Eco farming for restoring of Ecosystem

Problem:

Our farmers are cultivating rice and other commercial crops which need much chemical input and water, etc. So input cost is high  The lands become lost their soil fertility which leads to less income from their lands.  The water pollutes farming lands and irrigation tanks. The ecosystem has become degraded which  reduce the income of the  farmers and  increase the insecurity of food  in the villages

Solutions:

1.The farmers need awareness about the need of restoring the ecosystem.

2. Promotion of organic millet farming by the adoption of ecological principles 

3. Farmers need financial support to shift from chemical farming to ecological farming 

Positive change:

The degraded ecosystem will be restored and improve food security in any country.

The farmers are not aware that restoring the ecosystem has become degraded. They face climate change problems like droughts and floods. Their income from the lands reduced and increased food insecurity in the villages. Based on our target area,  500 farmers directly and 1500  people indirectly are affected by the problems. The above information collected from the local agricultural institute,  Govt statistics and agricultural department progressive organic farmers and traditional knowledge of aged farmers which are main evidence for the problems. The problems are visible in our location and also possible for farmers in many tropical counties.

General

The degraded ecosystem will be restored and improve food security through our solutions which is suitable and feasible to  my  country and also other countries

Specific solutions:

The farmers need awareness about the need of restoring the ecosystem.

2. Promotion of organic millet farming by the adoption of ecological principles 

3. Farmers need financial support to shift from chemical farming to ecological farming 

We are working with the farming community in five villages in our district since 1995. . 500 farmers are having 1000 acres who are facing the following problems.

• Lack of adequate awareness and skill to restoring the ecosystem and adopt ecological farming method among small landholders
•  Lack of local Govt indicative of support for the farmers to involve in the problems
•  Strong mid setup  of the farmers on  much water and chemical-based farming system
•  
• This evidence and statics of the farmers and  their present cultivation system, degrade of the ecosystem, etc from the statistical department of Govt and local agricultural university
•  Our periodical discussions with the farmers and  we observe their reaction

Based on the above details and information, we like to work to solve their problems and restore the ecosystem.

No of farmers are directly benefit from the initiative:  500 Indirect beneficiaries:  1500 villagers

Based on our description of beneficiaries ( (marginal farmers  ) problems and solutions, we were selected the above dimension which is well aligned with both challenge and dimension. It is a local project to enable access to financial capital for ecosystem services such as natural hazard mitigation, water quality, and carbon storage  through an ecological farming system

About the selected stage:  Several discussions with marginal farmers and of village farming system/ situation observation,  we learned following the situation of farmers and village farming system in general, specifically about the degraded lands, low income of farmers, a large number of chemical fertilizers, frequent monsoon failures, drought, and floods, etc. Based on the discussions and observation outcome, our team derived an idea and prepared the concept.

Our solutions are to innovate and use technologies for restoring of degrades ecosystem by millet farming adoption of ecological principles. Extension education by digital learning method. Our solution provides a new or significantly improved approach to the problem. We will expect broader positive impacts from others  globally by the adoption of our  innovation and technologies for alternative farming of millet cultivation  to restore the degraded ecosystem

 40

500

600

700

800

1000

Indicators for evaluating the impacts:

-  No of acres of millet cultivation  promoted  based on ecologically and socially sustainable, and resilient to climate change

-  % of improvement of the capacity of smallholders on   Ecological farming knowledge, attitude, and practice ( KAP level )

- No of farmers improve the resilience of Pudukkottai District  subsistence farming to future extreme weather,  enhancing societal well-being and local development

-  Level of  income and food security of small landholders increased 

We will adopt a participatory evaluation method with the participation of representatives of the beneficiaries, two members of project implementation, and one external agricultural expert. They will  measure the  output/ impact by concurrent evaluation and project end evaluation based on the indicators

Full time{ 04

Part time/ volunteers: 6

The team will provide their services and guidance from the planning, implementation, and evaluation stages. They will use their expertise on training and communication and extension education to farmers/

Abut main team:

Team head:

  Ramaswamy Rengaraju

Executive Director of Indian Social Service Institute

He was born in a farmer's family. Learn ecological agriculture course on Agriculture, Man,  Ecology from ETC Foundation, Netherlands. Conducted project on Promotion of and training to local youthorganic vegetable. So, he is having experience in organic farming and training farmers. He will work as CEO of the initiative

Mr. Kamaraj

Organic farmer and trainer,  20 years of experience in organic cultivation. He will work as a trainer and in charge of farm school/ field school activities

Martin Julius

15 years of experience in training in agriculture and marketing. He will work as master training field project manager in the project

Ramya Arun

3 years of experience in training to women and farmers groups. Software engineer and she is helping in computer and documentation in the project.

Our mission is to promote farming community with equal participation and respect diversity and organize to improve every farmer learn better and give greater participation. Our non-profit cultivating community-focused shared values of integrity, equity,  mutual understanding and respect.

 We will respect all our staff and volunteers equally and will not be discriminated against on the basis of race, caste, religion gender disability and age, etc  

Financial, technical and culture, behavioral change of social and mind setup of farmers  are our main  barriers

 for promotion of  our solutions like awareness for farmers about restoring of the ecosystem, provide behaviorally change communication and education method on ecological farming to build the capacity of farmers on technologies and remove the cultural and mind setup of the farmers, financial support to farmers to create restore ecosystem and improve the income and food security of the farmers

We are expecting grant and investment, coaching and mentoring, resources from network, access  of in- kinds, monitoring and evaluation support from MIT Solve, members of Solve, and partner organizations will overcome the barterers which will help us to  create better impacts

• Need technical  education  to promote awareness for farmers about restoring of the ecosystem,
• Need of  traditional and modern communication technologies and participatory training skills for the team to provide behavioral change communication and education on ecological farming to build the capacity of farmers and remove their cultural and mind setup
•  Capital and investing support for the  to farmers to create restore the ecosystem, promotion of millet farming, improve income and food security of the farmers
• Need skill development program for the  project team to work effectively in the project
• Improve the technological capability of project staff on software and web development for the project
•  Promote technical knowledge of farmers  to use mobile phone and computers for digital learning and use SMS and Whatsapp messages effectively

Organizations:

- Progressive farmers network, India

- Agricultural institutes and universities in India

- Gandhigram Rural Institute, Tamilnadu, India

- Link- the NGO network- Tamilnadu State

Individuals:

• Organic farmers in our region
• Education and communication- IEC  experts

All the above said agencies and individual are only knowledge partners

Participation of MIT Solve:

       - MIT faculty

       -  initiatives,

      -  Solve Members.

No funding partners in India and abroad for the project

We are fully qualified for the GM prize. Because they are giving importance to the promotion of sustainable communities and Resilient Ecosystems Challenges. Our solutions that help create smart, safe, and sustainable communities in our district by promotion of millet farming by resilience ecosystem services  Participatory training, STEM education methods will be followed in all farmers training educational activities to technical know-how and motivation. to adopt ecological farming to environmental challenges and  sustainability of marginal farmers in our district

 Our Solutions use innovative technologies and education to improve the quality of life of farmers. 50% of farmers are women. So, many women directly benefit from the solutions/ project. The solutions support agro-technology- that advance the needs of women farmers.  The income contribution of women will be increased through this project. Her family will achieve food security and free from environmental problems. So the solutions are indirectly empowering the women farmers by economically and technically improvement.  Our solution/ project is fully quailed to access the innovation or women prize

Our solutions connect farmers' communities to develop, share and replicate best practices for carbon, absorption, and decarburization. Our main focus is to promote ecological farming by marginal farmers and promote a better world and people through sustainable agriculture. The focus of Service Now is very similar to our solution for farmers and the resilient Ecosystems Challenge. Our solutions will improve the degraded ecosystem which creates a better environment, better income, and food security by eco system services. Hence, we believe, we are quailed to seek the prize of Service Now.