Climate Resilient Farmer Group Development to support COVID-19 recovery for Small Holder Cotton Farmers

PROJECT BACKGROUND 

In India, the cotton crop observed to be highly input intensive over last 20 years period of time. Cotton is a difficult crop to grow: yields can be decimated by severe weather (both droughts and flooding) and it is particularly vulnerable to pest attacks. In 2019, Globally, the cotton crop covered just 2.4% of the world’s cultivated land but used 4.7% of the world’s pesticides and 10% of insecticides according to the International Cotton Advisory Committee. These issues often combine to create disastrous economic, health and environmental consequences for many smallholder growers in particular. Furthermore, Climatic vulnerability risks for the major crops in the state like Maharashtra is impacted more in terms of production loss and susceptibility towards pest infestation & deuteriation of soil health.

This project is a collaborative effort led by ADB and LDC to support small holder farmers to recover from the COVID-19 and build resilience among them to cope with the negative impact of Climate Change. The project will strategically promote Regenerative agriculture practices and emphasizes on building the capacity of Cotton growers/farmers on optimizing the use of agricultural inputs particularly Water, Soil nutrients /fertilizers and pesticides in order to enhance soil carbon sequestration and reduce water foot print, toxic load and Green Houses gases/N20 emissions.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROGRAMME

The objective of the Technical Assistance (TA) is to support COVID-19 Recovery for Smallholder Cotton Farmers of Maharashtra is to enhance resilience of agriculture to climate change and climate variability through strategic interventions and technology demonstration for efficient management of Soil & water resources and Regenerative Agriculture Practices. The Specific objectives are as follows: –

• Supporting farmer groups in accessing technological solutions that aim to accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture, adoption of water saving techniques (Micro irrigation/Drip irrigation etc)
• Promotion of Climate Resilient agriculture practices for sustainably increasing farm productivity and reducing greenhouse gas emission.
• Preservation of soil organic carbon through Integrated Nutrient Management practices and reducing toxic load of pesticides through adoption of Agroecological approach to manage pests, diseases and weed