“Smallholder farmers can achieve food security and
self-sufficiency with their traditional and innovative agriculture practices
that have the potential to solve the adverse effects of climate change”.
Caritas Austria president Mr. Franz Küberl observed this while addressing the
farmers’ fair organised by Caritas India in Satna on 12 October. The conclave
of smallholder farmers who are engaged in adaptive agriculture practices in
three districts of Madhya Pradesh was organised as part of the ‘Strengthening Adaptive
Farming in Bangladesh, India and Nepal’ (SAFBIN) programme. Implemented by
Caritas India, SAFBIN is jointly supported by European Union (EU) and Caritas
Austria.
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| Mr. Franz addressing the smallholder farmers' fair |
Citing the severity of agriculture losses suffered by farmers
across the globe due to climate changes, Mr. Franz underscored the need of
identifying local solutions for making smallholder farming systems more viable
and profitable. “Developing an effective agriculture practice based on the
synthesis of modern agriculture methods and local wisdom holds key to the
success in the efforts to achieve food security of smallholder farmers”, Mr.
Franz said. He appreciated Caritas India for leading the campaign for
protecting the livelihood and food security of smallholder farmers in the
region. “Quality of life of smallholder farmers is dependent on the
adaptability of farming system and the immunity of smallholder farming systems
to the vagaries of climate. If we do not make local farming systems robust and
sustainable, we will live in poverty which will only push our future generation
into greater poverty”, Mr. Franz added.
The farmers’ fair was organised for facilitating the
exchange of learning and experience of smallholder farmers who are implementing
various trial combinations of paddy, wheat and black gram. Over 400 smallholder
farmers from Mandla, Sagar and Satna districts attended the fair and shared the
learning and experiences emerging from the three rounds of trials. The farmers
fair also showcased the innovations developed by farmers, various trial design
illustrations and farm produces.
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| Mr. Christoph addressing the function |
Mr. Christoph Schweifer, General Secretary of Caritas
Austria, spoke on the occasion and shared his experiences about the general
struggles of smallholder farmers. “Smallholder farmers need to have thorough
understanding about the various dimensions of climate change and its effects”,
Mr. Christoph said. Developing sustainable solutions for combating the
ramifications of climate change on agriculture is possible only when
communities work concertedly and purposefully. Modern agriculture has made
creditable advancements in the direction of mitigating the detrimental climate
change effects on agriculture. He expressed hope that SAFBIN will emerge as a
platform of communities for technology dissemination which will eventually lead
to greater well-being of smallholder farmers.
Mr. Manfred Aichinger, Project Manager of Caritas Austria shed light on
the symbiotic relationship between agriculture practices and the prosperity of
smallholder farmers. He said that SAFBIN envisages not only the achievement of
agriculture prosperity of smallholder farmers but it also seeks to realise
better indicators in the sectors of education and health. He appreciated SAFBIN
programme for creating an understanding on climate change among smallholder
farmers and enabling them to develop locally viable and cost-effective
solutions.
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| Caritas Austria delegation visiting a paddy trial plot that experiments spacing for increasing the crop yield |
SAFBIN is an agriculture research and development programme
which is being implemented in three agro-climatic zones in India, Bangladesh
and Nepal. In India, the research trials on food crops are underway in Sagar,
Satna and Mandla districts. Mr. Sunil Simon, South Asia programme manager of
SAFBIN informed that SAFBIN is a comprehensive agriculture research
intervention steered by smallholder farmers’ collectives. The intervention
process includes community-level problem screening, scouting of innovations
practiced by communities, screening of solutions proposed by mainline
agriculture research, blending of solutions, development and refining of trial
designs, trial implementation, community analysis and development of candidate
models. SAFBIN also strives to restore the sovereignty of local agriculture
systems by identifying and promoting traditional knowledge and practices which
have great potential to offer solution to the riddle of climate change, Mr.
Sunil added.
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| Mr. Franz giving sprayer pump to a leader of farmers' group |
Later, Mr. Franz distributed sprayer pumps to the
representatives of Small Holder Farmers’ Collectives (SHFCs). During the
programme, SHFCs staged cultural programmes including songs, folk dances and
street play. The delegates from Caritas Austria also visited the stalls where
smallholder farmers had displayed their innovative equipment, trial plot
harvest details and agriculture produces including spices, herbs, yams, tubers
and vegetables. After attending the farmers' fair, Caritas Austria delegation
visited paddy trial plots and reviewed the progress of implementation of paddy
trials.
Fr. Mathew Cheruvil, director of Samaritan Social Service
Society (SSSS) Satna and Mr. Atul Gautam, local village headman, also spoke on
the occasion and appreciated the success of SAFBIN which manifested in the form
of greater yield and reduced agriculture input cost for the smallholder
farmers. Mr. Vivek Tripathi, district project officer of SAFBIN, conducted the
programme.
