Page 29 - Reliance Foundation Annual Report 2022-23
P. 29

26      Rural Transformation                                                                                                                                             Reliance Foundation | Annual Report 2022-23            27





        To augment farm income, Reliance Foundation             How Mahadevi Lokhande is changing                              Foundation provided regular advisories to around        infestation. Nearly 60-70 were facing severe crop

        supports alternative livelihoods which includes –       the lives of women in Maharashtra’s                            2,00,000 fishing communities in 2022-23. Since          damage by September.
                                                                Parbhani district                                              inception, it has reached out to over 4,20,000
        poultry, goat rearing, fisheries and cattle management.                                                                                                                        The farmers in the school brought the issue to Reliance
                                                                                                                               fishing communities.
        Under this initiative, the following activities were    Mahadevi Narayan Lokhande, a 38-year-old                                                                               Foundation through a WhatsApp query. Reliance

        conducted:                                              teacher-turned-Community Resource Person (CRP),                Women bringing women to the                             Foundation organised a two-day programme with an
                                                                has helped establish more than 40 SHGs and 28                  fore in farming                                         agriculture expert for the farmers. The pest control
        •    To improve cattle health and improve their                                                                                                                                measures suggested by the expert, mainly guidance on
                                                                women-led enterprises in her village of Isad in
             productivity, 30 veterinary camps organized in                                                                    In 2022, Reliance Foundation started a Digital Farm     application of pesticide, helped the farmers tackle the
                                                                Maharashtra’s Parbhani district. By motivating the
             project villages of Shahdol and Kotma                                                                             School in Boda, Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh, to   infestation at a reduced cost.
                                                                women, uniting them and educating them about                   help farmers there increase their returns from paddy
             benefitting over 6,500 cattle from more than                                                                                                                              Additionally, many farmers including Nitu have claimed
                                                                income generating activities, she has made women               cultivation. Nitu Nagpure, a woman farmer in the
             1,000 households.                                                                                                                                                         that they harvested 18-18 quintal per acre while the
                                                                enterprises of Isad highly bankable.                           village, became instrumental in taking the group to     yields of most other farmers reduced to 8-9 quintal per

        •    Fisheries was promoted among 979 households                                                                       other women farmers and making it an all-women
                                                                Since 2018, Mahadevi was trained in market and                                                                         acre and attribute it to the advisories provided by
             belonging to project villages from Shahdol and     banking linkages and has received livelihoods skill            Digital Farm School.                                    Reliance Foundation.

             Kotma with support for fish fingerlings and feed   training through Reliance Foundation. She has been             The school began its operations at the time of paddy    The women say that their collectivization and effort to
             for fish in 250+ water bodies.                     an active participant in meetings related to Gram              sowing in June by making regular advisories available   help the village save its crop has empowered them and

                                                                Panchayat Development Plans that has helped her                to farmers. Despite providing timely information on     compelled more of the village’s women to use phones.
        •    Additionally, towards enhancing off farm income
                                                                front the agenda of women empowerment in her                   all aspects of farming, including crop protection, the   They also believe that it will lead to more women
             of over 1,200 households in Shahdol and Kotma,
                                                                village. Reliance Foundation takes pride in being a part       paddy crop in the village was faced with stem borer     having a greater say in farm decision-making.
             1,5000+ poultry chicks were supported by
                                                                of the leadership journeys of women like Mahadevi and
             Reliance Foundation.
                                                                is committed to fostering women’s leadership at levels.
        •    For improving healthier growth of goats and
                                                                Helping fisher folk weather storms
             reducing mortality due to seasonal diseases,

             deworming and vaccination was done for over        Ismail Ishabhai Patelia knows that ocean weather can
             8,000 goats benefitting 1,505 goat rearers from    be fickle and timely information about it can prove

             45 villages of Shahdol.                            lifesaving. Therefore, this fisher from Hirakot Bandar
                                                                in Gujarat’s Somnath Gir district has been following
        Reliance Foundation’s efforts are also being recognized
                                                                Reliance Foundation’s precise ocean weather advisories
        by the larger development ecosystem. Two farmers        for more than a year now. These advisories alert
        from the Reliance Foundation project villages received   fisherfolk to ocean weather conditions that threaten

        awards for best farmers under various categories by the   lives and livelihoods.

        District Administration of Shahdol. Over 100 farmers
                                                                In August 2022, Ismail escaped getting caught in rough
        from Reliance Foundation project villages and field
                                                                waters and returned to the shore safely, thanks to the
        cadres of Reliance Foundation benefitted by various     timely warning from Reliance Foundation. Since other
        trainings/fairs organized by KVK and ATMA on Rabi       fisherfolk had not registered for the advisories then,

        crop management, natural farming and organic            Ismail became an advocate keen to share the benefits
        farming; farmers were also provided seeds and other     of the advisories in his community. Committed to

        materials for demonstration purposes.                   safeguarding lives and livelihoods, Reliance
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