Ecological Outcomes in NREGA projects

Potential people to include in a workshop on this topic (shared by JK)

• Dr. S.G. Patil retired, formerly at the UAS, Dharwad

• Dr. A.N. Rao (anraojaya1@gmail.com)

• Dr. V. Balasubramanian (vbalasubramanian@irrialumni.org)

Notes from March 9 convo with Vivek Srinivasan 

Vivek is working with a senior NREGA administrator in Karnataka to explore whether NREGA funds can be channeled towards activities that improve ecological outcomes.

Today, much of the focus is on water / hydrology (bunding, farm ponds, land leveling) and the opportunity is to fund things that improve soil health, biodiversity, lower use of chemical inputs, etc. 

One idea we suggested to him yesterday is covering the labor associated with collecting residue, pyrolysis and application of biochar. From a farmer perspective, NREGA pays for their labor and they can monetize carbon offsets from the activity. Vivek likes the idea and wants to explore this further but also other opportunities.

Question for our group is what are some labor intensive things that farmers can do which would improve ecological outcomes? Any specific ideas that are top of mind or people who are working on this?

For something to be of interest for NREGA, it needs to be labor intensive and ideally work towards building an asset rather than purely operational. More simply, what are on farm activities which deliver ecological benefits where labor cost is an issue?  

Vivek suggested having a workshop to explore these ideas, sometime in another month or so. Any ideas on who might be a good person to invite to such a workshop?

For additional context, the way that NREGA projects get sanctioned today (in theory) is that the panchayat hosts a gram sabha where the community proposes projects which are then approved. In some cases there are cluster federation teams (CFT) that support the community in designing and bring a technical lens to the projects. One idea is to over time launch a technical agency that can help scope and design projects which have this sustainable ag / ecological outcome orientation.