COVID-19 update and our response

COVID -19 Response

Beginning of financial year 2020-21 brought a problem never experienced before in the form of Covid-19. It presented a dual challenge before us – (i) to ensure that the regular interventions continue to happen, ensuring that the gains made so far are not lost; and (ii) redesign existing interventions and also come up with new solutions specifically targeted as a response to Covid-19. HCL Samuday braced for impact and has led the way forward for communities that are served under the program.

Agriculture

  • 987 migrant families provided with agriculture inputs including support for Nutrition Gardens and Kitchen Gardens
  • Facilitated marketing of 300+ tonnes of vegetables worth INR 35+ lakhs since lockdown via vegetable aggregation centres
  • 500+ tonnes of wheat, valued 1.10 Crores, procured during the lockdown

Livelihood

  • 1,00,000 face covers produced by women groups
  • 2,204 dairy farmers provided with subsidized inputs for cost reduction to mitigate the effect of lockdown on dairy farmers

Health System Upgradation

  • 2 refurbished Mobile Health Clinics provided to the district administration for use as mobile Covid-19 testing systems
  • 3 Screening Booth at 3 Community Health Centres installed for screening of patients
  • Essential equipment provided for improvement in capacity of care for Covid-19 patients
  • 2,500 PPE kits provided for Hardoi district needs

WASH and Covid-19 related IEC

  • 27,800 pride kits comprising of soap, sanitary pad, and face mask along with IEC material distributed to marginalized households in Hardoi
  • Cleanliness drives conducted in 164 Gram Panchayats
  • 6,000 key stakeholders in 164 Gram Panchayats provided with Covid-19 prevention messages daily
  • Capacity building of village level functionaries in 164 Gram Panchayats

Education

  • 59,559 children benefiting from digital content distribution in Hardoi
  • Repository of more than 800 small-size video content mapped with textbook curriculum and learning outcomes
  • 3,470 WhatsApp groups created where audio, video and document contents are shared every day
  • Supporting 18,306 teachers to work with students and parents to ensure use of content, also feedback on usage
  • Developed Open Access Education Resources portal for Department of Basic Education

 

 

 

Training and Extension

Agriculture is a dynamic sector that deals with specialized knowledge which is ever changing. HCL Samuday regularly makes associated farmers aware of latest developments through Training and Extension intervention. The farmers are empowered to address existing issues and mitigate and adapt for future challenges.

With the objective of bringing agriculture technologies at farmers’ doorstep by establishing a ‘Center of Excellence’ in Uttar Pradesh, HCL Samuday is setting up Center for Agriculture Technology Transfer (CATT) in Hardoi district. It shall act as a ‘single window’ / ‘one stop support system’ aligning various interventions of state department of Agriculture with HCL Foundation as an intermediary and farmers as end users in a learning, decision making and problem-solving exercise.

Nutrition Garden

Nutrition Garden is a low cost, scientific model of home garden organically producing a variety of nutritious vegetables and fruits throughout the year. The primary objective of promoting nutrition gardens is to make ½ kg of fresh vegetables available for daily consumption to rural households. Secondary objectives include reduction in daily expenditure of HHs and increase in the consumption of green vegetables for improved nutrition.

2,714 households have benefitted by adopting a Nutrition Garden.

Community Mobilization and Institution Building

Interventions aimed at mobilizing community and facilitating institution creation lend long-term sustainability to the efforts for agriculture development.

     a. Farmer Clubs

Farmer Clubs are formed with the objective of propagating the idea of collective, uniting farmers in groups which work for the benefit of their community. 199 such clubs established so far under this intervention are providing a platform for knowledge dissemination and better market linkages.

        b. Farmer Producer Organisation

HCL Foundation is the promoting agency of Hardoi Kisan Producer Company Limited (HKPCL), a Farmer Producer Organization constituted in 2017 to address challenges faced by farming community in the project area. Comprising of 2,350 shareholders and governed by an 11-member board of directors, HKPCL registered a turnover of ₹ 6.85 crores in last financial year (2019-20).

       c. Vegetable Aggregation Points

Ensuring market is a crucial part of vegetable supply chain. To facilitate better linkages with market, 7 vegetable aggregation points have been set up across 3 blocks and regular communication is made to enable farmers to choose and opt for most suitable option. Realising better prices for produce, 917 Tonnes of vegetables, worth ₹ 1.30 crores, got aggregated at these centres in 2019-20.

       d. Farm Mechanization

Through Farm Mechanization, focus is on increasing income of farmers by improving affordability and accessibility of machines for precision agriculture. It is aimed at reducing farmers’ cost of cultivation and easing farm operations. Carried out in an entrepreneurial model, thus far 3,249 farms have been supported with advanced agricultural machinery and development of 45 entrepreneurs has been facilitated.

Crop Diversification

Due to lack of awareness and perishable nature of produce, few farmers practice vegetable cultivation. Crop Diversification intervention aims to bring sustainable income enhancement by adoption of diversified crop practices. HCL Samuday is pushing this agenda and the concurrent efforts made have engaged 13,500+ farmers so far in vegetable production.

 

After successful response of vegetable cultivation, various add-ons in Crop Diversification have been introduced so that farmers having disparate needs may opt for most suitable cropping pattern. These include –

  • Nano Orchard- a small area of land ranging from 840–1680 sqm is devoted exclusively for cultivation of fruit crops like Guava, Papaya, Banana, Apple, Ber and Thai Lime (seedless) along with vegetables taken as intercrop. 425 farmers have successfully established Nano Orchards.
  • Floriculture - promoting flower cultivation, HCL Samuday is propagating better practices and solving farmers’ erstwhile problem of unavailability of good variety. Marigold cultivation is being promoted under floriculture in project area.
  • VASUNDRA -Village Action for Sustainable Utilization of Natural Resource and Demonstration of Resilient Agriculture (VASUNDRA) has been initiated to enhance productivity of degraded fallow lands having high pH value. Adopting scientific methods of land reclamation through cultivation of resilient crops like Lemon Grass and Palmarosa combined with PH resistant horticulture crops like Amla, Ber and Lemon, so far 140 acres of land has been reclaimed.

Traditional Crop Promotion

Traditional Crop Promotion intervention focuses on training and demonstration of traditional crop farmers (Maize, Paddy, Wheat, Urad etc.) and bringing them under Package of Practices (PoP) based production system to increase productivity and adopt better crop management practices.

HCL Samuday has worked to enhance productivity by adopting soil and nutrient management, land development and institutional building for effective market linkages. 26,000+ farmers are currently engaged through this intervention and have adopted better practices on their farm.