Gorakhpur Environmental Action Group

Gorakhpur, India

An Overview Of Our Solution

The innovative solution proposed here will help in supporting and conserving the agriculture-based livelihood in the peri-urban areas thereby conserving its ecosystem. As a model, the peri-urban areas in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India are selected. Peri-urban areas are plagued with frequent floods and incessant waterlogging. Farming is the main livelihood of the people living in this area and this loss of agricultural lands to floods and rapid urbanization deprives them of their livelihood. It is an urgent need to provide these farmers with alternative sustainable farming techniques and this is where the integrated farming model comes in as our proposed solution. This integrated farming model has helped the farmers in strengthening their food security as well as contributing to the conservation of the ecosystem services in the area.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Suburban

Organization type

Nirlaba

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Urban/Built Environment

Population impacted

6662

Size of agricultural area

450 ha

Production quantity

572 Kilos per hectare

People employed

1277

Describe your solution

Keeping in mind the conservation of the ecosystem services in the peri-urban areas, an integrated farming approach was established. This approach was based on enhancing biodiversity, complexity and recycling through integration of agriculture-horticulture-aquaculture-livestock rearing. In this integrated farming model, the by-product of one system can be used as a main product for another system. This leads to the reduction in external input cost thereby making the farming practices more self-sufficient and robust. These practices also result in strengthening the biodiversity of the area and make it more climate resilient. On an individual level, the farmers experienced increased net gain and better food and nutritional security.

Describe your implementation

To make peri-urban farming economically and ecologically viable, the following practices were adopted: • Enhancing farm sub-systems and integration, eg. kitchen garden, aquaculture, bund plantationm composting system • Mixed and Relay farming: various leafy vegetables, cucurbits, cole crops etc for nutrient and pest control efficiency leading to enhanced productivity • Time management : early and delayed crops for better market returns and saving crops from water inundation. Low Tunnel Poly house proved to be a viable mechanism. • Jute bag and loft farming according to threshold of waterlogging. • Space Management : Multi tier farming and use of climbers for integration of leguminous and fuel producing plants. Cucurbits were promoted which used hard leguminous plants like Sesbania as base. This also saves demages due to waterlogging. • Crop rotation focussing water and nutrient efficiency and weed management. For promotion of above Model and Demo Farms, Farmers Club, Women Farmer Master Trainers for various thematic skills, farmer to farmer extension, linkages with govt programmes etc. have been key activities. Ecosystem conservation was a major support activity resulting in enhancing water holding capacity of the area and providing needed agricultural inputs. The impact can be seen in form of : • Increase in farm productivity - 48% • Increase in crop diversity - 65% • Reduction in chemical inputs and increased use of organic inputs - 32.75% • Increase in inter-linkages amongst different farm subsystems - from 2 to 8 • Improvement in soil quality - Organic carbon - 0.66 to 0.97% • Increase in annual income - 30% • Availability of cooking fuel as per family requirement Peri-urban faemrs are laregly neglected in agriculture related schemes because of rural urban divided and hence these obstacles were dealt with be sensitizing governemnt and communities, their participation in process, participatory technology development etc.

External connections

Some of the key stakeholders in the development and implementation of this solution are listen below: • ARUP, Hong Kong –provided the technical assistance and studied the flood risks vis-à-vis land use changes in the city. • Institute for Social Environmental Transition (ISET), USA –provided technical assistance on climate data and values ecosystem services rendered by peri-urban agricultural land. • M. G. Post Graduate College of Science (Gorakhpur University), India – undertook research on waste water reuse in agriculture. • Purvanchal Grameen Bank, Gorakhpur, India – supported the micro-financing of certain activities included in the project such as composting, vermin composting, vegetable cultivation, aquaculture and floriculture. • Agriculture Department, Horticulture Department, Livestock and Fisheries Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh, India –contributed financial and technical support through diverse existing schemes and programmes. They also helped in the replication of project interventions. • Narendra Dev University of Agriculture and Technology, Faizabad, India –supported in the capacity building of trainers through Krishi Vigyan Kendra (extension hubs of agricultural university).

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Peri-urban ecosystems play a vital role in the livelihood and food security of peri-urban population and contributes to resilience of city.Due to the increasing urbanization in Gorakhpur, the natural resources in the peri-urban areas are depleting and land meant primarily for agricultural use is being used for construction of residential buildings. This large-scale conversion of agricultural land for other uses is exacerbating the risks of climate change. As per the review of the Master Plan of Gorakhpur Development Authority of 2011, 82% of water bodies have been encroached and 7.2% of agricultural area has been converted to residential area. The depletion of natural resources in the peri-urban areas has shrunken availability of ecosystem generated inputs and hence increased the market dependency of the farmers for needed inputs leading to marginal profits. This affects their livelihood and food security leads to migration. These are the main challenges in the peri-urban areas.

Describe the context in which you are operating

Gorakhpur is a secondary city located at the confluence of the Rapti and Rohin rivers in eastern Uttar Pradesh, India. It is a part of the Terai foothills of Nepal. It is one of the fastest growing cities in the mid-Gangetic plains. Its proximity to the Himalayas makes it vulnerable to floods, which adversely impacts the livelihoods of poor and marginalized communities in the area. 170 peri-urban villages have been identified in Gorakhpur. These peri-urban areas are particularly prone to recurring floods and waterlogging. Due to poor returns from agriculture, coupled with the rising cost of land and lack of enforcement of building by-laws, the builders and local population continue construction in the area thereby destroying the ecosystem.
Our work is focused on two clusters of villages in the north and south area. North cluster, comprising three villages, is situated near the Rapti river basin. The south cluster, comprising five villages, is situated near the Rohin river basin. Presently, agricultural activities in both the clusters were possible only for nine months in a year when we started the work. For the remaining three months, the clusters are flooded thereby the villagers rely only on casual labour for their livelihood.
Our Intervention is focused on:
•Conservation of ecosystems for the efficient services
•Initiate low input resilient farming system in the area for reduced losses and better returns
These two activities are inter-complimentary.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

The local environment has been impacted positively through the implementation of these sustainable agricultural practices. Within the project villages, the project activities have contributed to the conservation of ecosystem areas. Farmers have brought their concerns about the encroachment of remaining ecosystem areas and pollution of water bodies successfully to the attention of local decision makers through the formed union of the farmers As a result, one water body (23, 980 sq ft) is now conserved and 23, 150 sq ft of community land has been demarcated and conserved. Also, 3.5 acres of open land has been conserved through the undertaking of a tree plantation drive. The conserved lands also provide a venue for social events such as weddings or child nurseries. In some cases, it was reported that runoff and even wastewater is collected in water bodies and used for irrigating the surrounding fields.

Language(s)

Hindi

Water

Two water bodies were conserved through this intervention which in turn helped in the irrigation of lands as well as rearing of fishes.

Food Security/Nutrition

Farmers have been able to increase their food/nutrition security because of reduced input costs/market dependency; increased crop diversity; the ability to cultivate crops despite floods during the summer leading to maintaining three crops a year instead of two; cropping intensification and; expansion of areas under cultivation.

Economic/Sustainable Development

Integrated farming model is economically viable. The farmers have experienced growing profits since the implementation of this model. It has also impacted the market prices in a favourable manner and the cost benefit ratio has changed from 1:15 to 1:3.01.

Climate

The integrated farming model in itself is a climate resilient model leading to better conservation and increasing biodiversity of the peri- urban areas. The farmers practicing this model regenerate their own agro-ecosystem.

Sustainability

This solution is economically viable. In the initial stages, grant funding is required for demonstrations in the villages. If one looks at prolonged success, then government subsidies are necessary. The solution needs to be incorporated in government schemes for it to succeed in the long term.

Return on investment

We invested $500 per integrated farm model in the training and demonstration of the model in selected villages. As an estimate, each farm model gets a return of $1300 dollars thereby more than doubling their investment. The impact of climatic risks is also reduced by 30%-40% in this model.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

The integrated farming model can be successfully replicated elsewhere by incorporating it in government schemes and discussing it at national level so that it has a wider reach. There is a need to include peri-urban areas in the discussion on agricultural practices. This solution has been implemented in a number of rural areas especially in flood prone areas. It was carried out in selected agro-climatic zones in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India.

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It's more than just flood mitigation

Overview