Nexus of Good: Messiah of marginalised

Pragati was selected for Nexus of Good Annual Award this year for making a difference in remote parts of Odisha. What they have achieved so far is truly remarkable. And, they have plans to scale their operations in future.

Pragati, Koraput, was established in 1994 with a vision to "build a self-reliant society free from hunger and exploitation, where everyone, irrespective of caste, creed, sex or language, has right to dignified means of livelihood; and, through collective action, ensure socio-economic justice and ecological balance." Pragati has a mission "to facilitate and strengthen vibrant people's organisations at different levels of society that will protect, utilise, control and manage local resources and, through collective action, ensure dynamic socio-economic change for sustainable development by advocating pro-poor governance and bringing women, children, tribals and downtrodden to the mainstream of society."

Presently, Pragati is working for more than 50,000 families — mostly at the bottom of population pyramid, consisting of small and marginal farmers, forest-dependent people, youth and women in the tribal and rural hinterlands of south Odisha — with focus on natural resource management, sustainable agriculture, climate change adaptation, women entrepreneurship, disaster risk reduction and humanitarian response. Besides, the organisation has been involved in action research on systems of rice and millet Intensification, indigenous seed systems, natural farming and indigenous mixed farming systems. The geographical spread of Pragati covers 566 villages of Koraput and Nabarangpur districts, which are also the aspirational districts of Odisha. Pragati has the core strategy of working through community-based organizations, and collaborating with stakeholders like Panchayati Raj institutions and line departments of the government.

Pragati started its journey to address the issues of degradation of forests in 1994 through mobilisation of communities for conservation and management of forests in one block of Koraput District, which was further scaled up to cover 1,296 villages of the entire Koraput District in 2005 through facilitation of a district-level federation of forest dependent people. Gradually, the organisation extended its sphere of intervention to address the issues of poverty, hunger gap, climate change effects, distress migration, issues of women and youth, natural disasters and humanitarian crisis.

The core intervention areas of Pragati are focused on

 Natural resource management for conservation and management of forests, sustainable use of land and water resources, and development of eco-friendly irrigation systems for production of climate resilient crops.

 Sustainable and climate-smart agriculture, conservation of indigenous seed systems, promotion of system of rice and millet intensification and crop diversity through organic farming.

 Climate change adaptation for sustainable crop production to address food and nutritional insecurity of the resource-poor, small, farm-dependent households.

 Women entrepreneurship in agriculture and allied sectors, small businesses, and traditional handicrafts through technical and financial support.

 Responding to humanitarian crises through preparedness and rehabilitation of livelihoods.

Major achievements

 Organised communities in 1,274 villages of Koraput District for conserving village forests, and ensured land entitlements for 29,041 forest dwellers under the Forest Rights Act.

 Facilitated 447 women SHGs, 389 Farmer Producer Groups and six Farmer Producer Companies that have increased access to technology, extension services, inputs and market.

 Disaster risk reduction measures — implemented through contingency planning, reclamation of land and house construction.

 Organised 1,000 tribal youth into collectives, and enhanced their skills on innovative crop production technologies and demonstration of improved agriculture practices.

 Demonstrated soil and water conservation measures like field bunding and land development programmes, increasing productive use of 1,147 hectares of fallow lands of 4,082 farmers in 161 villages of Koraput District.

 Ensured diversion-based irrigation through gravity fed systems, dug wells and borewells, and established solar pumps in 132 villages — providing assured irrigation for 3,645 acres land of 3,566 farmers to take up crops throughout the year.

 Demonstrated half-acre model farms for 495 farmers who earn Rs one lakh per annum.

 Promoted system of crop intensification in paddy and finger millet for 26,556 farmers in 17,245 acres, which has enhanced production and increased household nutritional food security. The farmers are conserving indigenous seeds and adopting stress-tolerant varieties to adapt to climate change effects.

 Promoted organic vegetables, spices and tuber crops for 7,225 farmers — addressing household consumption needs with additional income of Rs 65,000/- per annum.

 Supported 1,750 women entrepreneurs and migrant families for goatary, backyard poultry, small businesses, handicrafts and value addition of non-timber forest produces — enabling them to earn additional income of Rs 30,000 to 45,000/- per year.

 Promoted pisciculture for 454 tribal farmers of Koraput District for nutritional food security and income enhancement.

 Responded to the COVID-19 pandemic through awareness generation and distribution of masks and sanitizers to 53,000 households, distributed food ration kits to 4,650 migrant and most vulnerable families, promoted market linkage through farmer producer companies, ensured doorstep delivery of inputs and services to farmers and worked with district administration and government line department officials for increasing access to government schemes.

This is not the first time that Pragati has been awarded. Pragati was the winner of the Kyoto Grand World Water Prize 2022 for sustainable water management for rural livelihoods. It received an award for promotion of millets in 2019, and is also a recipient of the International Keeling Curve Prize 2018 for facilitating Climate Smart Agriculture. Additionally, it was honored with NGO of the Year title in 2008 for good governance and transparency, and received the Prakruti Mitra Award (2002-03) for conservation of forests and environment.

Pragati has partnered with: the Government of Odisha under the Odisha Millet Mission; National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD); IFAD-Indigenous People's Assistance Fund; International Potato Centre (CIP); International Rice Research Institute (IRRI); International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT); EdelGive Foundation; the Dewan Foundation, UK; Dalyan Foundation; American Friends of EdelGive Foundation and Kalinga Renewable Energy Manufacturers Limited — a start up from Indian Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar. They have established relationships with research institutions and resource agencies like ICAR-CTCRI, ICAR-IISWC, ICAR-CIWA, ICAR-CIFA, and ICAR-IIMR that provide relevant technology and research support. Pragati supports the community for convergence with government flagship programmes like MGNREGS, schemes of horticulture and agriculture departments, Integrated Tribal Development Agency and programmes of Odisha Livelihood Mission.

The coming years have major challenges for the small and marginal farmers as well as for the landless households due to climate change and lack of alternate livelihood opportunities. So, Pragati has plans for demonstration of eco-friendly infrastructure for irrigation, promotion of climate resilient crop production and establishment of micro enterprises for the landless families to reduce distress migration. As the rural youth are not interested in agriculture-based livelihoods which has increased their vulnerability, Pragati has future plans for interventions to retain them in the agriculture sector, along with ensuring entrepreneurship development in agriculture and allied sectors. Pragati also has plans to collaborate with multiple stakeholders to achieve the scale and cope with unforeseen circumstances.

A well-deserved recognition for an organisation that is attempting to address some critical issues that beset interior areas of our country!

Views expressed are personal