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In Kashipur and Rayagada districts of Orissa, villagers survive the summer months on mango kernels and tamarind seeds. Now, villagers are getting together to set up their own grain banks and their own safety nets
The tiny village of Ranjaguda is situated in Orissa's backward Rayagada district. Surrounded by hills, it possesses little land for cultivation. Its 6,000 residents depend on the monsoons to grow their single crop of rice every year. They spend the rest of the time foraging in the forests for berries and other forest produce. Or else they migrate from the village in search of employment for which they are paid as little as Rs 2 per day. Says Achyut Das, director of the Kashipur-based NGO Agragamee: "Successive drought and reports of starvation deaths in the six blocks of Kashipur district, in 2001, sent alarm bells ringing in our organisation. The situation is most alarming between the months of June and September when villagers survive on mango kernels and tamarind seeds...The villagers have no safety net whatsoever. Institutional safety nets such as the PDS (public distribution system) and ICDS have all collapsed." What surprised Das and his colleagues was the fact that while starvation deaths occurred in some villages, there were no deaths in the neighbouring villages. "Our investigations showed that villages that succeeded in setting up grain banks did not face a single starvation death," he points out. Armed with this evidence, Das suggested to the panchayat members of Ranjaguda village that they pool their resources to create a grain bank. The villagers were sceptical at first. Most could not even read or write. There were only three literate men among them; none of the women were literate. After considerable persuasion, Sanju Majhi, a farmer, agreed to ask all 40 families to contribute nine kilos of ragi towards the grain bank. As added incentive, Agragamee gave them a small contribution of Rs 250. Majhi admits that once the villagers had collected six quintals of ragi, their attitude of hopelessness changed to one of hope, even enthusiasm. He says: "The villagers' concern now shifted to ensuring that the precious grain was properly stored and would not be eaten by rodents." To make sure that the grain would not go waste the village grain bank committee elected Sanju Majhi as its president. Majhi's first task was to get a separate shed constructed to store the grain. Once the villagers realised they could work together, they decided to take matters into their own hands and build a weir to tap water from a small stream that flowed beside the village. The water could be used to irrigate their fields. The panchayat appealed to Agragamee to provide them the necessary technical support to put up a permanent structure. Says Das: "The additional water helped irrigate 20 acres of land and directly benefited 25 families that could now grow both a rabi and a kharif crop. They could also grow vegetables and improve their cropping methods." "The spin-off from setting up our own grain bank has been enormous," say Majhi and the other panch members. "Distress migration has completely stopped and agricultural production engages us for the major part of the year." The most remarkable outcome has been the setting up of a night school by the villagers where children, including girls, are sent to prepare for their matriculation. Two other villagers, Rupa Majhi and Antaram Majhi, supervise the grain bank. "Last year, the villagers were able to sell 12.6 quintals of ragi for Rs 5,000. This money was used to beef up other schemes," Majhi explains. The financial turnaround has been so impressive that the villagers of Ranjaguda are now in a position to provide grain and offer financial loans to other villages. They have also prompted villages in the area to follow their example. Usabali village is populated by 24 families belonging to the Kandha tribe. This village too possessed little land, forcing villagers to practise shifting cultivation, the returns of which were often siphoned off by moneylenders. Agragamee intervened to help build a weir. Increased earnings from the weir helped the villagers set up a grain bank from a contribution of four kilos per family. Das says: "The village at present has a grain bank of 40 quintals. They have also built up a cash saving of Rs 3,000." Often, villagers who borrow grain are not in a position to repay; at present there is a default of 15 quintals. "Lists of defaulters have been scrupulously maintained and (the villagers) are slowly returning their outstanding amounts." Contact: Agragamee
At/P.O- Kashipur
Rayagada District
Pin - 765015
Phone/Fax: 91-6865-55009 Bhubaneswar Office: ND-8, V.I.P Area, Nayapalli,
-Bhubaneswar - 751015
-Tel.: 91-674 - 551123, Fax: 91-674 -551130
-E-mail:
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-- Rashme Sehgal (Rashme Sehgal is a Delhi-based journalist) InfoChange News & Features, March 2004
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