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Fri, 23 Mar 2018 11:44:52 +0000
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hi all,

Here is the aggregated input we received on topic #6 concentrating on "How can policies affect small farm activities and their resilience?”

There are 3 questions in this topic:
6.1.  What are the policies (international, national or local) in your region that affect the viability and development of small farms, and small farms’ decision making regarding the amount and type of food produced and their ambitions regarding market integration?
6.2.  Can you give specific examples of how these policies have affected small-farm decision-making?
6.3.  What are the most critical policies that are needed in your region to support small farm development and increase their role in food and nutrition security in the (regional) food system?

***Note: some of the participants are looking for YOUR input too — their questions are highlighted further below, in their responses.

Q6.1/1 - "Input on Question 6.1: What are the policies (international, national or local) in your region that affect the viability and development of small farms, and small farms’ decision making regarding the amount and type of food produced and their ambitions regarding market integration?”

1/ From: Mayank Jain <[log in to unmask]> (India)

My name is Mayank Jain. I am from India. Manufacturing Engineer by degree with 6 years of experience working across technical research and social and solidarity economy. Cofounder of MicroX Foundation (a not-for-profit based out of Bihar and Delhi). Work with agrarian communities for economic value creation and poverty alleviation through sustainable recurring income model. I want to fix the broken food system. Fellow at Global Social Economy Forum. Exposure to Indian, Israeli & South Korean Ecosystem. Visit http://www.sumarth.org  Reachable at http://<http://www.linkedin.com/in/mysticmayank>www.linkedin.com/in/mysticmayank<http://www.linkedin.com/in/mysticmayank>

I would specifically like to share my experience from my work in the North Bengal region, in the Jalpaiguri District (India).

Accelerated Development of Minor Irrigation (ADMI), is a project being run in West Bengal in collaboration with World Bank.
http://www.projects.worldbank.org/P105311/west-bengal-accelerated-development-minor-irrigation?lang=en

The ADMI project aims to enhance agricultural production of small and marginal farmers in the project area through
a. Strengthening community based Water User Association (WUA) on irrigation management, operation and maintenance.
b. Agricultural Support Services: Providing support to agricultural development, including provision of agricultural services, encouraging crop diversification and use of new technologies, and creating income generating opportunities.
c. Irrigation system development This component will improve availability of water for agriculture and fisheries by developing new minor surface and ground water irrigation schemes on areas that are currently cultivated under rain fed conditions

Agriculture Water Management plays major role in developing human capital in rural area and is also essential to food security. Ensuring access to water for irrigation becomes critical in efforts to improve sustainable agricultural production.

For the poor, deprivation of water is linked both to
(i) their vulnerability, i.e., the lack of financial and technical assets to access available water resources; and
(ii) the ability of better-off competitors (large farmers, absentee landlords, industries) to use their strong bargaining position to either claim, pay or extract more water, particularly during periods of scarcity,
thus exerting pressure on the limited water resources of the poor. [Dr. Sara Ahmed, 2004]

ADMI projects have improved irrigation enabling agriculture during non-monsoon periods and offsetting climate impacts (late/ irregular rainfall).
Despite being focus on marginal farmers, WUA, as per the project design, have included few small and medium farmers. It paves way for inclusive rural development.

One example is from a village in Dhupguri Bloc of Japaiguri where the area has a sandy loam soil with good water retention. The dominant Kharif crop is paddy with an approximate profit margin of INR 2500/ bigha (1 bigha =0.33 acre)  in a single season. Farmers in the community cultivated jute in pre-kharif and potato in rabi prior to ADMI intervention.
Post the ADMI intervention, the area under cultivation has increased dramatically in rabi and kharif while cultivation of the non-lucrative jute has fallen and there is enthusiasm to experiment with maize in the now vacant pre-kharif season. The dominant Rabi crops include Potato, Mustard, Wheat, Tomato, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Chilli. Potato is the most lucrative crop and lands are allocated on priority to potato. Most of the produce is sold in bloc's marketor local haats.

We also received this input from Mayank Jain, which relates to this topic:

I work with farmers in Bihar, and as a strategy we have focussed on diversifying products with the prime aim of getting a sustainable recurring income for the farmers which alone cannot be attributed to cropping. We have incorporated pisciculture, vermicomposting as well as bee keeping as alternate revenue means which can generate income through allied-agro means.
It becomes more like a neccesity/compulsion to do such things as their is constant need to innovate.

Even our Prime Minister on roadmap to double the income of farmers by 2022 emphasized on the very fact "We can ask farmers to grow sea weed, build apiaries, set up solar farms. We have to put advanced options before them and make them aware of the same. Income can even be generated through waste such as coir and coconut shell waste, bamboo waste and banana waste, he said."

And one more from Mayank Jain:

Also, presently in India, we came up with a law for contract farming. I want to know the opinion of fellow participants on contract farming with small farmers through examples across different geographies.
How does it help the cause of farmers? Because agriculture is not only a business but a way of living too. Isn't becoming employee in your own land taking us at an alarming pace closer to industrial agriculture?

______________________________________________

Q6.2/2 - “Input on Question 6.2: Can you give specific examples of how these policies have affected small-farm decision-making?”

1/ From: Mayank Jain <[log in to unmask]> (India)
In continuation to Mayank Jain's previous answer on 6.1 and WUA (details of Uttardanga Kalua), see above
From: Uttardanga Para Kalua, Dhupguri Block, Jalpaiguri (India)

District project monitoring unit has handed over the irrigation system to the WUA in August 2015.
The villagers are enhancing their farming productivity and profitability by using the irrigation system of River Lifting Irrigation (RLI)

The farmers are using irrigation water during this Rabi (Oct-Mar) season and dry period. They are further sharing the water resources with villagers not part of the water user association.

With volatile markets for farm produce community in Uttardanga Para decided to shift to tea-plantation as it provided farmers with better livelihood opportunities (assured market linkage). The intervention under ADMI has successfully prevented the shift of community from agriculture to tea-plantation. Farmers in the community cultivated jute in pre-kharif and potato in rabi prior to ADMI intervention.
Post the ADMI intervention, the area under cultivation has increased dramatically in rabi and kharif while cultivation of the non-lucrative jute has fallen and there is enthusiasm to experiment with maize in the now vacant pre-kharif season. The dominant Rabi crops include Potato, Mustard, Wheat, Tomato, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Chilli. Potato is the most lucrative crop and lands are allocated on priority to potato. Most of the produce is sold in bloc's marketor local haats.

2/ From: Dilip Kumar <[log in to unmask]> (India)
(Dilip works as an adviser at the Bihar Animal Sciences University (BASU), Patna, Bihar, India)

Urea is one of the critical inputs for crops, horticulture and also for manure based low cost aquafarming. Due to deliberate diversion of urea for various industrial application there was a huge shortage of urea in the market to be used for farmers.
The recent policy of coating urea with neem, made the bulk of the urea manufactured useless for industrial application which made easy and adequate availability of urea for farmers. Accordingly, farmers have again resorted to intensive agriculture.

3/ From: Irina Toma <[log in to unmask]> (Romania)
My name is Irina Toma from Highclere Consulting in Romania, the coordinators of the policy part of the SALSA project. We're a small group of agriculture rural development enthusiasts, working on policy analysis in south-east Europe and beyond. Our projects range from working with European Environmental Policy (IEEP), to several Horizon2020 projects focused on developing supporting policies and mechanisms for smallholder farmers in Europe and Africa (SALSA, AgriLink).

In Romania 99.2% of 3.63 million registered agricultural holdings are small farms (according to EUROSTAT 2015). This makes Romania a clear outlier amongst other EU Member States. One of the key challenges for integrating them into markets and bringing them on an income-based food and food nutritional security (FNS) development pathway is the lack of appropriate agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) targeting them.

Romania and Eastern Europe in general might have a lot to learn from the context of other African and Asian partners, and innovative policies or other mechanisms piloted there.

We're curious to hear whether you have any good examples of successful projects on this in your country:

- Do you know of any cases where agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) had good results on FNS and market integration?
- Were these AKIS systems using any interesting communication/ICT technologies and innovations?
- Are there other cases where innovation policies helped solve key issues related to Food Nutritional Security (FNS)?


___________________________________________

Q6.3/1 - “Input on question 6.3: What are the most critical policies that are needed in your region to support small farm development and increase their role in food and nutrition security in the (regional) food system?”

1/ From El Hadji Ousmane Ka <[log in to unmask]> (Senegal)

To make the farms more resilient, you have to go find the farmers in
their locality and help them to have small modern mixed farms where
you will have fish farming, livestock farming and arboriculture on the
same farm.

Example ANIDA in cooperation with the PAPEJF project financed by ADB
(African Development Bank) creates farms named NATANGUE.

For example, with this program we have installed the Ferme Vitrine de
Ndoyene: production of 1000 layers and 1000 broilers plus market
gardening on 0.5ha. Creation of 15 direct and 45 indirect jobs for the
local population. Among other things, it makes it possible to promote
local production, fight against immigration through canoes and
participate in local development.

That is the first community farm in my locality :
http://www.youtube.com/attribution_link?a=JVMVPB7-UJQ&u=/watch%3Fv%3DK4z_Ljw8oc4%26feature%3Dem-share_video_user

10 modern farms are created in every region of the country. Another 56
farms will be created in different regions. this program will make it
possible to modernize the family farms which will use the new
production technique and possibly face the future difficulties.
After the creation of all farms, they will create a formal cooperative
to work together to strengthen their productive capacity to create a
partnership with the state and other partners to ensure their
survival.


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