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The residents of Hakimsinan—a forest-fringed village in West Bengal’s Bankura district—have witnessed the deterioration of their local soil over time. The uplands, where indigenous crops such as grass (kodo), maize, and pulses (biri kolai) were once grown, have become uncultivable through the years. According to the villagers, the degradation of the local land and ecology were caused by changes in agricultural processes.

Seventy-five years of planned development have not helped in the betterment of the adivasi community

Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) on Wednesday announced that DAY-NRLM, Axis Bank and PRADAN have joined hands to uplift the lives of more than 2.5 lakh farmers in five states.

Over 4,500 women farmers in West Bengal’s Jhargram District are profiting from cultivating indigenous rice varieties organically.

This is the story of how women farmers in Torpa Block, Kunti District in Jharkhand, are seeing increased yield, and witnessing a change in their socio-economic status after NGO PRADAN’s Project LEAP took off.

तोरपा महिला कृषि बागवानी स्वावलंबी सहकारी समिति लिमिटेड की स्थापना हुई. दो साल के भीतर इससे 2,250 किसान जुड़ गये. इनमें से 1,600 किसान अनुसूचित जनजाति (Schedule Tribe) से हैं.

PRADAN, in association with water.org, today launched the second phase of SWACHH (Supporting Women to Advance Cleanliness and Hygiene in Households) project in Jharkhand, which is to be implemented with 70,000 households in 10 districts of 3 regions (South and North Chotanagpur and Santhal Paragna) for a period of next two years. In the first phase, this project was piloted in Torpa, Gumla, Poraiyahat, Peterwar and Shikaripara blocks of Jharkhand respectively wherein 25,000 households were targeted to have access to these basic WASH facilities.

आज रांची में प्रदान एवं Water.org के संयुक्त तत्वाधान में SWACHH परियोजना के दूसरे चरण का शुभारम्भ किया है, जिसे 3 प्रमंडलों (दक्षिण और उत्तर छोटानागपुर और संथाल परगना) के 10 जिलों के 70,000 परिवार के साथ अगले 2 वर्षों की अवधि के लिए लागू किया जाना है।

परंपरागत रूप से पश्चिम बंगाल के बांकुड़ा जिले के छोटे और सीमांत किसान सालों से धान की खेती करते आ रहे थे जिसमें उन्हें काफी कम रिटर्न मिलता है। लेकिन पिछले दो वर्षों में तरबूज की खेती की शुरुआत और किसान उत्पादक कंपनी की स्थापना ने उनकी किस्मत बदल दी।

Traditionally, small and marginal farmers in Bankura district, West Bengal, have cultivated paddy and earned meagre returns. But the introduction of watermelon cultivation in the past two years and the setting up of a farmer producer company have changed their fortunes.