The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR and World Agroforestry (ICRAF) joined forces in 2019, leveraging a combined 65 years’ experience in research on the role of forests and trees in solving critical global challenges.
Agroforestry and other innovations are boosting farmers’ incomes and health and keeping them at home rather than following their arduous seasonal migration seeking jobs.
For poor migratory communities in India, improved seed varieties, training from experts in better farming practices — including intercropping and agroforestry — was all it took to slam the brakes on a seemingly endless need to migrate annually, driven as it was by fear of malnutrition.
Farmers from Bolangir and Nuapada districts in the State of Odisha who had adopted innovative agroforestry practices have now moved out of the migration cycle and are enjoying improved supply of food, nutrition and income security for their families. All this thanks to a project initiated specifically to break the migration cycle by building the capacity of farmers.
The project, Enabling Smallholders to Produce and Consume more Nutritious Food through Agroforestry Systems in Odisha’ began in May 2018, implemented by World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in collaboration with the Central Agroforestry Research Institute, Central Arid Zone Research Institute, National Rice Research Institute, Department of Soil Conservation and Watershed Development, and other line departments with funding from the Government of Odisha.
Throughout India, the rural population, especially farmers and landless labourers, undertake an annual seasonal migration to neighbouring states in search of better livelihoods, with official reports indicating that over 543,000 migrants returned to Odisha amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Migratory districts and those classified as ‘prone to migration’ are mostly composed of small-scale, marginalized farmers and landless labourers who are often resource-poor and faced with malnutrition owing to prolonged food and nutritional insecurity. Sometimes the whole family migrates, which adds further plight to the suffering of the elderly, women and children.
The project set out to address the frequent droughts and floods and shortages of water as the major challenges for farmers, which restricted them to cultivating only one crop per year. Even so, their crops frequently failed, often driving them to abandon the land.
Through technical guidance about how to practise diversified agroforestry systems, such as introducing fruit trees along with bio-fortified and high-yielding rice, farmers have substantially increased their harvests — by as much as 282 percent — which has stabilized their family incomes.
The formerly migratory farmers, during the summer months, were able to harvest biofortified rice — CR Dhan 310 — to 5017 kg per hectare and, in winter, grass pea to 625 kg per hectare. The winter crop was an addition to the farm basket for the farmers because they usually left their land fallow owing to unavailability of water. The farmers followed their usual pattern of keeping 50 percent of their produce for their own consumption and sold the remainder in the market. With the increase in yields and production of biofortified crops, their income and the nutritional well-being of farmers have both increased.
Tirtha Bariha, who would until 2018 leave the land fallow in winter, broke his 15-year-old migratory cycle of moving to Andhra Pradesh or Kerala to work in a brick kiln. The entire family of five decided to take the challenge of improving their living through adoption of agroforestry and an agro-voltaic system.
ICRAF South Asia Director Javed Rizvi said the change of earnings for the farmers was tremendous and provided proof that with technical guidance on innovative farming practices, certain age-old traditions with negative socio-economic consequences could be stopped completely.
‘We understand annual earnings of INR 60,000–70,000 (USD 822–960) at home could save families from the disadvantages of migration,’ he said. ‘We are seeing successful farming right at home without the need of migrating if farmers adopt the techniques introduced by the project coupled with capacity development and hand-holding during initial years.’
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A Road Less Travelled by Migratory Farmers of Odisha: Innovative Agroforestry Practices.
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World Agroforestry (ICRAF) is a centre of scientific and development excellence that harnesses the benefits of trees for people and the environment. Knowledge produced by ICRAF enables governments, development agencies and farmers to utilize the power of trees to make farming and livelihoods more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable at multiple scales. ICRAF is one of the 15 members of the CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future. We thank all donors who support research in development through their contributions to the CGIAR Fund.