DPAR
Project Title
Promoting
nutritional
security
among
the
tribal
population in the Similipal Sanctuary area through
sustainable livelihood management in Mayurbhanj
district, Odisha
Organisation
Sambandh
Initiative / Programme /
Household food security
Theme
Stage/ Type of the grant
Pilot
1. Project Summary
The proposed project area lies on the fringes of Similipal wildlife sanctuary. The terrain is
highly undulating and un-bunded upland, which is characterized by heavy soil erosion.
As a result, many areas around the village including the forest and the common land are
getting degraded. The primary source of livelihood for the local community in this region
is agriculture, labour work and collection and sale of minor forest produce. However, due
to lack of access to quality inputs, decline in soil fertility, poor infrastructure, lack of
market and financial linkages, the agricultural productivity in this region is low. This
ultimately impacts the food security of the region, which is also reflected through the poor
nutritional status of mothers and children.
Nutritional status of communities acts as a good indicator to assess the impact of any
livelihoods initiative. In fact, some of the factors that directly influence the nutritional
status of communities include livelihoods, primary health care and public distribution
system. Therefore, to design any long term, sustainable intervention that addresses
nutrition related issues, it is crucial to take the above factors into consideration.
This proposal is designed with an intent to improve the food security in the poorest and
most food insecure households in the proposed villages. This will be achieved through
increased agricultural productivity, increase in household income through value addition,
establishing market linkages and introduction of high value cropping system and by
ensuring critical awareness about health and nutrition.
This project aims to improve all the three key aspects of food security i.e. availability,
accessibility and utilization of nutritious food to the poor and food-insecure households in
the selected locations. Increased agricultural productivity will increase the food
availability, increased household incomes will enhance the access to the available food;
and increased awareness on health and nutrition will improve their capacity for food
utilization. This project will also enhance institutional capacities of related stakeholders
on natural resource management that will improve the food and nutritional situation in the
region and ultimately reduce the instances of malnutrition.
2. Problem and its cause
Some of the major problems identified in the proposed area are as follows:

The area experiences high poverty, social deprivation, malnutrition, which ultimately
leads to high maternal and infant deaths.

The sample data of the proposed project area shows that around 75% of children
below age of five years suffer from chronic malnutrition. Some of the key reasons for
the high malnutrition rate include lack of availability, accessibility and utilization of
nutritious food.

Lack of availability of nutritious food is due to low agricultural productivity, lack of
irrigation facilities and over dependence on rain fed agriculture, mono cropping with
low crop diversification, declining soil fertility and land degradation. All this results in
low consumption of nutritious food leading to malnutrition in the proposed project
area.

The reason for poor accessibility to nutritious food is low purchasing power of the
local community. Some of the issues faced by the community in this area include lack
of farm and non-farm based livelihood opportunities, low price realization of the
produce due to lack of value addition and poor market linkages.

Due to lack of awareness among the local communities on the benefits of eating
nutritious food and the linkage between food security, health and malnutrition, there
is low utilization of nutritious food.
3. Total population under consideration and its share
This project is designed to cover 1618 household in the proposed area of 20 villages from
four Gram Panchayats of Jashipur block in Mayurbhanj district. The area is tribal dominated
and the inhabitants include people from 53 tribes. The target population is socially and
geographically isolated from the rest of the district because it is situated inside the Similipal
Reserve Forest. The local people have very little opportunity to process the gathered forest
products and earn more revenue. In fact, there is no facility for value addition of the available
forest produce. As a result, the tribal villagers inside the Similipal forest are among the
poorest communities in the region. The community is very vulnerable to food insecurity, which
is also reflected from the poor nutritional status of mothers and children in the area.
4. Technical Rationality
Health and malnutrition have a complex relation with food security. As more than 75% of the
children in the proposed project area below the age of five are suffering from chronic
malnutrition, nearly 38% of tribal children die under the age of three years. This initiative will
focus on livelihoods promotion through increased agricultural productivity, making farming
more commercial and leveraging it to improve their food and nutrition security that will result in
better health, nutrition and well-being. This initiative will also focus on bridging the gap
between different sectors such as health, food,
agriculture and environment.
5.
Proposed Areas for Intervention
This project will cover 20 villages from four gram
panchayats of Jashipur block in Mayurbhanj district of
Odisha. The area falls under Similipal Tiger Reserve. The
district is located on the border of Midnapur district, West
Bengal in the north, Singbhum district, Jharkhand in the
south, Balasore district in the west and Keonjhar district is in the east.
Mayurbhanj was a
princely state during British period. It is a tribal dominated area inhabited by about 53 tribes. The
key attraction of the district is Similipal National Park that attracts a lot of tourists every year.
6. Goal and Key Outcomes
The project aims to improve all the three key aspects of food security i.e. availability, accessibility
and utilization of nutritious food for the poor and food insecure households in the proposed areas.
Increased productivity will increase the food availability, increased household incomes will
improve the access to the available food; and increased awareness on health and nutrition will
improve their capacity for food utilization. Further to this, the project will also enhance institutional
capacities of related stakeholders on the natural resource management. The outcomes are
aligned with the following major objectives:

Ensure better food security among the target household, improve the availability
of nutrient rich food through increase in production and productivity of agricultural
products.

Increase in per capita household income to ensure better accessibility to nutrient
rich food and services for the target families.

Develop community recourse person and community institutions to ensure better
utilization of the available nutritious food for better health and well-being.

Facilitate convergence with government schemes and banks to ensure
sustainability and replicability of the program.
7.
Major Project Activities:

Livelihood enhancement and food security The purpose of this component is to promote new and improved farm and non-farm
livelihood options. This will increase cash incomes for small and marginal farmers
and landless households, particularly in the project villages. As a part of farm based
livelihood options, the focus will be on value-chain development and promotion of
high-value agricultural crops such as vegetable, fruits, non-timber forest produce
(NTFPs). Meanwhile, the non-farm livelihood options will include promotion of agroprocessing and micro-enterprises and promotion of a seed production village. Efforts
will also be made to facilitate the supply of inputs such as seed kits and saplings for
developing kitchen and medicinal gardens at the household level for providing health
and nutrition security.

Innovative practices and knowledge development such as a) Introducing suitable and innovative cropping pattern and related agronomic
packages for crops such as maize, wheat, millet, vegetables and fruits. This will help
in improvement in nutrition levels and enhancing incomes.
b) Introducing appropriate agronomic packages for high value crops.
c) Promoting production and supply of quality seeds/saplings and breeding materials
at the local level through establishing seed village without depending on hybrid
varieties.

Dissemination of Technology and management Practices/methods a) Social mobilization and capacity building of farmers.
b) Strengthening linkages between farmers and extension service providers.
c) Multiplication of improved seeds and vegetable cultivation in farmer’s field.
8. Key Baseline Indicators and Targets:
Improved food security and livelihoods among the tribal communities including
vulnerable tribal groups in proposed area
Activities
Baseline
Target
10%
60%
Increase in number of households with
food security for at least 8 - 10 months
600
kg
Increase in average household food
Paddy, 1000
900 kg of paddy,
production per HH/Acre/Year
Kg maize
1700 kg of maize
40%
Promotion
practices
of
improved
agronomic
adopting
improved technology
0
for crop production
Reduction in chronic malnutrition among
children less than five years of age
75%
Reduce by 25%
Objective - Crop productivity enhancement and developing infrastructure for irrigation
Indicators
Baseline
Target
Increase
paddy
(Paddy-
productivity by 40%,
Increase in crop productivity of two staple
6qt/acre),
Improve
crops (Paddy and maize)
10qt/acre)
productivity by 70%.
maize
Scattered
Promotion
of
kitchen
and
medicinal
garden
and
Adopted
unorganized
household
50
Demonstration of high value nutrition rich
crop
by
40%
acre
of
demonstration
plot
developed
two
in
years (20 acres + 30
Nil
acres)
Enhance
the
soil
moisture content of
minimum 650 acres
of land and bring 100
acres of land under
Improve water holding capacity of soil and
irrigation
increase the coverage of irrigation in
project villages
Nil
Develop village for
seed production (50
acres of maize and
paddy) with Maize
Developing a village for seed production
Nil
Research
Centre
and
(Krishi
KVK
Vigyan
Kandra)
being the technical
partners in it.
40% of the village
households
Promotion
of
improved
agronomic
practices
adopt
improved technology
Nil
for crop production
Baseline
Target
11864
24820
2000
10000
2000
30400
Objective - Income enhancement
Indicators
Increase in income of 1600 household
from rain fed agriculture mostly pigeon
pea and maize (INR/household/annum).
Increase in income of 1000 Household
from value addition and market linkages
of NTFP and spices (Honey and araroot)
Increase in income of 900 Household
through irrigation, scientific method of
cultivation and introduction of high value
crops mostly vegetables
and Pulses
(INR/HH/Annum)
12956+(8000*1000/1
Total
incremental
income
600)+(28400*900/16
(INR/HH/Annum)
00) = 33931
Objective - capacity building of local community through institution building
Promote SHG for carrying out income
generating activities
3
20
Promote
building
cluster
market
level
federation
linkages
for
and
entrepreneurship development
Nil
2nos.
9. Key deliverables and milestones

80% of households engaged in intensification and diversification of cropping system
for nutritional security.

Adoption of kitchen garden by 40% of total population for vegetable consumption and
use of herbs for better health and nutrition. This will lead to savings of Rs 6,800.00
per annum per household, an amount that is presently incurred towards health
expenditure and purchase of vegetables.

Average increase of income for 1600 households by Rs. 33,931/Household/Year
through production level intervention and value addition of the farm and non-farm
products.

Capacity building of Community Resource Persons (CRPs) within the village level
community to ensure effective dissemination of technology.

Capacity building and strengthening of community institutions to enable the local
community to develop sustainable livelihood strategies.
10. Costs, Recovery and Contributions
The total cost for the project is estimated to be Rs 1,08,45,800.00, of which the
community contribution will be Rs 6,12,100.00, while contribution from other donors
will be Rs. 5101000.00 and Rs. 2,00,000.00 will be in form of a bank loan. The
Trusts’ contribution will be Rs 49, 32,700.00.The project will directly reach 1618
households in 20 villages in four Panchayats in Jashipur block. The project’s target
group are mostly small and marginal farmers. The per capita investment will be Rs.
6703.00 out of which Trust contribution is Rs 3048 per Household, which includes the
Program, administrative and capital costs for the project.
.
11. Replicability and Sustainability
This project is designed to focus on building capacity among the local community and
strengthening local level institutions. It also emphasizes on better convergence with
the government to ensure better reliability of the program. This project will also
involve entrepreneurs in the management of the community livelihood programs with
good business models. It will be people oriented and not just project-centered. Also,
affordable methods of cost sharing will be introduced in consultation with local
communities to make the project more sustainable and replicable.
12. Competence of the organisation:
Sambandh has extensively worked in rural areas to create and implement various
solutions to improve nutrition levels of local communities. The organisation believes in
conservation and promotion of medicinal plants and traditional knowledge to provide
health and livelihood security at the community level. They have also introduced the
idea of biodiversity in farming – and local production of various crops for household
consumption. The organisation has been promoting kitchen gardens to supplement
family diet with nutritious plants, local herbs for common diseases and vegetables.
Following Sambandh’s efforts, it has been noticed that there has been reasonable
efficacy in treating many diseases and plant based alternative medicine has gained
momentum. There was also a 23% reduction in malnutrition and 18% reduction in
waterborne diseases in 2012-13 in Thakurmunda Block (Source: Local PHC,
Government). They have also helped establish a pre-natal maternity care centre in
Jashipur and Thakurmunda blocks in Mayurbhanj Districts of Odisha under the
guidance of the doctors from the local PHC. This has reduced pregnancy related
complications and reduced the infant mortality. This initiative has also increased the
number of institutional delivery cases.
The overall focus of Sambandh has been to secure the livelihoods of rural poor and
vulnerable communities. The organisation focuses on health and nutritional security of
the rural communities through various initiatives such as promotion of local health
tradition, watershed management activities, conservation of medicinal plants,
promotion of social accountability and social entrepreneurship.
13. Overall Budget Analysis
The overall budget of the project for two years is estimated to be Rs. 1,08,45,800 of
which the Trusts’ contribution will be Rs. 49,32,700. Sambandh will leverage around INR
51,01,000 from other donor organisations such as NABARD, National Rural Health
Mission (NRHM) and Zilla Swastya Samatee, while Rs. 2,00,000 will be in form of bank
loan to SHGs and Rs. 6,12,100 will come as local community contribution.
Detail break up of Trust support to the overall program:
Cost
Program
Year 1 (Rs)
Year 2 (Rs)
Total (Rs)
Percentage
17,57,750
16,67,750
34,25,500
Total salary
5,52,000
6,07,200
11,59,200
23.50031
Capital
60,000
-
60,000
1.216372
Overheads
1,44,000
1,44,000
2,88,000
5.838587
Total Grant
25,13,750
24,18,950
49,32,700
100
Cost
requested
69.44473