Nearly 70% of India’s population lives in villages. Lack of resources and energy poverty are primary reasons of why people spend their lives in deprivation. Consumption of traditional sources of energy, like firewood, negatively affects the growth and health of girls and women and makes them prone to many health hazards. One such village where this problem is quite ... Read More
Anila Deewan is a woman farmer from Chandagarh village of Pathalgaon block, Jashpur district, Chhattisgarh. Her family is completely dependent on agriculture for their living. Earlier a major part of her income was invested in the procurement of inputs for agriculture like purchasing seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, etc. She took a loan of approximately INR 20000 fo... Read More
Chandravati Portai, a mother of two children belongs to Khakata village, Jashpur district in Chhattisgarh. She is a member of the Village Development Committee (VDC) that is promoted under CARE India’s ‘Where the Rain Falls’ project. A few years back her left her dependent on her maternal family to sustain herself and her children. Although Chandravati had al... Read More
Dilmani Kujur is a woman farmer and role model in her region. She belongs to the Jududand village of Bagicha block that falls under the ‘Where the Rain Falls Project’. With support from CARE India, she transformed five percent of her arable land into a water storage pond that collects rainwater and irrigates her agricultural fields. The water harvesting structure ... Read More
I recently visited our Technical Assistance and Research for Indian Nutrition and Agriculture (TARINA) intervention villages in Kalahandi, Odisha. At one point in time, infamous for a long history of famines, poverty and hunger, Kalahandi district in Odisha today is slowly transforming its history and image. The district is now reaping bumper harvests and slowly esta... Read More
Cooking accounts for over 80% of the total household energy consumption in rural India, and biomass is a predominant cooking fuel, with firewood chips contributing to around 75% of cooking energy needs in rural areas. Fuelwood is one of the main forest products used by the poor Forest-Dependent Households (FDHs) and its use has increased in the last one and a half dec... Read More
Bishnupriya Pradhan, a young Adivasi girl from Kandhamal district’s Bradinaju village in Odisha is inspiring thousands in her community, as she chases her ambitions fearlessly, embodying the true spirit of women empowerment. When most girls her age in the community were getting married, Bishnupriya decided to pursue her graduation in Arts, managing her own fe... Read More
23-year-old Sunita Bai, an Adivasi woman farmer from tribal dominated Jabla village, Jashpur district in Chhattisgarh was facing tough financial situation for many years, especially due to limited crop produce on her farm land, and absence of any other livelihood avenues in the village. Sunita lives with her husband, two and half year-old son, brother-in-law an... Read More
With over 127 agro-climatic zones, the Indian agricultural landscape is a diverse one. For paddy alone, there are over 1 lakh indigenous varieties cultivated in the country. Out of these, Chhattisgarh cultivates approximately 19,000 indigenous varieties. For the abundance of these varieties, quality seeds are the most essential, since they help in increasing prod... Read More
Flora Khalkho is a happy woman today. But it was not long ago when, she and around 18 other families from Oraon tribal community of two hamlets of Jamjunwani village, Pathalgaon block, Jashpur district of Chhattisgarh were facing issues related to the availability of quality safe drinking water, and water for other purposes like household chores, irrigation etc. ... Read More
India, with a population of 1.25 billion, have around 120 million cows and buffalos, and over 70 million small and large scale dairy farms. At present, the livestock sector contributes nearly 4 per cent of India’s GDP, and the dairy industry comprises of a lion’s share of the total livestock sector. India has been the world’s top milk-producing cou... Read More
Arna Majhi, a 45-year-old, tribal woman from Boringpadar village, in Narla Block, Bhawanipatna, Orissa, lives with her husband, and her daughter. Today she works as an animator with CARE India at a Farmer Field School (FFS) under project Pathways, inspiring other women to adopt modern agricultural practices to increase their farm yield and improve their family in... Read More
