The majority of the agricultural farms of the Indian Sundarban are classified as ‘small’ and ‘marginal’, with typical landholdings of less than 1 hectare (ha) per family. Over the decades, with the present practice of agriculture, it is not sufficient to register a significant income. Thus, while a lot of land is converted into agricultural area, the productive capacity of this land is diluted, contributing to erosion and environmental challenges.The Climate-Smart Agriculture approach seeks to reduce trade-offs and promotes synergies to make crop and livestock systems, forestry, fisheries, and aquaculture more productive and more sustainable. CSA includes the adoption of indigenous seed varieties, chemical-free agricultural practice, use of locally available resources and less utilization of groundwater. Farmers are offered a combination package (for example, soil and water testing, training and handholding on non-chemical practice, indigenous seed conservation, and production) as part of the effort to improve agricultural productivity. It also involves the adoption and practice of indigenous resources which are easily available to the farmers , and not harmful to the environment.The project intends to encourage the farmers to adopt climate smart farming, instead of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The farmers are guided by the Krishi Mitras on regular basis.
Project Objective:
To aware farmers on organic farming and its benefit
To promote organic farming experts (Krishi Mitra) to disseminate knowledge and benefits of organic farming at the village level
To reduce the chemical contamination of the soil and water that occurs due to use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides
To demonstrate how the income increases through organic farming
Project Outcomes:
300 farmers learned about organic farming and its benefits
Out of 300 farmers, 20% of them start the organic farming
At least 500 school students came to know about organic farming
Project Location:
18 Villages of 5 Blocks (Sagar, Patharpratima, Kultali, Gosaba&Basanti) in South 24 Parganas district in West Bengal
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