Unleashed by women, a silent revolution is saving the fragile ecology in India
NEW DELHI, 30 July, 2009: Bima Devi used to wake before dawn and walk nearly 8 km each day to fetch fodder for her cattle.
The forests around her village had long been degraded. Her village, Sherpur in Indias Himachal Pradesh, is home to some 300 poor families. The Life for the women was extremely harsh and tedious. That was till 2007.
Today, two years later, Sherpurs women have a different story to tell. Thanks to community efforts, many villages have taken up plantation, soil conservation, water harvesting, horticulture, and agriculture.
Forest-dependent people
Some 30 acres (12 hektar) of degraded forests are now covered with thick forests, surrounding the village with tall, healthy trees. The women zealously guard their new and upcoming forest; they are only allowed to cut grass for their cattle.
– Today our lives have changed completely. Earlier, we would leave early in the morning to collect fodder for our cattle. We returned only in the afternoon and the rest of the day would be spent in housework, Devi said.
– Now, we are able to rest in the afternoons and do many other things besides. We are learning to make paper plates, and do knitting and poultry farming, added she.
The state of Himachal Pradesh is largely agrarian; the peoples livelihoods largely depend on rain-fed crops, horticulture, and livestock. Nine out of ten households are rural, and most of them live in small settlements, typically located in remote valleys.
The rural population is heavily dependent on forests and community land to meet their daily requirements for fuel wood, fodder, and food. Their heavy dependence on natural resources has significantly degraded the forests around them.
According to a government estimate, more than 15 percent of the natural water resources have dried up.
Rain water harvesting reaps rich dividends
Now, sustainable agricultural practices are being adopted. Water harvesting structures, adequately supported by communities, are helping harness water that earlier flowed by unused, and irrigation channels are carrying this water to far-away fields.
This has changed the way people farm in these areas.
With water reaching their farmlands, the villagers are no longer dependent on traditional crops such as maize and wheat. They have begun to grow cash crops, such as vegetables.
And, as incomes improve, families are beginning to spend more on livestock and better farming tools.
Bhavani Thakur from Sherpur, sold turmeric (gurkemeje) worth Rs 1000 (20 US dollar), onions Rs 6,000 (120 dollar), and garlic (hvidløg) Rs 2,500 (50 dollar) this year alone.
Sushma Devi was earlier skeptical about the initiatives that the villagers were so excited about. Now Sushma Devi proudly says. – I am earning about Rs 6,000 (120 dollar) to Rs 7,000 (140) more a year through activities such as plantation, poultry farming and knitting.
Earlier, she used to spend all this money just to buy grass.
Women learn new skills to be Self-dependant
While their land is clearly reaping rich harvests, the 5.000 or so women’s self-help groups that have been one of the main driving forces behind the project, are slowly and steadily unleashing a silent revolution.
Change is clearly evident: as the women undertake new income-generating activities they are becoming more self-assured and assertive, with ‘self-dependence’ seeming to be their guiding principle.
– My husband, a trucker, earns around Rs 6,000 (120 dollar) a month. Now I am earning as much as my husband does, through different income-generating activities, said Bini Devi proudly.
Having established a good natural resource base and livelihood opportunities in their villages, their attention has now turned to improving incomes, healthcare, education, and sanitation.
The project is part of World Banks Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development Project. Its greatest achievement is in ensuring sustainable management of land and water resources, while enhancing the livelihoods of rural inhabitants.
For more information, please visit the Projects website.
http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?Projectid=P093720&theSitePK=40941&pagePK=64283627&menuPK=228424&piPK=73230
Kilde: Artikel på Verdensbankens website
