Author: Ashwin George

Climate change and the multiplying effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have come together to further push smallholder farmers into hunger and poverty. The rise in global average temperatures, as well as increased unpredictability of rainfall, are having profound impacts on agriculture and inevitably affecting smallholder production systems leading to environmental degradation and food insecurity. Moreover, smallholder farmers are increasingly losing out on market opportunities while the supply chains are getting disrupted. The WFP  estimates 135 million people face crisis levels of hunger, and another 130 million are on the edge of starvation as a result of COVID-19.Despite their importance in global food production, smallholder farmers comprise the majority of the world’s undernourished population and most of those living in absolute poverty (UN Millennium Project 2005a; IFAD 2011a). Smallholder farmers are characterized by marginalization, in terms of accessibility, resources, information, technology, capital and assets“Though we were cultivating vegetables for decades, it was limited to 3-4 species and varieties. This was due to a lack of proper knowledge and awareness among women like us.” says Ms. Nanibai, member of Awar Mata Kishan Samoh, India.Food security continues to be a matter of grave concern for countries like India. Despite being the second-largest producer of food, India is home to the world’s second-largest undernourished population (195.9 million) Food secure households with adequate nutritional status would mean improving what people eat, in terms of quality, quantity, and diversity. This in turn requires efforts related to availability as well as economic access to the food supply.Smallholder farming have the potential to impact human nutrition by providing a variety of food in sufficient quantities to enable all household members to eat a nutritionally adequate diet. With their immense collective experience and intimate knowledge of local conditions, smallholders hold many of the practical solutions that can help place agriculture on a more sustainable and equitable footing.Smallholder Adaptive Farming and Biodiversity (SAFBIN) programme worked with smallholder farmers to have greater availability of a variety of nutritious foods at community and household levels through introduction of new crops and animals, the promotion of  traditional food crops, and home based nutrition gardens. A total of 756 small farm families in the programme areas in India have diversified with 13-14 varieties of local fruits and vegetables and are consuming locally produced culturally preferred balanced diet by adding necessary vitamins and minerals in their daily food intake.The farmers have not looked back since then. They have been busy in diversifying their farms and nutrition garden tending to the plants, vegetables and trees and preparing organic manures and insect repellents to promote their growth and protect them from pests.Creating awareness on the importance of consuming vegetables to address micronutrient deficiencies, sanitation, personal hygiene and attention to the health of pregnant and lactating mothers with children in particular has been central. Coordination with local stakeholders like Anganwadi, nutrition rehabilitation centers district health department, school committee was an integral component of SAFBIN nutrition awareness drive.“The community-led approach initiated to combat malnutrition by the SAFBIN program is accepted by many farmers in our village. It is really helpful for us to know about the local food as well as their health. I have my own nutrition garden with 13 varieties of local fruits and vegetables in my backyard now for around the year.” Said Rampyari, a member of Chandni Kishan Samoh of Khusipura village.Promotion of climate resilient and nutritionally relevant local vegetables and fruits have resulted in greater resilience of the farmers. Seed exchanges among the farmers contributed to improved agrobiodiversity and maintenance of a diverse pool of indigenous seeds in the districts.The conceptualization of a nutrition garden aims to address the daily food requirement for the family. Nutrition gardens are nothing but home gardens of natural and bio-fortified fruits and vegetables of high nutritive value where the species selection is inclusive of the three vegetable groups viz., green leafy vegetables, roots and tubers and other vegetables with specific attention to addressing micro-nutrient (vitamins and minerals) deficiencies, particularly iron and vitamin A. Usually, in rural areas where the diets particularly of pregnant and lactating women, pre-school children are generally found deficient in micro-nutrients. However, these nutrition gardens ensure staple-based diets with a significant portion of proteins, vitamins, and minerals, leading to an enriched and balanced diet.

Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh is famous for its rich natural resources and yet it is one of the most backward areas in the State. Low food productivity, high dependence on wages, increased sale of fuelwood and high incidences of migration are some of the critical issues in the region.Since Cereals like paddy and millet are the lifeline of smallholders of the region, the dependence on the monsoon rain for agriculture production has always been risky and increase their risk manifolds when it tied with climate change and weather uncertainty. In addition to this, the unfolding COVID-19 crisis has also exposed and intensified the risks in the entire food system.“Majority of the smallholders like me depends mostly on the monsoon rain but this year the risk was, even more, higher due to covid-19 pandemic, putting many new challenges before us to ensure food security,” says Subhadra Bai Sahu, Cluster Level Facilitators (CLF) of Ghonta cluster, Mandla.The CLFs was promoted by the SAFBIN at the cluster level to ease the process of collectivisation, aggregation, packing and marketing for potential small farm produces. They are the first level facilitators to plan, guide and manage the backward and forward linkages between farmers and buyers.The SAFBIN form of smallholder led value chain works under three major levels including CLF, FPO and Marketing. The role of cluster-level facilitator (CLF) being one of the most crucial positions to help the smallholder in linking potential small farm produces to the larger markets and traders at a competitive price.Clusters were developed to take the maximum leverage for the farmers. Within a cluster co-operation, smallholders can access to specific inputs and information related to their farm. It is a recognised way to enhance productivity through innovative models and interventions by providing basic technical support.Clusters can allow small farm collectives to combine advantages with various benefits. Hence, SAFBIN demarcated the entire program areas into seven clusters and placed equal numbers of cluster-level facilitators to ensure quality services to enhance small farm productions and linking potential commodities to the larger market.Recently, 42 smallholder farmers collectively aggregated 6MT of indigenous variety millet (Kodo: 3MT and Kutki: 3MT) and sold at the trader’s market in coordination with cluster-level facilitators @ Rs. 1,800/- and @Rs. 2,900/- per quintals respectively and a sum of Rs. 1,41,000/- been received collectively.“Often, we had to depend on others to take ours produces to local market or sale to the person who comes to buy at the village with any rate suited to the situation. But we could see the benefit received by collecting our surplus grains and selling on a competitive rate after negotiation through the CLF,” shares Mamta Bai, one of the SHFC members of Jaitpuri village.Smallholder Adaptive Farming and Biodiversity Network (SAFBIN) is committed to strengthening smallholders’ capacity through eco-friendly adaptive best practices to enhance farm production and productivity, ensuring access to and usage of quality farm inputs and services, facilitating access to fair, remunerative and competitive markets including linking smallholders to better marketing opportunities.

Access to land, tenure security and sustainable use of land are essential to achieve food and nutrition security and Zero Hunger (Sustainable Development Goal 2). We cannot achieve food and nutrition security or even for that matter poverty reduction unless the issues related to access to land, tenure security and sustainable use of land are addressed. South Asian Countries like India are still tackling the issue of inadequate access to land, especially by smallholder farmers who are the main producers of food in the region. To double farm income and production, the smallholders need to have secured access to land.The information gap on land and land tenure security is huge in the South Asian region. There are still age-old practices of verbal agreement being followed by smallholder farmers because they lack information on land rights. There have been increasing incidences of exploitation and loss of compensation due to lack of documentation, because of which many are not able to access government schemes and entitlements that require formal documents. Moreover, South Asia also sees high number of land grabs, displacements, and resettlements of people due to issues related to land ownership and the lack of it, being aggravated by climate change and disasters. Though there are land policies in place that can ensure protection and assure land tenure security, there is an urgent requirement of getting these policies down to the ground through awareness generation and capacity building.SAFBIN programme with its overall goal of contributing to SDG2- ending zero hunger is working with 4050 smallholder farmer households in four South Asian countries of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Through Integrated farming system, climate adaptive practices, multistakeholder partnerships, value chain activities and access to rights and entitlements, SAFBIN has been able to successfully demonstrate that smallholder farmers have high potential to double farm production and income. With better access to land and land tenure security, smallholder farmers can promote sustainable production and income, and ecological conservation. Therefore, it becomes crucial for the farmers to have access to land and tenure security in which protection, documentation, registration, formalisation is granted. The programme has been building capacities of her smallholder farmers to help them access rights and entitlements. Through various trainings, interface meetings and workshops with government officials and experts, farmers are now becoming aware of land related rights and entitlements.In meetings and workshops facilitated by SAFBIN programme in India, farmers got the opportunities to have interface meetings and interact directly with office bearers, landlords and land experts. In one such workshops, legal experts were brought in to build farmers’ awareness around land rights. 85 farmers registered online to apply for land ‘patta’ or land deed. One farmer, Mr. Prakash from Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh, went on to get a legal affidavit made for his leased land. This crucial step has secured Mr. Prakash’s crops that will protect him of any losses due to crop damage and allow him to access compensation that otherwise would have gone to the land owner. This is a small but critical step for smallholder farmers like him to not only protect their rights but also help them in their capacities to be more resilient to climate change impact and calamities.There is critical relationship between food and nutritional security and land tenure security, and to address the former, it is important to address the latter as well. Mr. Prakash has now become the first person from his block who did land leasing in the formal way. He has now become an inspiration to many, and more farmers are coming forward to ensure that their rights are being protected.