints that prevent farmers from becoming prosperous
Land holding size, water availability, funds and markets impact farmers’ incomes. This second piece of a four-part series explores constraints and viability of mixed farming for farm prosperity
COVID-19 assistance helps villagers find a footing
Odisha Livelihood Mission’s financial support has enabled many vulnerable rural families, especially women entrepreneurs, to recover from the economic shock of the pandemic-induced lockdown
Can farmers farm for prosperity?
Those who intervene for farmers’ welfare seem to prefer maintaining the poor-farmer image than ensuring financial success. The first of a four-part series explores this aspect
Farmer runs people’s academy to share knowledge
A Pawara tribe farmer, who transformed his unproductive land and started conservation of landraces, serves as a resource person at field trainings despite lacking formal education
Alcohol addiction gives way to organic farming
Appalled by the lakhs they spent on alcohol, residents of a village vow to never touch liquor again. They turn their village into a successful organic model
Community restores grasslands, makes village drought-resilient
Grasslands conservation, initiated to ensure water availability has increased the water table, resulting in reverse migration and cultivation of crops, and prevention of soil erosion
Tribal women reap benefits of collective farming
Switching to modern agricultural practices and coming together as producer groups have helped women farmers have the bargaining power about their produce and earn more
Bihar farmers grow makhana to tackle weather uncertainties
Climate-induced extreme weather events damaging their traditionally grown maize and paddy crops, farmers have switched to growing resilient foxtrot, known for its nutritional value
Farmers go green by growing organic cotton
Switching to organic farming practices has resulted in improved soil health. It has reduced cost of cultivation for farmers, despite organic cotton fetching the same market price