Growing crops is a challenge in the hilly terrain of Assam-India. To counter this, Sloping Agriculture and Land Technology (SALT) has been introduced as an alternative farming method to the farmers in place of jhum.  Farmers are trained on - A-frame or making the contour line by using the A-frame;...

While India was home to more than 100,000 rice varieties only 50 years ago, today more than 80% of the area dedicated to grow rice is planted with hybrid varities. Thanks to the efforts of about 1,400 farmers in the Koraput region (Odisha state), traditional varieties of "desi dhaan", as they...

Quinoa, once a staple food of only the indigenous people in the Andes, has become a darling of food aficionados around the world in recent years. So popular it has grown that even some fast food restaurant chains have now dishes and salads with it on their menus. Its exceptional...

Everyday Experts explains how knowledge built up through first-hand experience can help solve the crisis in the food system. It brings together fifty-seven activists, farmers, practitioners, researchers and community organisers from around the world in 28 original chapters to take a critical look at attempts to improve the dialogue between...

It was in 2015 that the United Nations declared the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There are 17 Goals, and SDG 14 deals with marine ‘life below water’, which is is formulated with the aim to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.

The Centre for Integrated Rural and Tribal Development (CIRTD), a long term partner of ActionAid India in Sundargarh district of Odisha, has implemented the project, “Enhancing income and securing the food and nutrition of Small and Marginal Farmers through Promotion of Sustainable Agriculture in Rainfed Region”. CIRTD works predominantly in...

Organic agriculture is one of the most widely known alternative production systems advocated for its benefits to soil, environment, health and economic well-being of farming communities. Rapid increase in the market demand for organic products presents a remarkable opportunity for expansion of organic agriculture. A thorough understanding of the context...

Farmers’ production decisions and agricultural practices directly and indirectly influence the quantity and quality of natural resources, some being depleted common resources such as groundwater. Representing farming systems while accounting for their flexibility is needed to evaluate targeted, regional water management policies. Farmers’ decisions regarding investing in irrigation and adopting...

Rural Solutions is a video series that highlights solutions to specific challenges that are common in rural areas of developing countries. Without access to financial services, rural people can find themselves forever in debt to loan sharks. In this Indian fishing community, the solution to this is collective power.

Around 90 women farmers and representatives of rural women from 14 countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific regions came up with a declaration at the end of the three-day Asia-Pacific Women Farmers Forum (APWFF) held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India on 4-6 October 2017. Aimed to make appreciation for...

The Institute for Motivating Self-Employment (IMSE), a farmers’ organization in West Bengal, is carrying out two major campaigns in support of farmers to enable them to keep the land they till and to use sustainable agriculture practices to make small-scale farming viable while protecting the environment. Village-level awareness camps were...

This video describes role of women in seafood industry and their livelihood importance, problem faced etc in Ramanathapuram district,Tamil Nadu. We really thankful to Dr.M.Krishnan, Principal Scientist, NAARM, Hyderabad, for his continuous support and encouragement.

At organic market in Odisha, middle-class consumers get to interact with the producers of their food and appreciate traditional knowledge systems

More than a thousand smallholder farmers from predominantly tribal Sundargarh district have been supported to adopt or extend locally appropriate, low-cost, sustainable farming practices to improve food and nutritional security and increase income.  The Centre for Integrated Rural and Tribal Development (CIRTD), a long term partner of ActionAid India in Sundargarh...

For farmers’ organization (FOs) in India, one of the key areas of emphasis in the recent years has been the use of technology by grassroots women to increase efficiency and cost effectiveness of last mile operations and to improve delivery.

Khordha is one of the 33 districts of Odisha (India) which has a favourable climate for cultivating cereals, pulses, oilseeds and different vegetable crops. Many varieties of vegetables are grown during the winter (Rabi) season. Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK)-Khordha, under the administrative control of ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, is...

The International Collective in Support of Fishworkers (ICSF) Trust organised a national workshop on ‘Enhancing capacities of women fishworkers in India for the implementation of the SSF Guidelines’ in Chennai, India, on November 21-23, 2016. There were 63 participants from nine coastal states of India—participants from Gujarat could not attend....

Women in the Fishery Sector are afflicted by a lot many bottlenecks like unhygienic market conditions, apathy towards the sector in general and women in particular, cut-throat competition, and inability to keep their produce dry and fresh, etc. SEWA-Kerala has been lobbying on their behalf with government authorities and thanks to...

Fisheries, an important sub-sector of Indian agriculture, and is dependent on the country’s rich marine and inland water resources. Forty-seven percent of fish production is from along India’s 8,118kmlong coastline. The rest (53 percent) is from inland water resource that “comprises 45,000km of rivers and streams and 1.6 million hectares...

The contribution of women fishworkers in India has been at least equal to that of men. However, despite being a colossal human resource that plays a significant role in food security, income and employment generation, women have been systematically discriminated against, both socially and economically.