India is land of farmers and farming is the largest source of livelihoods in India. Almost 70 percent of its rural households still rely primarily on agribusiness for their livelihood, with 82 percent of farmers being small and marginal. The vast majority of the areas in India experience the ill effects of low rainfall and age-old cultivating strategies that haven’t stayed up with time. Monsoon failure means fall in yield and farmers are the direct sufferers due to the lack of the availability of proper water and irrigation facilities.
Centre for World Solidarity with support of SOIR-IM have been involved in development of kitchen garden in Bhadua Panchyat, Birhor Tola, Ghatshila for the PVTG Group to combat insufficient intake of nutritious food. These Particular vulnerable tribal group initially had support of other trust/organisation but there was lack of handholding support and training for them. CWS supported 23 families of Birhor Tola in developing their kitchen garden by supporting seeds and proper handhold support and training. CWS also initiated community nutrition garden for the PVTG Group.
CWS is also working towards educating in enhancing the reach of Government Entitlement/Schemes in fullfing the critical gaps of service deficient tribal areas. We majorly focus on making people aware of various government schemes.
On regular field visit, Ambuj, Field Extension officer, Centre for World Solidarity came to know about the challenges these Birhor communities are facing. Then he came up with innovative irrigation technique using waste saline bottle. He thought of trying this method in the Birhor Tola farmer’s field since it is quite cheap and can turn out as an effective approach for farmer who cannot financially afford drip systems. This Saline bottle irrigation was not only focused on nurturing plant but also it prevents pollution created due to bio-medical waste. Since, then Centre for World Solidarity implemented this innovative idea to keep these plant nurture by putting up used saline bottles from hospital for drip irrigation.
For recycling these bio-medical waste (Saline Bottles) Ambuj attempted informal tie-up with different hospital and nursing homes of Ghatsila and used to collect saline bottles at regular intervals. After the collection of bottles, these bottles go through deep cleansing thoroughly and then it is kept to dry under sun shades. Then the edges of the bottles are cut using sharp knives or blades and then the bottles are filled with water also the fertilizer solution is distributed evenly in irrigation water. And then it is hung upside down and connect them to tube setting the speed of drops of water to stream into the root directly. Rather than permitting water to be irrigated through the directs in the field or pouring it on the harvest with a bucket, water begins dribbling on the dirt surface making the root zone wet, accordingly providing dampness constantly to the yield and the plant remain healthy and green.
