Millets are resilient to Ecosystem

smallholders of Uttarakhand mountain agriculture are passing through their existential crisis. This crisis is exacerbated by the vagaries of monsoon and extremely fluctuated weather conditions. Often there are cases of soil moisture stress as well as topsoil runoff in case of below and above rainfall resulting in soil infertility, low yield, and consequently abandonment of farming practices. The remedies lie with resuscitating indigenous farming practices as well as modern organic techniques. Millets can be grown on dry land, which is ecologically resilient, rich in nutrition, and good for diabetes due to several sugar-controlling ingredients. A technology package of indigenous farming practice combined with modern organic techniques will not only contribute to the replenishment of soil nutrients but also strengthen the local ecosystem by increasing the carbon sinks. The increasing demand for healthy and nutritious millets in the international market would also contribute to increasing the income of smallholders.

The specific problem of the mountain smallholders is continuous declining livelihoods resulting in impoverishment due to low yields caused by soil degradation. The types of surface erosions are splash, sheet, rill and gully, which is 62.5 tons per ha much above the tolerance limit of 11.2 tons in the world and 70-80 tons in Uttarakhand Himalayas. Continuous depletion of soil fertility has led to low yields affecting the food security of the smallholders.  It has become very difficult for them to continue agriculture because restoration of soil fertility every year is becoming a difficult task on scattered lesser width and more length terraced fields. At present, investment, including manpower is qualitatively more than compared to return. Therefore, the small and marginal farmers are opting out for off-farm livelihoods, further adding their miseries. Mountain agriculture around 2323.40 thousand hectares or 44.4% of total mountain land, supporting 12% of the total population of the world, everywhere faces similar problems depending upon the topography, weather conditions, and pattern of precipitations. The solution lies in comprehensive sustainable farming practices, a combination of indigenous knowledge, wisdom, and modern organic methods. This practice is flexible and adaptable to climate change.  

The solution is the ‘unique technology package of sustainable agriculture ' combined with old and new knowledge. The indigenous knowledge and wisdom consist of practices like mixed cropping and crop rotation; growing of two or more crops in mixture with barnyard and finger millet, maize, and amaranths provide a better canopy cover and a layer of residues obstructs overland flow. The dense foliage of erosion-resistant leguminous crops also reduces soil loss by preventing the rains from biting the soil surfaces directly. Whereas modern organic methods, including vegetative barriers, vermicomposting, bacterial fertilization, integrated pest management, etc. further contribute to mitigating soil erosion, replenishing soil nutrients and microorganisms, and increasing productivity.  This practice is also climate-resilient which not only ensures soil health and restores fertility, increases productivity and biodiversity, but also contributes to decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sinks. The increased production of organic mountain millet grains with delicious flavor and rich nutrients and medicinal value to control type-2 diabetes will also cater to the needs of growing consumers all over the world who are today more health-conscious can be seen in the growing global organic market of 97 billion US$ by the end of 2017 according to IFOAM.

 Our target population is small and marginal farmers spread all over the Garhwal mountain areas. Their need is to mitigate soil erosion caused due to surface runoff to restore soil fertility. They are about 70% of the total population of the region as compared to 12% of the total population living in the 25 % area of the earth. The ‘unique technology package of sustainable agriculture’ envisages addressing their needs, nutrients, and food security so that their interests are reoriented to farming the mainstay of their dignified livelihood economy. Conventional farming or industrial agriculture has not only caused immense loss to soil, biodiversity, and environment, by excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides but also pushed the small and marginal holders on brink of vulnerability by turning the trade against their favor.  Here sustainable agriculture practices focus on sustainable intensification for soil and water conservation, to improve soil fertility, increase productivity and food security. Sustainable intensification can imbibe climate adaptability tendencies among marginal-holders which help in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and increase in carbon sinks, integrating with national climate plans known as the NDC in UN parlance.

The main problem of mountain agriculture is land degradation. The target population is smallholders, who are 70% of the total population of Garhwal Himalayas and whose mainstay of livelihoods is agriculture. To restore fertility of degraded land is the main challenge of the 'unique technology package of sustainable agriculture'. It can prove an alternative methodology to sustain the mountain agriculture by increasing yields and enhancing livelihoods. Millets cultivation can protect the soil from runoff and moisture stress. Restoration and replenishment of soil nutrients and microorganisms are only possible if moisture is present in the soil.

The unique technology package of sustainable agriculture is resilient to the local ecosystem of the Garhwal region. The package technology methods may vary on the ground situation, but the innovations really depend on the applications of the interventions and knowledge. It is innovative in resilience methodology that it can be applied everywhere in mountain agriculture because resilience often used as a measure of a socio-ecological system’s capability to respond and adapt to new conditions.  The package envisages bringing change in farming practice from conventional methods to sustain with the modern knowledge of organic cultivation as well as indigenous knowledge and wisdom of natural agriculture practices. Crops like barnyard millet, finger millet), foxtail millet,  proso millet, amaranths, and leguminous crops like cowpea and dry beans not only protect soil from runoff but  have the inherent biological gene to tolerate drought conditions and weather fluctuations, which make them resilient to climate change

The ecological farming methodology is organic and sustainable and also resilient to climate change. The science and technology interventions as well as indigenous knowledge and wisdom, especially soil and water conservation methods may vary depending on the ground situation, but the innovations really depend on the applications of the interventions and knowledge. The 'unique technology package of sustainable agriculture' is innovative in resilience methodology that it can be applied everywhere in mountain agriculture because resilience is often used as a measure of a socio-ecological system's capability to respond and adapt to a new condition. The unique technology package envisages bringing change in farming practice from conventional methods to sustain with the modern knowledge of organic cultivation as well as indigenous knowledge and wisdom of natural agriculture practices. In Garhwal Mountain crops like jhangora (barnyard millet), mandua (finger millet), Kauni (foxtail millet), Chinna (proso millet), and chaulayi (amaranths), and leguminous crops like cowpea and dry beans not only protect soil from runoff but have the inherent biological gene to tolerate drought conditions and weather fluctuations, which make them resilient to climate change. Since the grain is grown in high-altitude areas of the Garhwal Himalayas ranging from 1000 to 3000 meters, its high nutritious value, unique delicious flavor, and medicinal ingredients to control type-2 diabetes attract consumers all over the world, which naturally result in booming the millet market.

At present we are working on this project with a total of 200 households of marginal farmers in 4 villages; Dunda, Khatu, Singuni, and Danda Majaf of Dunda block of Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, India. This project is planned for 3 years. Second-year 400 and third year another 400 marginal holders would be covered. It is hoped that the application of a low-cost and appropriate   ‘unique technology package of sustainable agriculture ’ will be smoothly optimized with climate resilience adaptability. The technology itself is flexible and replicable. The technology and its interventions will directly benefit the small and marginal farmers in the project area and indirectly have positive impacts on government departments of agriculture, horticulture and science and technology institutions, market forces and consumers. In the future, this technology package will be replicated in 10 more surrounding villages and that would impact the other parts of the district. 

The effective measurable indicators we are using are outputs against the inputs put on the project cost, including the environment. Outcomes are the immediate indicators of a project which come after its implementation, while impact takes a longer time. Below we are citing the projected inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impact indicators: 

A. The input is the introduction of a unique technology package of sustainable agriculture.
B. The output is the implementation of indigenous knowledge and wisdom of natural agriculture practices combined with modern organic methods that reduce soil moisture stress and put a halt on topsoil runoff. 
C. The Outcomes are replenishment of soil nutrients resulting in restoration of soil fertility. An increase in yields contributes to food security.
D. The impact will be improved livelihoods, enhanced income that contributes to a better life standard. Moreover,  mitigation of land erosion contributes to the regeneration of flora and fauna, thus improving biodiversity and enriching the ecosystem. 

A. Full Time:

1. Principal Investigator –  Ranveer Singh Rana,  

2. Project Assistant –  Rajvir Singh,  

 B. Part-time:

 3. Agriculture Scientist –  Anil Panwar  

 4. Trainer -  M. S. Rawat  

 5. Facilitator:  Manbir Singh Rana 

C. Advisors :

 6. Marketing Consultant:  Sandeep Roy Chaudhry

 7. Bio-Fertilizer Expert-  Amitosh Nautiyal      

Our team is balanced on skills and experiences. The principal investigator, a post-graduate in history has 21 years of experience in investigating action research projects on agriculture, livelihoods, water and sanitation, technology dissemination, and gender issues. His capacity is built on the rich experiences in leading these projects of vital social, economic, and environmental implications and exposures to various quality training, workshops, and seminars.  Agriculture scientist is a post-graduate from a reputed agriculture university known as G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. He has 3 years of experience in soil science and production technology. Project Assistant a post-graduate in sociology is also having 06 years of experience in livelihood projects based on agriculture and his capacity is also built on field works and quality training and exposures received at reputed institutions during the course of project works. Our trainer is also a post-graduate with vast experience of 16 years on social intermediary projects like water and sanitation, livelihoods, and women empowerment. He had a lot of exposure and also received quality training from trainers from reputed institutions like ATS Nainital and IIM Lucknow. Similarly, the community organizer has a long-run field experience in HETONA working on different projects to mobilize the community. VNV Advisory is a reputed consultancy firm having its branches in Singapore and London. A Bio-fertilizer expert is a bioscientist.  So far as the team is concerned, it is quite capable to handle the solution.  

The Himalayan Ecology and Treatment of Natural Agriculture Samiti, acronyms HETONA, is a small and non-profit organization working amongst small and marginal holders in the middle Himalayan range of the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand state. It works without any caste, creed, and religion, and gender bias. It has respectful care for the community it serves and provides an equal opportunity to its members to empower themselves. It believes in equality, integrity, openness, and mutual respect. Though at HETONA employment opportunity is very limited, an appointment is done in a transparent way on a merit basis after receiving all applications, without any discrimination.  

HETONA acknowledges the ethnicity of the Garhwali people as the traditional tillers of the land and the enduring relationship that exists between them and their traditional customs.  HETONA's core values are non-profit, secular, and democratic, which upholds the principle of diversity, equity, and inclusion and committed to an anti-casteist and anti-communal approach to all our works.  We appreciate the opinion of difference amongst our staff, but all agree on the scientific solution of the problems and believe that innovation emerges with a repeated experiment of an idea. HETONA is an equal platform of opportunities for people from all backgrounds to thrive. Our approach is inclusive to all our staff keeping in mind the most unprivileged. At present, there is a total of 56 people involved in HETONA of which 9 are executive members, 12 full-time staff, and 35 volunteers. 

We think that Solve is a powerful platform and through its networking, we get the opportunity for exposure to our product. If selected, you will get the prize of $10000, which would be a good help for advancing our product first in the Garhwal region and then to the Himalayan region. By joining Solve platform, we can get access to mentorship, coaching, and strategic advice. Also, monitoring and evaluation support to build and impact measurement practice, apart from gaining exposure in media through conferences. 

 Although the main barrier at present is the lack of constant financial support for the product, technically, there is no problem as our team is well-balanced on management, science, and technology, organization, facilitation, training, and marketing. Science and technology institutions; KVK an agriculture extension center a link between farmers and the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) is 30 kilometers away and an agriculture technology university just 100 kilometers away from the project area. Legally and culturally, there is no problem as an organization and its office-bearers and workers belong to the same community with which they work. Market accessibility has always been a problem for mountain people, especially growers, but we have a consulting firm VNV Advisory that intends to partner with us on the products. Moreover, the absence of organic certification to mountainous grains is a big hindrance to its marketing potentials due to the very low prices of millets, though very high in nutritional and medicinal values.

We need to support the social business model of the product, strategy for its development, and marketing. Since we are working in a remote area of the central Himalayan range of the Garhwal region, most of the time we face a financial problem due to our weakness in pitching to investors. We need to improve our accounting practices too. We are very much lacking in branding, marketing strategy, and advertising our product to social and global media. Monitoring and evaluation is a tool that always needs to be updated by collecting and using data and measuring impacts. Therefore, we need Solve support on all these points. 

Though we are not acquainted with MIT Faculty and Solve members, we would like to partner with them. So that we raise our skills and capacity on subjects like human capital, social business model, financial, public relations, and monitoring and evaluation, etc. We, don't have any specific name in mind and whoever is interested from MIT/Solve sides, we heartily welcome. Thank you very much. 

 Millet crops are not only resistant to droughts and resilient to weather variations, but also absorb the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. "Furthermore, different predictive models inferred that climate change would reduce the production of major cereal crops, except for millets due to their ability to grow in variable climatic conditions and in dry areas due to a strong root system. Moreover, millets are not resource-intensive crops and release fewer greenhouse gases compared to other cereals. Therefore, in addition to addressing food security, millets have an enormous potential use for reducing the impact of agriculture on global warming and should be grown on a global scale as an alternative to major cereals and grains." (MDPI volume 6, issue 2).

The millets: barnyard and finger millets, and amaranths grow in the dry land of the mountain areas and have the ability to adapt to variable climatic conditions. Their sustainable intensification contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon sinks.  Since our product, the unique technology package of sustainable agricultureis based on the cultivation of these millets by connecting all smallholders of the Garhwal region, which can be later replicate to other hilly regions of the world. Therefore, we qualify for this prize.