Promotion of Better Agricultural Practices in Himachal Pradesh
Social Awareness through Human Development (SATHI) Sirmour, Himachal Pradesh
Contact: Anil Kumar
Dates: March 2024 – March 2027
Total Budget: 10,12,000
2025 Funding: Rs. 3,33,625 ($4,019)
SATHI has successfully completed the first year of this three year project, which is designed to improve livelihood of 200 poor farmers (mostly women) with marginal land holdings by teaching them better agricultural practices (such as crop intensification / spacing method of seed sowing, vermi-composting, use of bio-pesticides, better irrigation practices etc). The project area covers 15 villages in Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh.
The project started with awareness meetings with the communities on the program, selection of 61 participating women farmers from 5 villages, and development of training materials. Two 2-day training camps were then held to have the agricultural experts teach the women farmers (through audio -visual aids and practical demonstration) the importance of vegetable cultivation, soil testing, disease-resistant varieties of seeds, plant spacing techniques, organic farming through Verni composting, and marketing of vegetable produce.
Each of the woman farmers owns about 3 to 8 Bighas (or about 0.6 to 1.6 acres) of land. The plan is for them to use only part of that land (1 to 2 Bighas) for vegetable cultivation at this time. For the first seasonal planting, SATHI distributed better quality seeds to grow Coriander, Cucumber, Green Chili, and tomatoes. With the guidance of the experts, the farmers set up nursery beds to raise seedlings for transplanting those in the field.
Necessary help, guidance, and support was provided to the farmers on land selection, seedlings sowing, disease and pest management, and crop harvesting. Marketing support is being provided to the farmers to help sell their vegetables at the local levels or in the nearby town markets. They were also provided with better-quality seeds at subsidized rates for 1 year.
Two-day training camps (2 for the Kharif season and 2 for the Rabi season) were held to have the agricultural experts teach the women farmers how to best grow the vegetables suited for those seasons. This training was provided through audio -visual aids as well as practical demonstration. The material covered the importance of vegetable cultivation, soil testing, disease-resistant varieties of seeds, plant spacing techniques, organic farming through vermi-composting, and marketing of vegetable produce.
