Sahay Harith Yojana 1

sahay harith yojana

Agro Enviro Initiatives

A comprehensive agro-green-enviro initaitve package for small and medium farmers from OSF. We invest to stimulate and adopt practices that lead to higher productivity in the field. The projects foster sustainable development as we focus also on preserving hill ecosystems, arresting deforestation and restoring degraded lands.

Program Components

Till-less Farming

OSF has a comprehensive multi-component project, known as Farming for the Future.

Part of this project focuses on activities that increase farmland productivity and create a soil-erosion free environment in the farm fields in the hilly areas. The normal practice is to overturn the entire field soil before a new crop. In slopped terrains, it leads to soil erosion. Besides, the practice reduces the load of symbiotic organisms and depletes the biomass content.

OSF suggests minimal or no tilling, but at the planting stations. This is to preserve symbiotic organisms and stabilize the biomass content of the soil. Heavy mulching is also done to retain moisture, preserve top soil depletion and as a weed-arrestor.

Green Cover Drive

The tribal farmers of Koraput uplands practice slash-burn-shift (podu) method of cultivation. In this, a forest area is identified, cleared and the residue of the felled trees and shrubs are burned. The ashes are spread to fertilize the land. Farming starts with the onset of monsoons in June. The cleared land is utilized for 3 years and then laid fallow for about 6-8 years for the green cover to partially regenerate. So, after 3 years they move to a new forest strip from where trees and shrubs are felled.

Due to population pressure, the cultivated area needs to increase, but the available forest land for the podu system is limited. Therefore, the fallow duration becomes shorter in the wake of which, the soil does not support higher productivity. Denuding the green cover and burning it in the cultivable area, eliminates the living microorganisms and productive organic matter.

Our Initiatives:

OSF volunteers work to halt the depletion of forest cover in areas where the slash-burn cultivation is practiced. It is done with complete sensitivity that this is a traditional practice. What we observed is that the farmers were majorly dependent on the natural soil nutrients alone, the effect of which gradually weakened by the 2nd and 3rd year of cultivation.
On this critical issue, our volunteers conduct sensitization workshops with farmers in different blocks of Koraput district in Odisha. There were positive outcomes and many agreeing not to foray into new forest lands. They will continue to use the existing land strips by using bio-fertilizers, vermicomposting etc., to sustain productivity.
In the ongoing months and coming years, we hope to see a great turnround in this geography with the farmers themselves taking up the forest conservation theme to their peers in other villages.

Krishak Sahay Loans

Small farm loans for farmers to be self-sufficient in their farms.We provide loans to construct vermicomposting tanks. Since there is no infusion of manure or fertilizer in the areas of Koraput that we focus on, there is dependency on nutrients in the soil which depletes over time. We support, encourage and train farmers to adopt bio-fertilizers, vermicompost / compost which can be locally prepared.
For irrigation purposes Loan for foot pumps in areas without electricity. This is to irrigate the fields by drawing water from streams or ponds located at a lower level than the fields.

Upcoming Projects

Total Projects

200 in 15 states

People Impacted(Round Off)

88000

Communities

240

Project Cruse-Monthly Aid for Single Parents/Orphans

Project Cruse, is a monthly support system for:- families of single parents; children whose parents have expired; families with one or no functional parent (where the other parent is invalid, unable to earn etc. We maintain a verified list of deserving beneficiaries who struggle to meet their basic needs.

Now we support 62 families and the target is 75 families this year with support ranging from Rs.1000 to Rs.3500. The expected outcomes are:

No drop-outs from education (for lack of money)
Inspiration to study. Earn better grades
Enhanced self-reliance and saving

It is our desire that they hold up to the present challenges and garner some certainty for their future, leaving behind the bitter experiences of the past.