Established in 1993, MITTRA is a Maharashtra based development organization, promoted by BAIF Development Research Foundation. MITTRA is implementing a wide range of development interventions in rural Maharashtra, particularly the tribal areas of the state. MITTRA has employed a unique, holistic development approach, called the Wadi programme, in tribal areas of Thane district for over a decade. The programme has drawn up on the experiences of a similar programme in South Gujarat implemented by BAIF through its associate organization DHRUVA. The programme consists of a core component focusing on the establishment of a horti-forestry plantation on about one acre of wasteland. Dovetailed around this core are a range of interventions, which are contextually appropriate. These consist of soil conservation, water resource development, agricultural improvements, introduction of cash crops, introduction of efficient irrigation systems, subsidiary occupations such as livestock and forest based activities, non-farm activities, skills enhancement, women’s empowerment, drudgery reduction, improved health and nutrition, and so on. The programme is implemented with very strong technical and managerial content, as well as with a highly participatory approach that also leads to formation and nurturing of people’s institutions. The programme thus leads to development of sustainable livelihoods, an improved quality of life, as well as community empowerment.
In order to effectively combat poverty, it is essential to adopt a holistic approach, addressing the area specific needs. Most importantly, it is necessary to involve the tribals themselves, in the development process, which will build-up their assets - human, material, social and financial. Planning and designing the activities as per the need of the area and the involvement of the participants in every stage of the development process is the crux of the programme.
The Government of Maharashtra (GoM), looking at the impact of the Wadi programme on the livelihoods of tribal community, took a decision to extend it to all the tribal areas of Maharashtra, in each tribal block of 15 districts. In 2003, to upscale the success of the Wadi model across the state, the GoM sanctioned a project to MITTRA for supporting 50,000 families from 15 districts of the state having predominantly tribal population. This was followed by several other similar programmes entrusted to MITTRA by the Government, in the districts of Gadchiroli, Nandurbar, Nanded and Hingoli.
The main features of the Tribal Development Programmes are:
- Wadi and Improved Agriculture: Plantation of horticulture plants on one acre of land, with the forestry plantation on the borders, besides introduction of improved agricultural practices, vegetable cultivation and nursery raising.
- Development of Landless Families: Enhancing livelihoods of landless families in the project areas through skill trainings, income generation activities, involvement in sectoral activities and collection and processing of minor forest produce.
- Community Health: Training health functionaries such as traditional healers, traditional midwives, health guides and pada workers in issues like hygiene and sanitation, drinking water management, nutrition and family welfare.
- Women Development Programme: Promoting and strengthening Self Help Groups in the project areas through trainings and exposure visits.
- Micro Watershed Development: Demonstration of micro watersheds of about 250 hectares at taluka level.
- Support to Ashram Schools: Educating the tribal children, studying in ashram schools in activities like drum kit, bucket kit, nursery raising, vermicomposting, roof water harvesting, health sanitation demonstrations, sand filter for water purification, ferro-cement sanitary toilets and kitchen gardens.
- Dairy Cattle Development: Promoting cattle development centres, to undertake activities of artificial insemination and promotion of fodder.
The project support being mobilized by MITTRA from GoM and Government of India covers the entire “hardware” costs of the programme in terms of all the project support to the tribal families. The support also covers the direct field level implementation costs.
However in addition to the above provisions, MITTRA needed support on a number of key activities which are crucial to the timely, effective and efficient achievement of results as well as a socially responsive participatory process of implementation. These include the following:
- A central technical and managerial resource team spread over the headquarters and five regions.
- Induction and shaping of newly appointed multidisciplinary team.
- Ongoing process of monitoring.
- Process of reflective – facilitative regional monthly workshops for concurrent capacity – building and on-line improvisation of programmes.
This critical support is enabling MITTRA to implement a sizeable tribal livelihoods programme, with an outlay of over Rs.200 crores over five years, which is being mobilized from Government programmes.
Amidst this backdrop, the Trust supported MITTRA towards a project titled “Livelihood Promotion in Tribal Maharashtra” under the Central India Initiative (CInI), effective March 2005. This project is spread over a period of three years with the budget outlay of Rs. 33 Million.
The activities undertaken with the Trust’s support include: (a) monthly facilitative workshops at each of the six regions of MITTRA; (b) monthly monitoring of the project areas by a team of seniors; (c) provision of specialized inputs to the field staff through specialists; (d) documentation of events and compiling and publishing the information material with the help of a team headed by a specialist; (e) organization of around 15 staff trainings annually; and (f) the coordination of all these activities by a four member team located at the headquarters.
The MITTRA programs are spread across 20 districts of the state, covering 80 blocks and encompassing 1,600 villages.
Activities undertaken so far:
Induction / Refresher training programme for staff: In the year 2005-06, 9 staff trainings were conducted. Emphasis was given on bringing about the conceptual clarity on “Development” and “Visioning” within the project areas. In the year 2006-07, 16 training programmes for 426 participants were conducted at MITTRA Training Centre, Jawhar. The staff from all the tribal development programmes participated in the trainings.
Monthly Review Meetings: The Reflective – Facilitative Workshops have been organized every month at every region. This was quite helpful for physical & financial review and planning. In the year 2005-06, 60 MRMs and in year 2006-07, 72 MRMs were conducted.
Monitoring Visits: Monitoring visits are being planned in order to identify bottlenecks within the field and suggest solutions through direct interaction. The MITTRA monitoring team members have been interacting with the senior management staff in MITTRA, Field Staff, Participants, Teachers from Ashram School, Students from Ashram School, Regional Staff, key persons from Community across 6 regions of MITTRA, with the different frequencies. These interactions were both formal and informal, face to face and through letters and telephonic discussions, etc.
Program Management: 10 Interdisciplinary staff have been recruited since the inception of the project. They have been working at the Regional Office Level. The staff comes from Agriculture and Social Sciences background.
Field Experimentation:
(1) Field study of Kerala Cashew Varieties in Jawhar:
Around 12 new varieties developed by Kerala Agriculture University were planted in Jawhar in 2001. It was decided to study the performance of these varieties in Jawhar area. Data collection has been started since February 2005.
(2) Floriculture:
In October 2005, the first few participants started their planting operations with 30 farmers from Jawhar, Vikramgad and Palghar clusters. Each farmer received 130 jasmine plants, 10 rose plants and 10 gm of marigold seeds to be planted over 0.05 ha of the wadi area. Today, all the 30 farmers have increased the number of jasmine plants to upto 400. The farmers found marigold cultivation as a profitable activity and have understood the importance of timely seeding and cultivation to benefit from the festival season from September to November, and the wedding season in April and May. Majority of the 30 farmers from the first batch participating in the floriculture intervention have an income realization in the range of Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 7,500 from 130 jasmine plants, about 500 marigold plants and 5-6 rose plants. The total material input cost is about Rs. 875 per participant. The Technical and Cluster teams have adopted a very cautious approach towards extending the intervention. In October 2006, a total of 30 farmers joined, and in the second year, the total number of farmers stands at 82 farmers in the six clusters of Jawhar region.
(3) Organic Farming:
In the year 2005-06, technical team focused on need assessment for organic farming techniques experimentation. Vermicompost and vermiwash were taken up for standardization. In the year 2006-07, the team decided to experiment on vermiwash, new methods of vermicomposting, aurogreen, biodynamic, bio-composting, etc. The team was hitting the ground for getting positive results. Apart from experimenting new techniques, the team focused on extension of different organic farming techniques too.
(4) Improved equipment and agricultural practices:
Under this, the technical team has experimented SRI system in paddy cultivation. Apart from this, the team has developed different equipments for energy generation, pumping water, restoration of energy, food grain grinding, etc.
(5) Low Cost Irrigation Techniques:
Promotion of low cost irrigation systems and systems without fuel like Treadle Pumps were undertaken in tribal areas during 2005-06. A total of 108 Treadle pumps and 10 span pumps were introduced in Thane and Raigad district on an experimental basis.
(6) Germplasm Collection of Paddy:
The study of local Germplasm of paddy in tribal areas is being undertaken, with the objective of conserving good varieties for future use, besides teaching the families to collect and upgrade varieties by selection process. The Paddy varieties to be studied have been identified.
Community Health:
Under Community Health, professional interventions are undertaken to enhance personal health, domestic health and ultimately deal with community health. For health interventions, two villages per cluster were selected with the intention of developing these villages as model villages. Under the homestead health interventions, a gamut of activities like distribution of Jeevandrop, Clean kitchen activities, Kitchen gardening activities, etc. are being taken in the selected villages. Apart from these activities, Charak Centers are opened to propagate knowledge of Ayurveda – indigenous health care practices present with local viadus; with new fine Ayurveda practices. In order to promote healthy diet practices along the special trainings, teams have been given demonstrations on the occasions of festivals like ‘Makarsankrant’.
Women in Development:
A woman is the nucleus of the family, particularly in rural India. Under the Women’s Development Programme, the main activities that have been taken up are formation and capacity building of SHG’s, promotion of income generation activities and integration with the health activities at the homestead and village level. All the Health interventions are first discussed in the SHG meetings, requisite trainings are also imparted to the groups. Activities like Kitchen Gardening, preparation of Nutritive recipes, Water purification and Chlorination and Scabies eradication have been taken up through the Groups, besides income generation activities like Nursery raising, vegetable cultivation and vermicomposting.
Livestock Development:
Promotion of dairy husbandry through upgradation of low productive non-descript cattle was given priority, as most of the villagers owned a few cattle and the programme ensured techno-economic viability and prosperity for small farmers. To boost up the breeding activity, an innovative approach was adopted. Weekly follow-up of a batch of 50 cows for breeding was undertaken through Cattle breeding Centers till the cow conceived and a fresh cow was included in the batch.
Programme for the Landless families:
Under landless family support activity, the support has been extended for individual, as well group activities. The individual level activities like tailoring, trading in various items, fish rearing, small shops, black smithy, masonry, carpentry have been taken up by the participants. The group level activities include – brass bands, Mandap and Loudspeaker services, manufacture of diffusers, vermicomposting, etc.
Wadi:
Promotion of tree based farming on private wastelands for food security and income generation is a major programme of MITTRA. With the denudation of forests, tribals, representing 10% of Indian population, have been deprived of their livelihood. The poor families participating in this programme, popularly known as Wadi (Orchard Development), establish drought tolerant fruit crops such as mango, cashew, Indian gooseberry, tamarind, custard apple, ber, etc. on their marginal or wastelands covering one acre. The interspaces is used for cultivating arable crops, which they have been growing earlier and the field bunds and borders are used to establish hardy shrubs and trees useful for fodder, fuel, timber and herbal medicines.
Watershed Programmes:
Water is critical for survival, food security and sustainable livelihood of the rural population. However in India, only about 30-35% of the total rain water is utilised, while the rest is wasted resulting in floods, soil erosion and siltation of river beds and reservoirs. Generally, the poor farmers who own poor quality land are deprived of water even for drinking. Hence, MITTRA has promoted watershed development programmes, wherein MITTRA is not only working as the Project Implementation Agency, but also working as a Resources Support Organization.
Watershed program progress in the year 2005-06 and Year 2006-07
|
 Click here to Enlarge |
 Click here to Enlarge |
 Click here to Enlarge |
 Click here to Enlarge |
 Click here to Enlarge |
 Click here to Enlarge |
 Click here to Enlarge |