Promotion of Climate Smart Village Ujjain District of Madhya Pradesh

Project Background : Climate change consequences are already felt in the agriculture. Excess and deficit rains, long dry spell, untimely rains, hailstorms, extreme hot weather etc. are happening more often than before. The worst affected group is the smallholders & landless families who have less mitigation ability. Problem is even bigger if smallholders are from the scheduled caste or tribal group who are historically disadvantaged category in India. Since agriculture is less or non-remunerative, farmers are compelled to undertake wage employment as migrant labour to the cities. Over 45% to 50% of the annual income of an average farmer is from the wage employment.

The secondary and tertiary sectors are not growing enough to absorb these ever-increasing rural migrant labours and provide them a decent job and living. The employability of the rural migrant due to poor skill is another issue. The life of rural migrant in the cities is miserable which has huge social and cultural consequences. To supplement livelihoods borrowing from the moneylenders at exorbitant rate is the norm.  Majority of the population migrate seasonally in search of casual wage employment or working in nearby cities. The money earned through migration is mainly spent on debt service, health and social expenditure leaving almost nothing for savings or capital formation. People are in vicious cycle of poverty.

Project Objectives:

The project seeks to establish strong, community-driven institutional frameworks for smallholder farmers at the village level. The platform will serve as hub for collaborative learning, enabling farmers to share valuable knowledge, exchange best practices, and collectively address challenges.  The specific objectives of the project are as follows:

• Climate Smart villages:- Identification of climate Risks by farmers and adaptation of technology by farmers by facilitate the formation of Farmers’ Field Schools (FFS) at the village level to encourage collective learning and action.
• Climate Smart Village 4 Component Situation approach in the 180 villages of Ujjain – Listed Below
• Develop community resource persons to build local capacity and support sustainable development efforts-Pashu Sakhi, Krishi Sakhis, Agri Business Centre.
• Enhance the skills, knowledge, and operational effectiveness of farmer groups through structured knowledge-sharing initiatives.

Promote collaboration among government bodies, NGOs, community organizations, and stakeholders to optimize resource utilization and create synergies for shared progress.