The emancipation of poverty through education and child rights for children of marginalized communities. Also reaching out to every child of Meerut district and other areas through a 24 hour free telephone helpline, a project by the Government of India.
Sustainable use of natural resources, to ensure that our environment does not pose a risk to human health, and can sustain an appropriate and diverse wildlife.
Empowerment of marginalized communities to improve their own environment and safeguarding their human rights.
Water quality protection and provision of safe drinking water, water Resource Conservation and provision of safe, sufficient and sustainable water resources for all
Restored and protected agricultural land, providing nutritious and healthy food sustainably, for current and future generations.
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Promotion of Cultivation of Citronella, Lemongrass and Neem in Western Uttar PradeshThe farmers in Uttar Pradesh are typically involved in the monocultural production of sugarcane. With the growing population in India comes pressure on the farming community to increase their production and in order to do so they have used chemical fertilizers and pesticides in abundance. Apart from increasing the input cost, these harmful chemicals are adversely impacting the environment, destroying the ecological system and its rich biodiversity as well as polluting the air, soil and water of the region with persistent organic pollutants which also impact people’s health. Moreover, the increasing resistance of crops to pest’s means that the farmers are at greater risk of losing a season’s crop and the income it would generate. The worst affected are marginal farmers and landless labourers belonging to schedule castes and tribes. With the ever-increasing input costs of fertilizers, pesticides etc the returns are far less than the inputs which push the farmers into a vicious cycle of loans and debts and often results in suicide. Janhit Foundation undertook this project, supported by Oxfam Trust, in an attempt to address some of these concerns. The project involved the cultivation and processing of Neem, an effective bio pesticide usable on over 200 forms of pest and also a bio fertilizer, as well as Lemongrass and Citronella which are used in the pharmaceutical and alternative remedy industries. The project created addition income to farming communities due to the high commodity prices as well as reducing the pollution levels of the local environment and increase the biodiversity by intercropping other organic crops such as pulses and vegetables (for consumption of the farmer). The first task of the Foundation was to build awareness to inform the local farming community about the proposed project. We held four meetings with in the local area with members of the farming community and village Gram Panchayats (elected representatives of the village) and selected 100 farmers 70 men and 30 women to participate. After we secured land for the projects and we conducted soil testing on the designated sites. We then embarked on a programme of capacity building for the farmers and staff involving a series of training programmes and events as well as producing literature in the form of pamphlets and booklets to disseminate information. We set up a plant nursery for Neem, Lemongrass and Citronella saplings as well as creating bio composts from sugarcane leaves and bio fertilizers and pesticides for use in cultivating the produce. We also assisted in creating irrigation channels and systems which were environmentally friendly and sustainable. In addition to this we assisted in establishing a hydro-distillation unit for lemon grass and citronella oil extraction and a Neem oil extractor. We also set about creating market linkages between the producers, buyers and consumers of the products such as other local organic farmers, our own organic storehouse/shop and pharmaceutical companies in Uttar Pradesh with the aim of maximizing the income generated. As a result of this project we have successfully been able to increase the household income of the farming community and their families due to the increase in the profits from there organic yields. They have been able to sell the Lemongrass and Citronella oils at a premium rate far above what they were able to fetch for their intensively grown sugarcane. What’s more we have targeted some of the poorest of the farmers within the local community and women in particular who are often marginalized, providing land and an income to previously landless laborers. Through this project, the fast depleting rate of biodiversity in the project area has reversed and there has been significant improvement in the local biodiversity, for example: soil quality increased and earthworms and ‘farm friendly’ insects increased in number. In addition the cultivation of these crops via organic methods with bio fertilisers, pesticides and composts from sugarcane leaves has resulted in a reduction in the water usage which was depleting at a rate of 1-5 feet a year. Also the use of composts using discarded sugarcane leaves has resulted in the reduction of burning of this previous by product which was environmentally damaging and has prevented the release of dioxins and furans into the air. We feel that this project is innovative in many ways, firstly by specifically targeting the unemployed youth of the most marginalized farmers within the community, allowing them to build for a future, as well as utilizing a new project to support and promote our already existing projects in organic farming by encouraging the production of bio fertilizers and pesticides for use on organic farms. In addition to this the creation of the Ladep and Nadep sugarcane leaf composts has transformed what was previously a by product that was disposed of in a damaging manor into a useful and environmentally sustainable commodity. |
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