Chetna Organic Continuously working to address issues of cotton farmers

Celebrating a decade of addressing issues of distressed cotton farmers from the rain-fed regions of North Telangana, Maharashtra (Vidarbha) and South Western Odisha, Chetna Organic initiated in 2004 as a composite supply chain intervention program in Organic/NPM and Fair-trade cotton with 234 farmers, is today a huge project that reaches out to more than 40,000 small and marginal farmers around the country. With a very proactive approach, Chetna Organic has over the years launched many programs to uplift the community, Vipul Kulkarni, Manager – Communication at Chetna Organic, shares some of the recent developments in this direction…

Among the most recent initiatives, Chetna Organic has launched the 3DPnL pilot programme which studies the impact of ‘organic and fair-trade’ cotton across various stakeholders in the textile supply chain and in the process attributes profit or loss scores on various components under social, economic and environment parameters. The aim is to develop a mechanism where impact of CSR interventions throughout the cotton supply chain can be measured accurately. “Though we have piloted these projects in just two villages, one in Adilabad in Telangana and the other in Kalahandi district in Odisha, the intent is to scale it up to all villages where cotton is being sourced. This gives an opportunity for the buyers to source their cotton from areas where they can see and show desired results as committed to their customers,” reveals Vipul.

The 3DPnL project has also helped to build the ‘Chetna Coalition’ (ChetCo) – where a group of garment manufacturers, brands and retailers from across the world who source their organic cotton from Chetna farmers, have pooled their resources to support this programme. Currently there are 12 brands associated with the ChetCo, including Fairtrade International (Germany), Kering Group, H&M, Solidaridad (NL), Gstar, Inditex, to name a few. “With this mapping tool, donors and corporates (mainly brands/retailers in the chain) behind the CSR initiatives can now regulate the quantum of their fund flow to activities that are responding well to their interventions in their chosen focus areas of development,” maintains Vipul.

Apart from 3DPnL pilot programme, Chetna Organic has various projects running simultaneously such as the Chetna Organic and Fairtrade Cotton Intervention programme (OCIP), which offers handholding support to the organic farmers right from non-GMO seed procurement (or production) to organic certification to facilitating global marketing of their cotton. The Peace-by-Peace Cotton programme supported by Felissimo Corporation, Japan overlooks capacity building and technical assistance to farmers in transition to being organic. It also provides educational support to children of organic farmers, whereby existing Government schools in rural areas are supported with infrastructure, while giving scholarships to students taking up agriculture-related courses. “An important component of this programme is the Music Agriculture, Art and Dance (MAAD) program where students and teachers of Government schools are being trained in local art, music, dance and culture and to cultivate organic vegetables in their schools that not only helps children to learn basic farming, but also complements the Govt.-sponsored mid-day meal,” shares Vipul.

Through its various interventions, Chetna Organic reaches out to more than 40,000 small and marginal farmers and farm-workers directly in 3 states, 15 districts, 670 villages through 1816 farmers SHGs (self-help groups) and 12 cooperatives via 15 different programmes with interventions in Organic and Sustainable Agriculture, Market and Value Chain Development, Natural Resources Management, Livelihood Options, Food Security and Seed Sovereignty, Gender Empowerment and Child Welfare. “One of the most important achievements of our interventions has been to ensure food security for small and marginal farmers in ecologically distressed regions like Telangana, Vidarbha and KBK region in Odisha,” informs Vipul.

Another area of achievement for Chetna Organic has been building capacities of farmers in organic farming techniques. Through sustained trainings over the last 10 years, the farmers have internalized practices like seed conservation, seed treatment, soil fertility management, intercropping, multiple cropping, zero pesticides and zero chemical fertilizers, etc. Also, it works towards gender equality that is evident from the COFA (Chetna Organic Farmers Association) and COAPCL (Chetna Organic Agriculture Producers Co. Ltd.) board meetings, where all board members have unanimously agreed to the resolution that nine Chetna member cooperatives will have at least 50 per cent women members on their board within the next one year. “Chetna cooperatives have achieved a feat that even our parliament has been battling with for almost a decade,” asserts Vipul.

Through its various interventions, Chetna Organic has intervened and worked with villages in interior Odisha, Telangana and Vidarbha, which are known for its poverty and are dry areas, transforming the lives of farmers through organic cultivation. “In 10 years of our operations, there has not been a single incident of suicide among our organic farmers and we can confidently say today that our cotton intervention program has helped the farmers assert their voice through the entire cotton supply chain,” concludes Vipul.

Other projects of Chetna Organic

•    Integrated Watershed Development Programme (IWDP) and Indo-German Watershed Development Programme (IGWDP),  (Adilabad, Telangana) – A natural resources management project focusing on improving soil and moisture conservation, groundwater recharging and livelihood options through watershed development activities.

•    The Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana in Muniguda, Odisha (National Rural Livelihoods Mission – NRLM project with Govt. & SDTT support) – A program designed for empowerment of women in agriculture through institution building, promotion of organic and/or non-pesticide management (NPM), sustainable enterprises for enhancing family income and drudgery reduction activities for women.

•    Odisha Tribal Empowerment Program (OTELP + with Govt. & DFID support) (Koraput, Odisha) – A convergence program aimed at facilitating delivery of Government schemes for tribal communities in Koraput.

•    Convergence of Agricultural Initiatives in Maharashtra (CAIM with Govt. & IFAD support in Akola and Yavatmal clusters) – A convergence program to consolidate and facilitate delivery of Government schemes to the poor in rural Maharashtra.

•    Seed Guardians Project in Kalahandi district, Odisha (supported by Textile Exchange and Inditex) – A seed conservation programme designed to identify and build capacities of rural women to multiply and conserve desi seed varieties through promotion of seed banks.

•    Green Cotton Project in Kalahandi district, Odisha (Supported by FIBL Switzerland and UAS Dharwad) – A scientific cotton research project to identify and multiply cotton varieties suitable to local agro-climatic conditions.

•    Food and Nutrition Security Programme in Muniguda Block of Rayagada district, Odisha (supported by SDTT) – A programme to ensure food security of small and marginal farmers through promotion of backyard vegetables, millets and other drought-resistant crops.

•    Value Chain Development in Organic Pigeon Pea and Organic Turmeric with Women Tribal Farmers in Muniguda, Rayagada district of Odisha (SDTT supported).

•    Jackpot Community Development Programme: A CSR project for the Danish brand ‘Jackpot’ where organic farming communities have been financially supported to build common assets like warehouses, water purifying plants, vocational training centres, etc.

•    RRA (Soils supported by Ford Foundation): An advocacy project with eight countrywide NGO partners, the activity here is to pilot soil-related interventions in rainfed regions and recommend changes to national level agricultural policies in rainfed regions.