Case study

Name of the Programme / Project

Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth in India (ICRG) -Joint initiative of Ministry of Rural Development

(MoRD), & UK’s Department for International Development (DFID)

Implementing Partner(s)

IPE Global; PwC India; Ricardo Energy & Environment; University of Manchester

Start & end date of project:

2016- 2020

‘Integration of Climate Resilience with MGNREGS towards enhancing livelihoods for the most

vulnerable sections in Odisha’

What is the context? What is the problem we

are trying to address?

Rural communities tend to rely mostly on

climate-sensitive resources such as water,

forest resources, agricultural land and other

natural resources. Thus, these rural

communities face geographic and demographic

obstacles with respect to climate change.

The ongoing MGNREGS works lack adequate

technical planning, are low on sustainability and

implementation is poor. Therefore, there is

huge scope to improve the adaptive capacity of

the poorest and vulnerable communities in the

rural parts of Odisha by integrating climate

resilience into MGNREGS.

Fig 1: Land effected by extreme scarcity of water in Jashipur

block of Mayurbhanj district.

What is the intervention?

The District administration is focussing on

impacting the durability of assets enshrined in

MGNREGA by building climate resilient

perspectives in order to enhance livelihood

security of the rural poor, particularly of those

dependent on rainfed agriculture. Under

Infrastructure for Climate Resilient Growth

(ICRG), a joint venture between the UK

Government’s Department for International

Development (DFID) and Ministry of Rural

Development (MoRD) India, during 2016-17

and 2017-18 about 500 works were identified

for demonstration under the programme. The

case presented here is of the works taken up in

Jashipur block of Mayurbhanj district in 2016-

17.

The interventions taken up were (Fig 2):

o Land development- the 30x40 model, field

bunds and land leveling for approximately 18

ha of area

o Construction of 3 new farm ponds &

deepening of 1 existing farm pond under

MGNREGS.

o Construction of 2 irrigation wells under

MGNREGS.

o Construction of compost pits for all 31

households to improve soil health.

o Introduction of Kharif crops like arhar, paddy

etc in the barren patch

o Introduction of Rabi crops in and around the

farms pond and dug wells

o Further there was a convergence with the

Agriculture department and other local

organizations such as the Integrated Tribal

Development Agency (ITDA) and LAMPS

(Large Sized Agriculture & Multipurpose

Societies) for vegetable and paddy cultivation.

o Linkages with community Institution (SHGs-

and Gram Panchayat Level Federations

(GPLF)1 for sustainability.

How the design is climate resilient?

Based on the primary data collected during

field reconnaissance, the village

Khandabandh was selected. Resource

mapping and identification of key issues were

carried out during field visits at the selected

site. It was observed that the land had intense

top soil erosion due to no allied agricultural

practices. During heavy rain, the kharif crops

were getting damaged due to high run off

index and low water holding capacity of the

soil. The village had large individual

uncultivable land and large wastelands. It was

also observed that opportunity for second

crop was minimal due to the lack of proper

irrigation facilities. The rain water available

was 1600.6 mm average per year and there is

no direct water supply.

∗ A large barren land

was divided into small plots and

construction of strong bunds was done to

reduce runoff volume and check runoff fully,

Fig 2: Land development intervention in Kanbhand village of

Jashipur block

Map-1: Selected site map from google earth. The maroon line

shows the boundary of the entire patch. Small blue square are

proposed farm pond sites.

1 The GPLF consists of women Self Help Groups (SHGs) of individuals joined together on the basis

of mutuality and affinity from the poorer sections of society. The GPLF is confined to a network of SHGs of a particular Gram

Panchayat. It provides a common platform for member SHGs to share their experiences and to voice their problems. The GPLF can

help achieve what individual SHGs cannot, by pooling talent and resources from the GP/Block/District

hence rain water flows through sub surface

and ground water recharge will be

enhanced.

∗ The check in runoff was meant to ensure no

loss of soil nutrition and biomass in the soil.

Loss of application of additional nutrition

such as compost manure will also be

checked fully which will also increase soil

organic carbon and improve productive

capacity of soil.

∗ Sub surface flow will be collected through

construction of farm ponds and dug wells in

suitable locations.

∗ Due to increase of soil moisture and ground

water availability, the growth of existing

trees will improve, and the mortality rate of

juvenile planted trees will reduce.

∗ The conversion of land from no crop to

single or double crop will incrementally

enhance the climate resilience and

livelihood security of beneficiaries.

∗ Bunds will be protected from splash erosion

by cultivating arhar plants.

What is the impact?

There were 5 interventions planned in the area

out of which 2 (Land development through

30x40 model, field bunds & land levelling for

approximately 18 ha of area and introduction of

Kharif crops like arhar, paddy etc in the barren

patch) have been completed. The rest 10

hectare land development work is going on. The

other 4 interventions which have been

approved and will start soon are:

• Construction of 3 new farm ponds &

deepening of 1 existing farm pond under

MGNREGS.

• Construction of 2 irrigation well under

MGNREGS.

• Construction of compost pits for all 31

households to improve soil health.

• Introduction of Rabi crops in and around

the farms pond and dug wells

Impact of the interventions:

24 HHs have benefited from this intervention

till date.

1. The 30 X 40 model land development

intervention helped to do paddy cultivation

for an area of 1.5 acre (Fig 4). This has

benefited 24 HHs till date.

2. The water pit in the 30 X 40 model plot,

supplied enough water for doing both

upstream as well as downstream paddy

cultivation (Fig 5). About 5 acres of land in

Fig 4: 30x40 model with paddy cultivation in both upstream and

downstream

Fig 5: Plantation of Arhar on the field bunds (left side) and

moisture retention in the soil (right side)

the downstream patch were found with

excellent paddy cultivation.

3. Arhar plantation was done on the field

bunds of 8 different plots covering 2.10 acre

of land (Fig 5).

4. In the land which was treated with field

bunds, pumpkin cultivation was taken up

covering 3.2 acre of land (Fig 3).

5. Stagnated water bodies were found in the

treated area which helped to retain the

moisture in the soil (Fig 5).

Future expected impacts of the interventions:

Considering the successful start- up

interventions on Paddy, Arhar and Pumpkin

during 2017-18 and interest of the direct

beneficiaries, other livelihood activities through

convergence with Line Departments will be

implemented. The platform of Odisha

Livelihood Mission (OLM) will be utilized for

capacity building of direct beneficiaries of the

patch on livelihoods, skill development and

credit linkage to establish a sustainable

production cluster.

• Introduction of drought resilient short

duration paddy (4 Ha.)

• Patch cultivation of Arhar (2 Ha)

• Vegetable production in 2 Ha.

• Promotion of Organic Farming

• Promotion of Nadep Pit, Vermi compost etc.

Currently crops that been cultivated through

ITDA and LAMPS include:

1.Pumpkin- on 1 ha

2.Longbeans,Tamato,Ladiesfinger,Bittergourd-

on 1 ha

3.Maize, Blackgram, Rassi-on 1 ha

4.Paddy/Arhar- on 4 ha

Fig 6: 30 X 40 model with water pit structure and arhar

plantation around the bund area.

Who is this Benefiting?

Mr. Damaru Soren, who belongs to the

Bathudi, ST community, is one of the direct

beneficiaries of the climate resilient

intervention done in Khandabandh village of

Rugudi town, Mayurbhanj district for the FY

2016-17. His primary source of income is

through farming in his own land, he owns

around 2 acres of land.

Due to the land development and CRW

intervention Mr. Soren was able to convert his

waste and fallow land into a cultivable land. He

was able to do paddy cultivation both in the

upper and lower reaches, he also did double

cropping of paddy, arhar and long bean in his 2

acres of land. Not only did he earn through the

wages received from MGNREGS (his HH was

able to complete 60-65 days of work and

earned 8000 in the year 2016-17) but he was

also able to also earn an extra 10,000 through

the new agriculture practices. Due to 30x40

model his land regained moisture holding

capacity making it more fertile for cultivation.

He even explained how the land development

treatment helped in reducing runoff and

retaining more moisture into the soil.

Photo of Mr. Damaru Soren, a local farmer in Khandabandh

village.

Mishra Chhatar is a ST farmer from the

Khandabandh village. He owns 6 acres of land.

Due to the land development and CRWs

constructed in his village, he was able to save

water for the kharif season cultivation, unlike

in the last few years when he faced more crop

loss as well as low yield due to insufficient

water supply. With a family of six he has quite

a few mouths to feed, he is however happy

that he received MGNREGS wages of INR

7040.00 for the financial year 2016-17 and had

an annual income of 45,440.00 in the year

2017-18.

In the current year (2018-19), he plans to

cultivate paddy (on 3.5 acre), pumpkin (on 1.5

acre), long beans and lady finger on 1 acre of

land. The seeds for the vegetables have been

given by ITDA and LAMPS.

Photo of Mishra

Chhatar and his

pumpkin harvest