Activities within the grant and expected impact:
The project aims to work towards restoring agrarian sustainability in the Vidharbha region through promotion / strengthening of local institutions, which enable farmers to enhance their livelihoods and reduce vulnerability through provision of a combination of financial inclusion services, agricultural/business development services and institutional development services.

The interventions aim to reach out to 10,000 households in 100 villages across six blocks of four districts, namely Akola, Amravati, Wardha and Yavatmal, which are amongst the six distress districts.

The following are the key components within the project, and the expected impact includes:

	Institutional Development Services: These include
		Regular capacity building inputs to the farmers through village meetings, cluster meetings and regional meetings
		Exposure visits for knowledge up-gradation
		Organising the farmers into farmers’ groups (FG) and Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (KSK)
		Capacity building and institutional development services to FG and KSK Better knowledge among farmers on improved package of practices (PoP) of major crops like cotton, soyabean, pulses, etc. would lead to increase in productivity of these crops - cotton, from 5 quintals per acre to 6.5 to 7 quintals per acre, soyabean, from 7 quintals per acre to about 9 quintals per acre, and pulses from 1.5 to 2 quintals per acre to 3 quintals per acre. The input cost of cultivation for cotton crop would be reduced from the present Rs5,000/acre to about Rs3,500/acre.
	Agriculture and Business Development Services for Agriculture, Dairying and Non Farm Sector: These include:
		Providing quality inputs in a timely manner through a strong extension network
		On the field technical support to farmers through scientific experts and field teams
		Demonstration of improved PoP for all major crops
		Promotion of non-farm enterprises such as backyard poultry, goatery, petty shop, services such as repairs, retailing, tailoring, etc. with landless or marginal farmers Notably, this would ensure reduction in cost of production by nearly 30-40 per cent because of bulk procurement on favourable terms with private companies such as Arvind Mills, Noble, Tata Chemicals, etc. and an improved PoP with the Integrated Pest Management technology promoted by the research institution for cotton and soyabean, which eliminates unnecessary costs.
	Financial Inclusion Services: These include:
		Conducting research on natural resources regeneration, identification of villages, exploring credit needs and willingness to pay for financing of natural resource regeneration and micro infrastructure
		Designing products, pilot testing and training to staff for scaling up
		Designing suitable crop insurance products for the region
	Credit Linkages: This includes providing timely credit linkage support to the farmers in the project villages and to other partners. Consequently, dependence on moneylenders will be reduced by 75 per cent, and the bank linkages would be ensured for all the households

The main impact from the project is the reduction in distress of the farming community. The reduction in input cost of cultivation and enhancement in productivity, along with better market linkages, would try and ensure that further suicides are prevented. This apart, the households would be able to generate required credit support and overall, it is expected that the project would enhance the income base in the project villages by about Rs15,000 / household / annum from year II onwards.