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Food Security and Water > Present

Food security and water Rationale

India accounts for one-third of the world’s population that does not have food security. 20 to30 per cent of India’s population is malnourished. Every day, approximately 5000 children succumb to diseases related to malnutrition and hunger. Food security, defined not by the nation’s grain banks, but by the individual’s ability to access and afford sustenance is a critical area that needs to be addressed within policy and practice. Local food security, brings with it questions of livelihoods, natural resource management, and community voices. These are factors related to the access and affordability of food.

With changing patterns in food production, often in favour of cash crops over traditional farming, local availability of food is in critical danger. What needs to be added to conventional world-views that see land, labour, capital, and entrepreneurship as key factors of production and growth, is an appreciation of the role of natural resources and its effects on local-level growth. Water is an obvious factor of production that can fundamentally determine levels of poverty, livelihood structures and food security, but is often overlooked.

Karnataka

Svaraj’s water programme, developed with, and funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), is a holistic, community centered, water resource management programme. At Svaraj, we believe that, by putting Communities centre stage in the water debate, we are capacitating individuals to effectively and equitably manage their own water needs. Svaraj’s water programme currently operates in South India. Through our program work, policy debates, and working papers, we aim to mobilize different sectors of the community to debate the issues that affect them.

We are working with our communities to promote their voices within water management and to capacitate them to fight for effective water delivery mechanisms. Empowering community voices, we believe, is the first step towards good governance and substantive democratization.

Arkavati

The Arkavathi River is one of the principal tributaries of the Cauvery in Karnataka. Its catchment area is about 4351 sq. km. Although its origin is generally traced to the southern foot of the Nandi hills 3000m above the sea, its real source lies in the two series of about 26 tanks that join the Nagara Kere tank at Doddaballapur town. From then on the river flows as one through the rural district of Bangalore. Its total length is 190 km. There are about 150 big and 1084 small tanks on its of flow course. The study area covers 44 villages i.e., 97.61 sq.kms.

The river Arkavathi is the only sub-basin at present. This sub-basin is defined in three parts: Rural, Peri - Urban and Urban areas. The lessons from these sites will impact all habitats down the sub-basin. Thus, with a three pronged approach, Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) a project was initiated to strengthen the livelihood systems of the communities through IWRM. The rural part of our work covers approximately 72 Sq.kms with two series i.e., 19 tanks and 36 villages. The peri-urban i.e., Doddaballapur Tank covers 31 wards with 5,000 households. The urban part specifically looks into 35 slums which the Arkavathi river is supposed to supply water to.

SVARAJ and AKNPS have been working in Doddaballapur Taluk and the upper catchments of Arkavathi river for three years . They have been sensitizing communities on the issues of drinking water and water for irrigation. They have also been spreading awareness about town water planning as a platform to create public understanding, to debate and take necessary action to meet the drinking water, sanitation and water for irrigation needs of communities and to recharge ground water in the region. In the first phase of our strengthening food security through integrated management of water resource by communities in South India programme, supported with funds from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), much has been achieved including sensitization and formation of community based organisations on water, rejuvenation of water channels, tanks and water sanctums, construction of check dams as well as roof top rain water harvesting structures in over a 100 households in Doddaballapur.

In the second phase starting from 2009, Svaraj has entered into a partnership with Arghyam, with a specific focus on integrated urban water resource management covering 2 tanks of 3 villages in the upper catchment of Arkavathi river basin. It also includes, the development of 560 acres of area including Agricultural land, forests, nalas and tanks. This will improve the land agriculture, water resources,vegetation and in turn their livelihood of the local people.

In Peri urban Doddabalapur, under integrated water resource management, Svaraj has started another pilot initiative on waste management

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Community Recycling of Domestic Waste by Women

A Self Help Group of 15 women under the banner of Mahila Abhivrudhi Svachata samiti ( Mass) in Doddaballapur, a peri urban town near Bangalore has begun a unique initiative to keep their locality clean. It has engaged 1000 households as well as market areas in solid waste management. With the support of Svaraj, the SHG has started collecting domestic waste and segregating it. The collected waste is then recycled into worm manure, a nutrient-rich, biologically beneficial soil product called vermicompost. MASS realized that this is probably the best way of composting kitchen wastes. The women’s group has also identified a good market to earn income by selling the compost.

The objective of the programme is to improve employment opportunities through enterprises creation in environment management and waste recycling. Svaraj in collaboration with local government is facilitating the promotion, establishment and development of waste recycling enterprises, and giving training to strengthen their collective capacities.

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Tamil Nadu

ADISIL is a key partner in Svaraj’s programme on strengthening food security through Integrated Management of water by communities in South India. In Tamil Nadu ADISIL is working with a network of over 8000 farmers across 10 districts training farmers on alternative safe and sustainable agriculture. As part of their advocacy work the network is campaigning for appropriate ground water policy and organic farming policy, which ensures conservation of land and water, community livelihood and food security. Through farmers collectives for organic farming, Adisil has successfully ensured the capacity of farmers to convert from convention farming to natural farming . It has also helped small and marginalized farming community as well as landless families in low cost farming technology to increase yield.

COOLAM Comprehensive Operation for Livelihood Assurance through Millets

Tamil Nadu is one of the minor millet producing states of India. According to the Tamil Nadu Government, 50% of the cultivable lands are rain fed. The cropping pattern is now changing due the introduction of hybrid maize and other commercial crops. Even now T. Kallupatti, Thirumangalam to Usilampatti belt, Virudhunagar, Kollimalai hills, Aruppukottai, lower Palani and Dharmapuri belts grow minor millets on a smaller scale.

T. Kallupatti and Thirumangalam Blocks have 80,000 hectare of rain fed lands. ADISIL began their work in T. Kallupatti and Thirumangalam, block villages to promote sustainable agriculture. From 2008 ADISIL has actively engaged with rain fed farming to promote organic cotton, vegetable and millets. Some of the objectives of the project are:

To collect the minor millet seeds from various sources and make available for the next cultivation
To give training on rain fed farming related to minor millets through the experienced farmers
To prepare resource materials on wider information of minor millets
To make the community to produce value added products from minor millets and marketing in the local vicinity

For more details on ADISIL www.adisil.org

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Rose- Rural Organisation for Social Education

For years, loans from World Bank have been used to fund India's infrastructural projects to include road and dam construction and watershed management. But despite the enormous expenditure on every project, there is a growing body of evidence and disappointment in the outcome of these projects and its ultimate impact on India’s community and environment. The project, Irrigation Agriculture Modernization and Water bodies Restoration and Management (IAMWARM) in Pudukottai where the tank rejuvenation work is carried out with a loan from the World Bank of Rs 2,457 Cr/US $556 million. Svaraj is working with Rose to do a comprehensive study about the IAMWARM project in selected river basin and sub river basins. The objective of the study is to assess the project impact on communities with relation to socio, economic and environment factors that affect their livelihoods. It also aims to ensure proper implementation of the project by educating, organizing and mobilizing the communities, to protect their traditional tank irrigation, cultivation methods and water bodies to safe guards the rights and livelihoods of the farming communities.

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