Economic Crisis Response : Enhance The Capacity of Farmers To Increase Agriculture Production

Problem Statement

Neluwa DS division consists of 34 GN divisions and is considered as an isolated area in Galle district Total population is 30,743.Of them 15,708 are females and 15,303 are males. Family wise there are 8,813 families. The selected project area covers 12 GN divisions. In that the number of families are 3,366. There are 6,084 males and 5,357 females in those families. Neluwa is a hilly terrain located at the foothill of Sinharaja forest and most of the villages do not have motor able roads. Poor infrastructure, communication and lack of other facilities have slowed down socio-economic development, particularly of people living in remote comers. There are many who are working on paddy and vegetable farming and some are working in small tea states.

Neluwa is continuously affected by flood and landslide from few decades due to the adverse effects of climate change. Communities were increasingly moving to the expansion of the climate resilience highland cultivation like tea and cinnamon which are associated with irregular land preparation and also tend to landslide. Due to this situation now paddy cultivation has become as the third prominent agriculture crop and most arable paddy land were abandoned. Most of the paddy fields in Neluwa are irrigated by the water streams from hills and due to a neglected cannel system flooding intensity has further increasing.

This situation has led to more and more farmers getting away from paddy cultivation. Plus the recent chimerical fertilizer ban, price inflation of agriculture inputs has further pushed paddy farms away from the cultivation. This is the main reason of low functioning FO in most of the GNs in Neluwa.

According to the statistics of Neluwa Agrarian development office nearly 800 Acres of paddy land is totally abandoned. Cultivation of paddy in these abandoned lands and improving the efficiency of the irrigation system will increase the food security and livelihood during the economic crisis. Under this project here are 14 canals that need to be repaired which are flowing through 12 GN divisions. They are blocked with shrubs and mud. By only restoring and cleaning 14 canals it will be possible to supply water for 127 acres (75 families) of paddy lands for both Yala and Maha cultivation seasons. At present the farmers are only cultivating in the Yala season with the poor irrigation systems. Also 98 acres (178 families) of totally abandoned fields can be cultivated throughout the year by repairing the canals thereby improving the irrigation system.

As an intervention of this project 14 canals will be restored and 98 acres of abandoned land will cultivate paddy in (Maha and Yalla) season as a cash for work mechanism. One acre land in Lankagama GN division will be developed as a model farm of vegetables where they can produce vegetable seeds and plants for the marginalized farmers. This farm will be managed by Lankagama Farmer Organization with the supervision of DS officers, DoA and Agrarian service officers. World Vision organization will collaborate with SCORE and DEIHERM to implement this project and WV will provide seed paddy, inland fish and Coconut and vegetable plants for this model farm. This Lankagama GN division is local and foreign tourist attraction area and it is expect to get more attraction of visitors to this area through this model farm. This farm will be prepared as cash for work mechanism and maintenance and management will be done by Lankagama FO. Further, it is also proposed to activate 12 Farmer Organizations through capacity building (FO) which are inactive due to the absence of paddy cultivation in last few years and women and youth who are not active members of farmers’ organizations will be affiliated to the farmers’ organization through capacity building. A mechanism will be established to group the farmers who benefit from canal restoration into clusters for cash for work. They will operate under the guidance and support of farmer organizations, Agriculture and Agrarian Service Officers. FOs are the key drivers of this intervention.

Outputs and Outcomes

1. 12 Farmer organizations capacity increased to manage irrigation and provide support services to farmers
2. Rehabilitated 14 canals which provide continues water supply to the paddy lands (17Km)
3. 108 acres of abundant paddy land cultivated by individual farmers.

Outcomes

1. Increase the functionality of FOS to sustainably manage contextual issues in agriculture.
2. Improve the livelihood of vulnerable farmer families.
3. Increase Women and youth involvement to the climate resilience agriculture in farmer organization.

Staff

1. Project Manager
2. 2 Project Officers
3. 6 Community Animators

Summery of Planned Activities

1.Field implementation plan preparation workshop

Field implementation plan preparation workshop. As a first activity of the project all stakeholders listed above will be invited to take part in this activity. Responsible officer who can take decisions will be Invited from each organization. Two representatives from each farmer organizations will be invited. All together it is expected to have 60 participants. This will be convened by the Divisional Secretary and will be held at the Divisional Secretariat office Neluwa. Project objectives, outputs, outcomes and propose activities of the project will be explained and discussed at this meeting. Action plan with time frame will be prepared including roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders. The outcome of this meeting is that every agency and pharma organization is clear of their roles and responsibilities of the project they will also serve as a monitoring body of the project until it is completed.

2 .Restoration of 15 canals.

The canals in 11 domains selected under the project namely Embalagedara South, Danawala, Ihala Lellwala, Medagama, Pahala Maddegama, Happitiya Dellawa, Ihala Millawa, Kosmulla, Panagoda and Pannimulla were renovated. Although it was proposed to carry out the reconstruction of a distance of 12.5KM canals, as a result, the reconstruction of a distance of 17KM was possible.. Most of the direct beneficiaries are tenant paddy framers in the selected divisions. An excavator (970 hours X 3700 LKR) will be used to uproot the bushes that cannot be done by manual labor. As for the manual labor work to clean the canals, rough estimates indicate that labor days of 336 X 2500 LKR under cash for work program.

Sub Activity 01

Distribution of agricultural implements

One wheelbarrow, three mamoties and one grass cutting machine each were distributed to 12 farmer organizations under the leadership of the Divisional Secretary Nelwa.

03.Provision of support for cultivation 98 acres of abandoned lands.

Harvesting of fallow paddy was also done in all the above mentioned domains, although 98 acres of fallow paddy were proposed to be harvested, at the end of the activity 108 acres of fallow paddy were harvested. As mentioned above, the farmers were paid 2,500 per day for 500 day for harvesting fallow fields in all those domains.

Sub Activity 01

Free distribution of paddy  seeds for 98 acres

For that, 198 bushels of paddy seeds (43336.2KG) were distributed to the required amount for those devisions.

Amout Of Harvest

Based on the objective of improving the capacity of farmers to increase agricultural production, the harvest of 108 acres of fallow fields in this project is as follows.

04.Conduct one-day Training Program for Community Animators

The Community Animator Training Program was held on 28 November 2022 at Neluwa Samurdhi Hall

05.Capacity Building of FO’s.

The capacity building program of 12 farmer organizations was held on the 27th and 28th of March 2020 at Neluwa Charuka Hotel, in which the Regional Secretary and the Regional Officer of the Agricultural Service Center participated.

06.Second Stake Holder Meeting

The second stakeholder meeting of the project was held on April 27, 2023 at the Nelwa Divisional Secretariat meeting hall with the participation of the Nelwa Divisional Secretary. The representatives of World Vision Lanka Institute, Lanka Organic Agriculture Movement also participated in that. The second stakeholder meeting was held to ascertain how each institution would contribute to the project.

07.Workshop for Youth & Women Members in FO’s

The four-day Farmers Organizations Youth and Women Workshop under the Farmers Organizations and Farmers Capacity Development Workshop under the Fallow Paddy Harvesting Project implemented by Neluwa Divisional Secretariat was held on 11th 12th 13th 14th of July 2023 at Neluwa Sinharaja Cottage Hotel.

For that, Regional Officer of Agricultural Service Center, Agricultural Research and Production Assistants were conducted with the participation of Youth & Women Members  of farmers organizations including the manager of DEIHERM organization.

How to engage youth and women in agriculture through this program, create positive attitudes towards agriculture in the youth and women community, reasons for lack of participation of youth and women in the role of farmer organizations, leadership, strategies to involve youth in farmer organizations The successful workshop was concluded with an extensive analysis of roads, reasons why young people are not engaged in agriculture, entrepreneurship, new business ideas and legal aspects and entertainment programs.

08.Workshop for Youth & Women Members in FO’s

The four-day Farmers Organizations Youth and Women Workshop under the Farmers Organizations and Farmers Capacity Development Workshop under the Fallow Paddy Harvesting Project implemented by Neluwa Divisional Secretariat was held on 11th 12th 13th 14th of July 2023 at Neluwa Sinharaja Cottage Hotel.

For that, Regional Officer of Agricultural Service Center, Agricultural Research and Production Assistants were conducted with the participation of Youth & Women Members  of farmers organizations including the manager of DEIHERM organization.

How to engage youth and women in agriculture through this program, create positive attitudes towards agriculture in the youth and women community, reasons for lack of participation of youth and women in the role of farmer organizations, leadership, strategies to involve youth in farmer organizations The successful workshop was concluded with an extensive analysis of roads, reasons why young people are not engaged in agriculture, entrepreneurship, new business ideas and legal aspects and entertainment programs.