Sasya Mitra literally translates as Friends of Plants (and trees). Sasya Mitra Groups are farmers' groups who plan, implement and monitor the project.
There are 856 SMGs (Sasya Mitra Groups) functioning in 214 project villages. (In rest of the 16 villages Watershed Development Committees (WDCs) are functioning).
How SMG’s work
Each SMG consists of 25 members representing the families, of which 13 are women members of the families. Members of each SMG elect a Convener and a Co-Convener. Convener is a woman by policy. Each village has two SMGs represented by rain fed farmers, one SMG by farmers with irrigated land and one SMG is by families which majorly depend on farm labour. The SMGs are federated at village level called GSMS. The GSMS are federated at mandal level called MSMS. And the MSMS are federated at project level called ASMS.
GSMS is the village level federation represented by Conveners and Co-Conveners of each SMG in the village. GSMS is the focal point in the village and has been actively involved in planning, implementation and monitoring of programme activities at village level. Each GSMS meets once a month. The major responsibilities of GSMS include allocation of incentive based activities to SMGs, monitoring the output and use of output, payment of incentives as per the guidelines given by AF. The management of the commonly owned equipment like sprayers, sprinklers etc., provided by AF is also the responsibility of the GSMS in each village. STOs (Socio Technical Organisers) facilitate these meetings.
There are 8 MSMSs functioning in 8 mandals in the project area. The MSMS meetings are facilitated at Mandal level by Area Team Leaders (ATLs) and Agriculture Extension Officers (AEOs). MSMS provides authentic feedback on the relevance and effectiveness of various activities and also suggested improvements in activities and their implementation. MSMS members also participate in participatory monitoring process conducted once during each cropping season. The teams of MSMS members visit randomly selected villages and monitor the progress and impact of project activities. Gradually they are being involved in planning, implementation and monitoring of activities at mandal level.
The MSMS played a key role in drawing the attention of Government Officials at Mandal level on the issues like timely supply of subsidy seeds distributed by the Government during contingency cropping in August & September 2015. They successfully negotiated and lobbied with the Officials of Department of Agriculture at mandal level and ensured timely supply of seed to the farmers to whom AF could not supply seed due to volume constraints. The MSMS members have also been playing an important role, particularly in organizing mandal level awareness campaigns such as Drought and Desertification Day, World Water Day, International Women’s Day etc.
An Apex Sasya Mitra Samakhya (ASMS) has been constituted in 2014 with 15 leaders - 5 leaders from each of 8 MSMSs, 5 from WDC (Watershed Development Committees) and 5 progressive farmers who have a passion for Sustainable Agriculture.
The ASMS acts as an apex body of all farmers groups in the project. ASMS meets once in 3 months. It provides inputs in the planning process and provides feedback on the implementation of various programme activities and on the outcome and impact of program activities. Further, it also discusses policy gaps and makes representations to the Government authorities on policy issues.
ASMS played a vital role in bringing to the notice of Government, the usefulness of cement lined farm ponds in protecting the tree crops as well as annual crops. ASMS started to emerge as a strong forum for representing the issues of dry land farming and farmers to the Government Officials at the district level.
Sasya Mitra literally translates as Friends of Plants (and trees). Sasya Mitra Groups are farmers’ groups who plan, implement and monitor the project.
There are 856 SMGs (Sasya Mitra Groups) functioning in 214 project villages. (In rest of the 16 villages Watershed Development Committees (WDCs) are functioning).
How SMG’s work
Each SMG consists of 25 members representing the families, of which 13 are women members of the families. Members of each SMG elect a Convener and a Co-Convener. Convener is a woman by policy. Each village has two SMGs represented by rain fed farmers, one SMG by farmers with irrigated land and one SMG is by families which majorly depend on farm labour. The SMGs are federated at village level called GSMS. The GSMS are federated at mandal level called MSMS. And the MSMS are federated at project level called ASMS.
GSMS is the village level federation represented by Conveners and Co-Conveners of each SMG in the village. GSMS is the focal point in the village and has been actively involved in planning, implementation and monitoring of programme activities at village level. Each GSMS meets once a month. The major responsibilities of GSMS include allocation of incentive based activities to SMGs, monitoring the output and use of output, payment of incentives as per the guidelines given by AF. The management of the commonly owned equipment like sprayers, sprinklers etc., provided by AF is also the responsibility of the GSMS in each village. STOs (Socio Technical Organisers) facilitate these meetings.
There are 8 MSMSs functioning in 8 mandals in the project area. The MSMS meetings are facilitated at Mandal level by Area Team Leaders (ATLs) and Agriculture Extension Officers (AEOs). MSMS provides authentic feedback on the relevance and effectiveness of various activities and also suggested improvements in activities and their implementation. MSMS members also participate in participatory monitoring process conducted once during each cropping season. The teams of MSMS members visit randomly selected villages and monitor the progress and impact of project activities. Gradually they are being involved in planning, implementation and monitoring of activities at mandal level.
The MSMS played a key role in drawing the attention of Government Officials at Mandal level on the issues like timely supply of subsidy seeds distributed by the Government during contingency cropping in August & September 2015. They successfully negotiated and lobbied with the Officials of Department of Agriculture at mandal level and ensured timely supply of seed to the farmers to whom AF could not supply seed due to volume constraints. The MSMS members have also been playing an important role, particularly in organizing mandal level awareness campaigns such as Drought and Desertification Day, World Water Day, International Women’s Day etc.
An Apex Sasya Mitra Samakhya (ASMS) has been constituted in 2014 with 15 leaders – 5 leaders from each of 8 MSMSs, 5 from WDC (Watershed Development Committees) and 5 progressive farmers who have a passion for Sustainable Agriculture.
The ASMS acts as an apex body of all farmers groups in the project. ASMS meets once in 3 months. It provides inputs in the planning process and provides feedback on the implementation of various programme activities and on the outcome and impact of program activities. Further, it also discusses policy gaps and makes representations to the Government authorities on policy issues.
ASMS played a vital role in bringing to the notice of Government, the usefulness of cement lined farm ponds in protecting the tree crops as well as annual crops. ASMS started to emerge as a strong forum for representing the issues of dry land farming and farmers to the Government Officials at the district level.
Sustainable Smart Agriculture
Piloting Rainfed Farmers’ Cooperatives (RFCs)
A pilot project was initiated last year promoting 7 Rain-fed Farmers’ Cooperatives (RFCs) with 170 farmer members. The objective was to explore how small & marginal rainfed farmers can achieve livelihood security in the drought prone Anantapuram district. The cooperative strategy includes (a) reducing cost of cultivation by encouraging mutual cooperation among the members, (b) enhancing farm productivity by promoting intensive drought mitigation measures, (c) promoting Sustainable Agriculture practices and (d) diversifying livelihood portfolio to generate additional income of the rainfed farmers by integrating collective farming, off-farm and non-farm livelihood activities on a collective basis.
These Cooperatives have built up their own capital through small savings and have initiated their own small businesses. AF continues to build their capacities and helping them analyse their initiatives and make forward plans.
Drought Resilient Cropping Systems
AF has been developing, promoting and popularising drought resilient cropping designs using the principles of symbiosis, agrobiodiversity, drought resilience etc., keeping in view the quality of land and food and nutritional security. These have been done through Farmer Field Schools and promoting perennial Rain-fed Tree Crop Models. AF’s consistent efforts on popularising these regular and contingency models brought in a positive trend with a large number of farmers. More and more farmers have been shifting from groundnut mono-cropping and when the rains were delayed many farmers have gone for contingency cropping.
Institution Building
AF has promoted Community Based Organisations (CBOs) that actively participate in planning, monitoring and implementation of the project. Women and men are trained and their capacity built in carrying out their various roles and responsibilities.
Drought Mitigation Technologies & Practices
The central question for farmers in Anantapuram district is how to manage moisture stress and save crops when rains are not timely and delayed. If this question is answered then all other problems are manageable. For the past few years AF has been looking at this central question in several ways and developing, promoting and popularising various drought mitigation measures.
During kharif 2015, AF’s preparedness could help in successfully reaching out to over 11,000 farmers and had a very positive impact in an otherwise severe drought year. Further, the Government could be influenced on the importance of contingency cropping for easing fodder crises in a drought year.
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Sustainable Smart Agriculture
Piloting Rainfed Farmers’ Cooperatives (RFCs)
A pilot project was initiated last year promoting 7 Rain-fed Farmers’ Cooperatives (RFCs) with 170 farmer members. The objective was to explore how small & marginal rainfed farmers can achieve livelihood security in the drought prone Anantapuram district. The cooperative strategy includes (a) reducing cost of cultivation by encouraging mutual cooperation among the members, (b) enhancing farm productivity by promoting intensive drought mitigation measures, (c) promoting Sustainable Agriculture practices and (d) diversifying livelihood portfolio to generate additional income of the rainfed farmers by integrating collective farming, off-farm and non-farm livelihood activities on a collective basis.
These Cooperatives have built up their own capital through small savings and have initiated their own small businesses. AF continues to build their capacities and helping them analyse their initiatives and make forward plans.
Drought Resilient Cropping Systems
AF has been developing, promoting and popularising drought resilient cropping designs using the principles of symbiosis, agrobiodiversity, drought resilience etc., keeping in view the quality of land and food and nutritional security. These have been done through Farmer Field Schools and promoting perennial Rain-fed Tree Crop Models. AF’s consistent efforts on popularising these regular and contingency models brought in a positive trend with a large number of farmers. More and more farmers have been shifting from groundnut mono-cropping and when the rains were delayed many farmers have gone for contingency cropping.
Institution Building
AF has promoted Community Based Organisations (CBOs) that actively participate in planning, monitoring and implementation of the project. Women and men are trained and their capacity built in carrying out their various roles and responsibilities.
Drought Mitigation Technologies & Practices
The central question for farmers in Anantapuram district is how to manage moisture stress and save crops when rains are not timely and delayed. If this question is answered then all other problems are manageable. For the past few years AF has been looking at this central question in several ways and developing, promoting and popularising various drought mitigation measures.
During kharif 2015, AF’s preparedness could help in successfully reaching out to over 11,000 farmers and had a very positive impact in an otherwise severe drought year. Further, the Government could be influenced on the importance of contingency cropping for easing fodder crises in a drought year.