Adopting integrated approach for livelihoods – Augustina Tudu
Augustina belonged to a low-income family, which has no agricultural lands. Her husband works as a carpenter and was the sole earning member of her family. Before her marriage, she was inspired by the work of a local voluntary organisation named as Loka Kalyan Parishad, that was working on livelihood development in her parent’s village. She got an orientation on Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA), SHG formation, and Kitchen Garden from that organisation. After the orientation, she formed an SHG in her village and practiced Kitchen garden in her backyard. In the last quarter of the year 2013, she joined as a Field Programme Associate in that organisation and continued to orient the Mahila Kisans in her village on various sustainable agricultural practices. During the year 2014, soon after her marriage, she was associated with the Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojan (MKSP) Project in her husband’s village.
She was landless and looking after the poverty condition her house; she decided to take land on lease basis to carry out cultivation for additional income to her family. She took 0.16 acre of land on a lease basis with a payment of Rs. 6,000. She has cultivated mustard in Rabi season, Jute in pre-Kharif season, Paddy in Kharif and round the year vegetables. She invested Rs. 3,680 as cost of cultivation and got a production of 1 tonne amounting Rs. 14,480 with a net profit of Rs. 10,800. She adopted SRI practices in paddy, Line sowing in jute, SCI in mustard and ridges and furrows, raised bed, trellis systems in vegetable cultivation. She applied vermicompost produced by her in all the crops she cultivated. In the year 2014-15, she took 5 acres of land on lease basis by paying Rs. 22,000 (Rs. 12,000 as a loan from SHG and Rs.10,000 from her savings) and started cultivating potato, cauliflowers, lentils in Rabi season, paddy and vegetables in Kharif seasons.
In the year 2016, she took one pond of 1.6 acres on lease by paying Rs.12, 000 per year to carry out fish farming. She invested Rs.9,800 towards fish farming and got a profit of Rs. 16,200.
Seeing her excellent work, dedication, commitment, and good liaison with Mahila Kisans, she was selected as a CRP in the year 2017. She has always advocated for an integrated approach in livelihood improvements like the integration of agriculture with livestock, fisheries, and fodder.
She was always worried about the fewer cattle population in her village. According to her, one cannot do sustainable agriculture without having an adequate number of cattle in his/ her house as cow dung is very much essential for cultivation and soil health management. She found out that the cattle population is decreasing because of the non-availability of fodder. She came to know about the cultivation of Napier grass, from the exposure visits, she observed that the milk production of cows increases by use of Napier grass. She promoted Napier cultivation as fodder in her locality. 232 Mahila Kisans are cultivating Napier grass in 8 acres of land. Due to this initiative, 13 Mahila Kisans have set up their livestock farms and earning about Rs.7,500 to Rs. 10,000 per month.
Before working as a CRP, she has already worked in MKSP and MGNREGS-CFT project from 2013 to 2017 at Loka Kalyan Parishad (NGO). She has undergone other training like soya food processing, home based product development, value chains, MKSP, and MGNREGS.
Apart from providing support to Mahila Kisans on sustainable agriculture, she plays a pivotal role in mobilizing various government schemes for eligible households through convergence. With the agriculture department, she mobilized 1.6 tonnes of seeds of pulses, grass, and pea. She also procured micro nutrients and cultures like Phosphate solubilizing bacteria(PSB) and Boron worth Rs. 3.11 lakh for 252 Mahila Kisans. She mobilized vaccines and medicines for livestock worth about Rs. 1.4 lakh for 1,867 Mahila Kisans from the Animal Resource department. She has helped in the construction of eight poultry shed through MGNREGS worth about Rs. 16.56 lakh. She facilitated fishery training for 8 Households from the Fishery department. Until today she has mobilized assets of Rs. 21.1 lakh from various government schemes for 2,207 Mahila Kisans of her locality.
So far, she has mobilized 2,146 women, farmers, directly and 9,546 women farmers indirectly in her locality and brought all of them under non-pesticide management in their cultivation practices. 8,000 Mahila Kisans have been trained on community managed sustainable agriculture practices through her orientation for seven years. Due to her constant efforts, 63 households have goat farms with 620 goats, and 81 households have adopted fish farming on 98.46 acres of land. She also promotes integrated intensive farming in most of the households.
Now she has purchased a piece of homestead land and constructed a house, owns a motorcycle and a computer out of her income as a CRP and through the non-chemical method of cultivation. She has established an organic kitchen garden in her backyard and cultivating vegetables round the year for home consumption. This kitchen garden is a model for other fellow farmers in her locality.
