Land for the Landless and Livelihoods Convergence Sibabrata Choudhury

22 Nov 2011

IDENTIFYING STRATEGIES AND APPROACH FOR

SELECTED DEVELOPMENT SECTORS IN THE 12TH FIVE

YEAR PLAN OF ODISHA

Content

• Strong correlation between landlessness, poverty and food security

• 11th & 12th FYPs : reference to land tenure, housing and habitat development, tribal land rights

• State Initiatives:

– Land allocation under Vasundhara Scheme – Distribution of house-sites for the homesteadless

– Rural housing – IAY and Mo Kudia

• Suggested provisions in 12th FYP to address landlessness and livelihoods convergence

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Land rights and poverty relations

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Strong co-relation between landlessness and poverty

“Secure access to land and other natural resources is a direct factor in the alleviation of hunger and rural poverty. Rural landlessness is often the best predictor of poverty and hunger: the poorest are usually landless or land-poor. Inadequate rights of access to land and other natural resources, and insecure tenure of those rights, often result in extreme poverty and hunger.”

(http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/lt-home/en/)

“Millions of poor rural people depend on farming for their livelihoods, but they control very little land…redistributing land to small scale farmers can do much to reduce their poverty…land security can mean food security”

(http://www.ifad.org/media/pack/land.htm)

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Secure land rights fundamental for development

Secure, long-term rights to land are fundamental for rural development

• Secure land rights allow mid- to long-term improvements on the land (multi-year investment horizon)

• Inequitable land distribution and land rights environment precursor to social unrest and political instability

For small holder farmers and near-landless groups, homestead plots can be effective for:

• Access to diversified high-value outputs (e.g., vegetables, fruit trees, animal husbandry)

• Improving family nutrition (including child nutrition)

• Production/income controlled by women to meet basic needs

Secure land rights lead to several benefits…

• Secured rights over land triggers number of benefits

– Increased access to government services

– Access to credit

– Home-based food production

– Improved family nutrition

– Definite economic and social benefits

Social and political recognition

Household food security and economic

gains

Homestead development

Government extension services

Social security

Land allocation

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Land allocation and livelihoods convergence: Investment vs. returns

• Land allocation – homesteads and farm land

• Capacity building on organic gardening, vermi-compost, irrigation etc.

• Vegetable mini-kit, seedlings, etc. for home garden and agriculture development

• Financial assistance for housing

• Linkage with MGNREGS – village road, farm pond, land development, etc.

Vegetable production and consumption

Savings on account of money that would have been spent on vegetables and health expenses

Improved household nutrition leading to improved attendance in schools

Increased investments on homesteads

Returns

Investments

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Land tenure, housing, habitat development:

Planning Commission

Five Year Plans

Initiatives in Odisha

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Land rights, housing and habitat development in FYP

Working group on land relations (11th FYP)

– 10-15 cents of land each for all landless families with no homestead land

Working group on rural housing (11th FYP)

– ‘Shelter for all’ to be achieved through ensuring homestead land availability for all within the 11th Plan in a phased manner

– Rural housing and habitat policy

Mid term appraisal of 11th FYP (2010)

– Quality of housing - inadequate unit cost

– Technical inputs and support

– Habitat development approach

AP to 12th FYP – for faster, more inclusive and sustainable growth and targeting GDP growth of 9 to 9.5%

– Special focus on vulnerable groups and backward regions

– Tenancy reforms and land rights for tribals

Landlessness & interventions in Odisha

• 2.49 lakh homesteadless and 4.45 lakh landless households identified in an enumeration in 2004-05

• Vasundhara scheme launched in 2005-06 to provide homestead land upto 4 cents (now 10) to homesteadless families

• 2.75 lakh families allotted homestead land between 2005-06 and 2010-11 (Revenue and Disaster Management Deptt.)

• Implementation challenges (assessment study done by RDI in 88 villages across 10 districts during 2009-10)

– Patta without identification, demarcation and possession

– Allotted land far from habitation

– About 40% of households did not have secured rights over homestead land

– Capacity gaps at different levels

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Rural Housing Programme in Odisha

• IAY & Mo Kudia (special programme for genuinely poor)

• Unfulfilled targets vs. unfulfilled demands

• IAY without land and land without IAY

• Technical assistance

• 1 or 2 allotments per village in a year is not proving efficient

• “A very large population (80%) in rural Odisha is without pucca houses.” (Review of implementation of

flagship schemes and programmes in Odisha, Planning Commission, Oct 2009)

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IAY & MK: Targets for the year

IAY MK

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Tenancy reforms and agriculture impacts

• Prevalence of concealed tenancy

• Tenancy reforms (recognition of tenancy)

– Protect share croppers rights (small and marginal farmers)

– Sufficient protection to land owners so as to avoid mass eviction

• Impacts and possibilities

– Access to institutional credit

– Insurance against crop damage and govt. support

– Reduction in fallow period and increase in agriculture productivity

– Effects on distress migration

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Key areas of intervention in 12FYP: Land allocation to the homesteadless and landless

Agriculture development and Livelihoods Convergence

Local capacity model for allocating land to the landless

• Local capacity model to provide additional capacity to field level revenue officials

• Being adopted in over 1000 villages in 7 districts

• Key components of local capacity model – Local facilitation through

Community Resource Persons – Capacity building and

facilitation – Identification of the landless

including vulnerable women – Time-bound process (land

allocation takes 6-8 months)

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Local capacity model for land allocation

• CRPs are being employed to identify agriculture landlessness and forestland

• CRPs can also be employed in pending land surveys

• CRPs can also be used for post land allocation – livelihoods convergence

• Government need to focus on tenancy reforms through protection of sharecroppers’ rights

• Amendment of relevant laws (OGLS)

• Government may consider extension of the provisions of FRA to revenue land – settling current occupations – legal reforms for objectionable land

Government provisions under current context

• Allocation of land to the landless – Circulars on enumeration of homesteadlessness (3rd May) and

landlessness (13th June)

• Homestead scheme (Govt. of India) since Aug. 2009 – Housesite allocation through regularization, allotment of govt. land,

purchase or acquisition

– Additional funds under IAY to the extent households are allotted house-sites

• Backyard planation and homestead garden – Seedling distributed for backyard plantation

– Vegetable seed mini kit

– Plantation

– Vermicomposting unit

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Agriculture development and livelihoods convergence

• Different programs for the poor are implemented in isolation by different departments resulting in dispersed targeting and diffused impacts

• Convergence of government schemes for landless poor

– Leveraging and dovetailing of existing programs (backyard plantation, vegetable mini-kit, IAY, etc.) for beneficiaries of land allocation…harmonisation of eligibility criteria

• Land allocation as an entry point activity in all livelihoods and poverty alleviation programmes

– Focus on watershed projects/livelihoods programmes

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Thanks for your kind attention…