Gaya Visit (Aug 24 to 27)

Context

Ashok and Amitesh in Gaya from Aug 24 to 25; Ashu on Aug 25 to meet with VRPs, farmers, JEEViKA block level management.

This page aggregates visit notes, photos, videos, etc.

Notes

•  We are piloting in Gurua block of Gaya district, ~150km from Patna

• Gaya is also home to Bodh Gaya. Unfortunately, the main temple complex, which includes a bodhi tree which is apparently a direct descendent of the tree under which the Buddha gained enlightenment, is currently closed due to COVID but we did get a chance to cruise around the various monasteries one night

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• We have trained 5 VRPs on data collection including Mamata Devi who is actually a Skilled Extension Worker or SEW, one level above a VRP. Others are Sunita Devi, Gurdiya, Malati Devi and Shamtak Devi

Met with Dharminder who is the JEEViKA Gurua BPM (block level project manager, has been in that area for ~9.5 years) who shared a few interesting things:

• Til now, In Gaya, there has been one VRP per VO but that is being reduced to one VRP for every 3 VOs; this means they are in process of going from ~110 VRPs to ~50 which is a tough process as the VRPs are really invested in the local community

• VRPs earn upto 4500 rupees in incentive payments per month for various tasks, we are offering 20 rupees per accepted form which works out to ~1,000 rupees per month assuming one form for 50 farmers per month

• SLACC project ended Dec 2018 and was successful in building some awareness of climate smart practices among farmers and VRPs. 3 year program which included Skymet, Cropin, PRAN (who came on board towards the end).

• Some specific practices that stuck include green manuring (leaving moong crop residue in the soil at start of rice planting), proper spacing of plants, vermicompost, natural fertilizers (Jeevamruthum); some soil testing was done but haven’t really used the results

• BPM needs to manage a total of 33 workstreams; 14 are JEEViKA themes and the remainder are government schemes

• Over the past three years, weather in Gaya has changed; from drought prone to lots of rain

• No coordination with local KVK or Dept of Agri; they have their own parallel staff

• There is a soil testing lab at the CLF building but its not being used

• Gurua has a total of 25 pico projectors, about half of these were procured under SLACC; they don’t presently do video based advisories but are open to it

• Plan to launch 5 Producer Groups over the coming months, ~40 farmers each to start

• Farmers are following organic practices on a small bit of their land, mostly use for self consumption; not certified and not seeing a premium in the market

Did a roleplay exercise with 2 VRPs to test the MRV form

• Mamata didi arranged; tested with Gurdiya and Sumita

• Implemented a number of changes to the forms based on their feedback / questions (___)

• Most farmers have a cycle of moong (summer season, Mar to Jun), paddy(kharif or monsoon; July to Nov), wheat (rabi or winter)

• Gurdiya is seeing that weather patterns are changing and need to change their crops and growing practices in response; as an example, short duration seeds

• Doing organic on a small portion of land for self consumption, not realizing any price premium.

• Spoke about importance of trust (verified record of practices) in order to achieve a price premium

• Each VRP works with ~60 farmers and maintains a manual VRP register; opportunity to cover all the “VRP register” questions through the MRV form and save time

• Gurdiya is growing paddy on 3 bhiga or 60 katha which is ~0.75 hectares which means gross earnings of ~42,000

  • Her yield is 80kg per katha which means 4.5 tons of rice

  • Of this, she keeps 1.5 tons (100kg per year per person for a 14 person household) which means 3 tons for sale

  • MSP for paddy in 2020 was 1940 per quintal (100 kg) and she gets closer to 1400 bc she sells to local traders who pay more quickly than local PACS which means total earnings of 42,000

• Tractor based ZT machine was good; yield for wheat increased from 45 to 55 kg per katha, less work, less seeds. Challenge is that the machine is not available. Takes 2 hours to cover one bhiga. The hand pushed ZT machine did not deliver results. Tractor based machine costs 60-70k.

• Does not burn residue, uses as fodder

 Visited Roopa Devi

• Growing paddy on 5 bhiga (1.3 hectares)

• Has access to a borewell and canal

• Applying Jeevamruthum (natural fertilizer) on a small portion of land

• Open to zero tillage because she has seen it delivers high quality; women do not drive tractors so need support for that and access to machine  

• Grows ~1.5 katha of vegetables (eggplant, tomato, potato) for self consumption

• Has good yield on moong (the numbers she cited, 40kg per katha are too high to be realistic) but she gives away half her crop to a laborer who supports her

Pre-visit questions

Smallholder farmer perceptions on the Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices in Bihar, India. CIMMYT and Wageningen University. 2016. Link

• Persona: JEEViKA block level manager

• Themes: Data verification protocol, content calendar, awareness of climate smart ag

• Questions:

  • When do you receive guidance on what PoPs to promote during rabi season?

  • What input do you provide on the PoPs?

  • Is climate change having an impact on farmers? If so, describe.

  • Do farmers here use an appropriate amount of fertilizer?

  • Do the questions in this form make sense?

  • What are the steps for verifying data captured through this form?

  • How can we ensure VRPs capture accurate data?

• Persona: VRP

• Themes: Data collection, awareness of climate smart ag

• Questions:

  • Why are you collecting this data?

  • Do the questions in this form make sense?

  • Is climate change having an impact on farmers? If so, describe.

  • Do farmers here use an appropriate amount of fertilizer?

• Persona: Farmer

• Themes: Impacts of climate change, record keeping, diversification

• Questions:

  • Is climate change impacting on your farming? If so, describe what is changing (rainfall, temperature, yield, floods/droughts) and the impact of these changes.

  • Have you made any changes in your crops or farming practices in response to climate change? Describe.

  • Do you apply fertilizer? If so, how do you decide how much fertilizer to apply?

  • Do you keep detailed records about your farming? If so, how?

  • Do you have a smartphone?

  • Do you see any benefit of using a smartphone application to record your practices and create a digital diary of farm activities?

Link to the Gaya visit PPT

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DTSwitf3qkI1J8j-BVxTXUA1HKYRp71o/edit#slide=id.p1