The concept of grain bank has developed traditionally. People have always had a habit of keeping aside a little grain everyday for use in times of distress. Among the Muslims, the practice of donating a fistful of grain to the Maulvi in the mosque so that his needs for food are met is still prevalent. Such personal practices are now sought to be extended to the community level so that food grain is available to the meet the sudden needs of the people in times of floods and other disasters. It has been named the Grain Bank concept. Rudrapur and Barhaj development blocks in Deoria district (UP) are home to a network of Ghaghra, Rapti, Gorra, Bathua and other rivers. In Rudrapur block, there are 52 villages between Rapti and Gorra, which are vulnerable to the ravages of floods every year. Here, Purva is a hamlet on the banks of the Gorra River. About 27 women of this village got together to give form to the concept of grain bank, and within one rabi season collected 432 kg of grain. That year, a massive fire broke out in the village, whereupon the women used the collected grain to organize a community kitchen for eight days for all the 52 families of the village. The relevance of the grain bank was forcefully driven home; and following this example, today there are eight grain banks existing in the area.
Setting up a grain bank
The grain bank should be located in the centre of the village for security reasons and on a higher elevation so that it is not affected by floods. However, it should be slightly away from grass huts that may be prone to catching fire in the summers. The grain bank may be made of bamboo or bricks. In the former, bamboo strips are so placed as to make an oval structure, which is thickly plastered with a mixture of mud and dung. Its roof is round and made from bamboo and straw. In the case of bricks and cement, the structure is 6-7 ft high, with 4 inch thick walls. So it is more solid and secure, even if more costly to construct. However, it roof-top too is of bamboo and straw. The only problem with such a top is that it does not provide any adequate protection against rats. It is important to prevent humidity, since the bank is frequently opened for grain distribution. To prevent humidity, the grain is topped by straw, it is turned over every three months and the grain bank structure is plastered with dung and mud mixture every season. In case of wheat, Neem leaves, onion, etc. are placed alongside to prevent pest infestation.
Normally, wheat and rice are stored in the grain bank. But other produces like maize, barley, etc. which are collectively grown by the community are also stored. After the harvest, in order to determine the contributory grain amount per family, the most economically weak member is taken as the base, e.g. if the said member is capable of saving or contributing 16-20 kg grain, then that becomes the standard for all other members as well, and the required quantity of grain is stored in the bank. It is compulsory for all members to contribute their share of grain for storage at the time determined. However, if any member has no grain to store, she can deposit an equivalent amount of money instead.
In normal times, if a member has no grain left at home, she is provided from the grain bank according to her family's consumption capacity which she must return at the next harvest along with one fourth grain interest. Members who do not grow adequate crops and buy food grains from the market, I can also buy from the grain bank at less than market price. During the disaster period, everyone is provided according to one's needs. At the end of the season, grain left over after distribution and internal sale, is sold in the market. From the money received, wheat or rice is purchased in the next season for the grain bank. However, as yet, this is seen as a constraint.
In 2009, 47 women from three groups in Chhapra Bujurg, collected 16 kg wheat each and stored it in the bakhari they had constructed and which they called the grain bank. A committee comprising 5 women was constituted to manage the grain bank. One woman extra from each of the three groups was nominated as additional member. The committee formulated rules and regulations for the conduct of the grain bank and duly maintained a register for its various activities and transactions.
According to Mr K.K.Singh Coordinator Sustainable Agriculture Network The capacity of the grain bank at 45 qtl is a limiting factor for the existing grain bank and the inter diversity of crops in the fields, too is seen by the people as a disadvantage in grain storage.
Jitendra Dwivedi/ Shraiyacee Mittal
Freelance Journalist
Mobile-09415790126
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Impact of climate change in UP
According to Dr Shiraz Wajih Member of State Agriculture Advisory Board U.P. has been divided in 9 Agro climatic zones. Around 80% of the population of the state is engaged in agriculture activities; out of 91% population is under the category of small farmers who are solely dependent on agriculture for their livelihood. Area of agriculture has worsened. There is prevailing situation of drought and flood due to its physical formation and natural calamities of last 10 years are indicating any big crisis. Uncertainty in monsoon, changing pattern of flood, increasing the duration of drought and flood, increase in water crisis, increase in violent storm, etc. can be seen in the region.
Thus, in eastern UP, chronically flood prone, the very nature of the flooding has changed, with a greater intensity of flash floods. Embankment along the various rivers, unable to withstand the heavy flooding, often breaks, washing away croplands and mud homes. There has been change in flooding patterns too. The flood here are frequently flash and accidental (that is, sudden and unexpected), smaller rivers are also water retention (and hence water logging) have increased. Crop damage is on an increasing trend. Cropping patterns are changing and pulses (once a major crop in the area and a major source of protein) are not grown due to longer periods of water logging, which disrupts the whole crop cycle and production, even in the rabi season, is severely affected. Many become victims of water borne diseases like diarrhea, cholera, dengue and Japanese encephalitis as the flood waters stagnate, the natural lines of drainage being disrupted due to embankments, roads and other encroachments. As Action Aid’s Hunger Monitoring Project found in 2007, the last four to five years have seen an accentuation of adverse weather conditions with farmers being affected by prolonged drought, floods and hailstorms and decrease in annual rainfall.
In the Bundelkhand area, with its high levels of poverty, many small and marginal farmers are indebted, both to moneylenders and government banks. As the weather gets hotter, the chances of paying back loans become difficult, leading to stress and, in some extreme cases, suicides. The growing water scarcity poses further problems of survival to people and animals alike. In recent years, the level of the water table has gone down significantly and there are reports from the region of cattle dying due to water shortage. While climate change is affecting everybody, regardless of caste, ethnicity, sex, race or level of income, women in the poorer households suffer the most. Their unequal position in society means that women have less access to money, land, and food protection from violence, education and healthcare. They are more dependent on natural resources for subsistence. Hence, they are more exposed to climate shocks and have fewer resources to protect their own lives, assets and livelihoods while looking after their families. Flood, drought etc. due to climate change can be evaluated from the facts mentioned blow:
Flood and Water logging
The impact of climate change is reflected in the aggravating flood situation; particularly the area of eastern Uttar Pradesh is badly affected where many small and big rivers exist. Most of the rivers are flown from Nepal which is affected by the aggravating flood situation. Gradually the change in frequency, nature and impact of flood is seen in the regions which are as follow:
· There is a change in frequency, timing and quantity of rainfall.
· Days of monsoon have been decreased.
· Heavy flood situation and dams are collapsed due heavy flow of water which increases the chances of flood.
· The problem of water logging is aggravation even from the small rivers because silt is formed on the river bed. As a result there is no depth in river and even low rainfall creates the situation of flood.
There is very less gap between two rivers and the aggravating situation of flood has increased the change of water logging. There is very low slop (20 cm per km) in the region which delays the flow of water from the region. There are many crops which are badly affected as a result of this and many of the crops have been depleted from the region. Cases of water born diseases are increasing. Some of the areas of eastern U.P. and Bihar are badly affected by Japanese encephalitis which aggravate primarily during monsoon and the reason of its spread is water logging.
| Case Study Kamlawati Devi is a small women farmer her village, Vanbhagalpur is situated at block Compiergang in Gorakhpur District. The total population of the village is around 1100. The agriculture land is plain but land is some parts of the area are uneven. Around 80 percent of the farmers in the area are small or marginalized farmers who have less than one acre of land. Paddy, wheat and oilseed are the main crops of area but vegetables are also produced in the field. The livelihood of around 80-85 present of people are dependent on agriculture. Kamlawati primarily grow vegetables, paddy, wheat and corn and groundnut. But do not understand the balance between nature-summer-winter and monsoon. People of the region have neglected the agriculture activities due to the impact of climate change and those engaged in daily basis work or working in the field are not able to survive in the prevailing condition and so they are migrating from the region in search of job. The change in climate has also affected our health. People of villages are suffering from unknown disease. In these circumstances now we have changed our agricultural practices in the face of climate change, today we cultivate mixed agriculture due to drought situation. We sow together corn, Groundnut, Arhar, Nanua and other vegetable because if due to heavy rainfall the crops of Arhar and groundnut are destroyed even than we have other option of producing corn and nanua crops and in case of drought situation we produce all crops. Similarly we have increased the area producing vegetable whereas earlier we used to produce crops in the 90 percent of our agriculture land and only 10 percent of the land was used for vegetables. Today around 80 percent of people of the village have started sowing vegetables. Now whatever the scheme have been implemented by the government needs to be changed and updated as per the climate change. |
Drought
One region of the state is facing situation of flood and water logging and the other southern part is facing situation of drought. In some of the region the situation of drought has become a permanent feature. The reasons of this situation are:
· Low and untimely rainfall.
· Increase of process of vaporization due to increase in the temperature.
· Decrease of moisture in the soil due to drought.
· Decrease in carrying capacity of water in soil.
Change in temperature and flowing of hot wind
· Rabi crops have been affected due to rise in temperature during winter.
· Untimely increase in the temperature destroys the growing flower of crops which resulted in decrease in the agriculture production.
· Before time flow of wind from west reduces the size and number of food grain which resulted in low production.
· The rise in temperature is also increasing the cases of many new diseases, particularly skin disease.
Water crisis
If we assess the table of ground water then we find that ground water table is going down. The main reason is that farmers are not getting rain water in time of their need because of heavy rainfall in short span of time and farmers are dependent on ground water for irrigation their agriculture land. Increase in temperature is also increasing the demand of irrigation.
Jitendra Dwivedi/ Shraiyacee Mittal
मोबाइल-09415790126
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