Briefly describe the development challenge that will be addressed/solved

by the innovations??
Small and marginal farmers form a majority of Bihars rural population. They have
few resources, usually less than an acre and little livestock. These farmers have
been growing drought tolerant food crops, mostly paddy and cash crops with very
low investment in improved seeds, fertilisers and plant protection measures,
resulting in poor yields and low returns. Fragmented land holdings, heavy depletion
of soil productivity, inefficient use of water resources, out-dated agricultural
production technologies, unavailability of agricultural credit and lack of
infrastructure for post harvest management and marketing of agricultural produce,
are the other factors which further suppress their agricultural production. Due to low
agricultural productivity, these small and marginal farmers as well as about 15 to
18% landless families living in rural areas, are unable to generate remunerative
employment and about 40% families are forced to live in poverty. For these small
holders and landless, livestock has been a source of supplementary income.
However, over 75% of the animals are uneconomical due to severe genetic erosion,
inadequate feeding and poor veterinary care. With lower crop and livestock
productivity, the employment opportunities in the farming and other related sectors
are reduced further, leading to reduction in farm wages, seasonal employment,
malnutrition and migration. With lack of food security, poor families are compelled
to migrate to cities in distress, keeping their agricultural lands fallow. Distress
migration will also deprive the women and children of their basic needs such as
shelter, safe drinking water and health care, which will affect their quality of life.
The children will discontinue their education and end up as child labour and illiterate
unemployed youth of the future. Thus, improving the agricultural productivity of
small land holders can play a key role in ensuring food security and improving the
quality of life in Bihar.
We have identified three districts Gaya, Nawada and Banka where agriculture
practices as well as the condition of farmers require immediate attention.
Geographically, the area is suitable for vegetable production and there are existing
markets as well as established connects that makes it suitable for our intervention.
The objectives of our intervention will be as follows :

Improve household food, nutrition and livelihood security

Improve food, livelihood and income diversity
Improve ecological sustainability
Strengthen the local economy

Briefly describe the proposed innovative solution?

Current Scenario:

Farm

Farm

Foo
d

Home
Foo
d

vegetables

Backyard Farming of

Stra
Food

Livestock

Marke

At present, the assets of a small holder farmer in the target districts is a farm of
very small size which is used for paddy or other cash crops, little livestock and a
small backyard farm of vegetables for personal consumption. Data shows that the
density of livestock per square km in Bihar ranges from 120 to more than 200.
We have observed that the production of paddy and cash crops is becoming
extremely difficult as the area is mostly rainfed with unpredictable weather
patterns. The produce of small holding farmers is decreasing every year making it
inevitable for them to migrate. The produce of the backyard farming and livestock
so far has been only used for personal consumption.
In or innovation, we propose the concept of mixed farming, an idea inspired from
nature, through collaboration, multilayer arrangements and carefully combining
different elements. We propose the introduction of vegetable production to increase
the crop diversity as well as integrating it with rearing of livestock. They are
combined in such a way and proportion that each element helps the other ; the
waste of one is recycled as resource for the other.
Current Scenario:
Say a farmer has one field which provides the family with rice for personal
consumption and he can sell some surplus in the market. His cow is getting some
fodder from straw. He may also get some milk for his children and some vegetables
from backyard farming.

The future farm: Our proposed innovation

We make simple changes like introducing a compost pit for the dung to be
processed into the fertilizer helping the farmer to realize immediate benefits
from savings on chemical fertilizers.
We also introduce them to vegetable farming and with the help of best
practices suitable for the area, demonstrate and implement vegetable
cultivation helping them to earn higher incomes.
The incomes thus generated can be used for the introduction of more
livestock and poultry thus creating a two way subsystem interdependent on
each other.
Along with the planning of an integrated farm, we would also set up an AgriBusiness Centre which would serve as the focal point between farmers and
market. It would provide a connect with the market for both farm produce as
well as livestock produce, eliminating middlemen and vendors, thus
improving the profit margins of the farmers by removing information
asymmetry.

What are the expected Activities and Outcome of the Proposed Project?
Factors that constrain goat production include: - lack of farmer organization into
goat production groups to increase productivity, lack of access to improved breeds
and crosses, lack of cross-breeding between exotic and local breeds to improve the
local breed, lack of smallholder goat fattening practices to increase size and quality
of the local goat, poor animal husbandry practices e.g. housing, feeding, and
disease control, poor linkages to markets, and lack of effective approaches to
broaden goat ownership at community level.
Poultry production is mainly affected by poor farmer organization into poultry
groups, lack of access to improved breeds and crosses to improve the local breeds,
lack of commercial-oriented production of eggs and meat under smallholder farming
systems, poor husbandry practices, and poor linkages to markets.
Activities: The activities will be divided in 3 phases with a number of short term
objectives in each phase.
Phase 1: Understanding and Preparing the community though communication and
dialogue.

Walking together with the community helping them realize their own
resources and possibilities of improvement.
Selection of farmers and resource farmers and forming and strengthening
groups
Understanding the production cycles, seasonality of weather, scarcity months
in the villages

Phase 2: Joint Planning of the Farm

Creating resource maps of the villages

Understanding the flow diagram of the project and how each element
supports the other in integrated farming
Individual farmers will be assessing their resources and form action plans and
identify capacity building needs

Phase 3: Capacity building and mobilization of farmers

Farmers learn from trainers and/or each other about various skills required for
establishing a farm and apply them on their field.
Farmers Groups will learn how to track/monitor the progress of their farms
and make any modifications if required
Training programmes will be conducted broadly on following topics
1. Group/ ABC management skills
o Standard operating processes
o Operational & management skills
2. Internal savings and lending skills
3. Basic market skills
o Logistics
o Pricing
o Planning
4. Innovation and experimentation skills
5. Sustainable production and natural resource management skills
o Modern and better vegetable cultivation practices
o Post harvest management of vegetables
o Crop Planning
6. Preparation of fertilizers (Focused on Women)
a. Vermi-composting
b. Heat pit/ Compost
c. Liquid manure
7. Livestock Management including livestock shelter and fodder(Focused
on Women)

Phase 4: Setting up of Rural Agri-Busines Centres that will perform the following
functions:
1. Identification of market for farmers produce
2. Facilitate market information dissemination to all the stakeholders to stimulate
production of vegetables and livestock produce
3. Identification and creation of post harvest management and marketing
infrastructure like collection centers, logistics or transport , appropriate processing
center for both vegetables and livestock
4. Developing and establishing a system of vegetableand livestock produce
procurement from farmers
5. Developing and creation of a system for fast distribution and selling of vegetables
and livestock produce
6. Development of integrated marketing plan

7. Development of post harvest vegetables package of practices to reduce losses

and to increase the efficiency & effectiveness of the supply chain
8. Creation of an integrated vegetable and livestock supply chain
Short-term Outcome
Community understands the project purpose and farmers try to locate their
own resources and improvement areas
Framers learn various simple techniques and methods to manage their own
farms making them self sufficient.
Farmers take responsibility of their own land under the monitoring of the
farmer groups and involvement in the project is increased
Long Term Outcomes

All farmers are member of a farmer group and farmers are actively
participating in the peer learning process of capacity building following step
by step farm planning process
Farmers are following improved sustainable agriculture practices
Local vegetables are promoted and the diversity of these are increased
Food availability is increased
Diet diversity is increased
Household income is increased

Developmental Impacts

Improvement in family income with adoption of vegetable production and

livestock
Reduction of risk through income diversity, guaranteeing a buffer against
trade, prices and climate fluctuations
Better health of the family though improved and diversified nutrients
Reduction in production costs of the farmers by reducing the dependence of
external sources for farm inputs thus increasing profits
Economic, through crop diversification with higher yield and quality at lower
cost
Ecological, through reduction of crop pests and reduced use of fertilizers
Social, through the reduction of rural-urban migration and creation of new job
opportunities in rural areas

16. Impact of the innovation on the base of the Pyramid Population

(include a description of who will benefit directly from the innovation and
how they will benefit)

The selection criteria for the project will be as follows:

Small and Marginal Farmer dominated area

Social factors: Indigenous/Dalit/ minority community whose access to
mainstream resources/transportation/market is limited
Economic factors: Land holding is small/assets are limited/ uses outdated
technology in production system
Environmental factors: Disaster prone area like droughts and unpredictable
rainfall are prevalent and threats of climatic changes are high

The small holding farmers in the three districts Gaya, Nawada and Banka have been
practicing rain-fed traditional cropping for a long time without any farm planning.
Paddy, which is a major source of income, is usually unsuccessful because of
frequent delays, unpredictable monsoon, falling productivity of land and increasing
cost of cultivation. So along with buying of vegetables they are also buying cereals
to feed their family leading up to a huge loan which makes survival difficult.
With the adoption of vegetable farming, and the modern and easily accessible
techniques of farming, they can increase their income considerably. Simultaneously
integrating their vegetable cultivation with rearing of livestock will reduce their
dependence on external source for fertilizers thus bringing down their input costs
and thus a higher profit margin. It will also improve the nutritional content of their
diet and reduce the risk of their income.

Livestock incomes enable poor households to buy cheap grains and tubers for
the bulk of their meals, as well as some highly nourishing vegetables.
Consumption of even very modest amounts of vegetables and milk, meat and
eggs helps nourish people subsisting largely on cheap grains and tubers,
particularly very young children and women of child-bearing years.
The point is to enable poor households to diversify the foods they consume
and to incorporate modest amounts of more nourishing foods in cheap,
starchy staple diets.

Smallholder livestock and vegetable production offers the following opportunities :

Nutritious foods for the malnourished.

Market opportunities to meet high urban demand.
Income opportunities for women and youth.
Expands household incomes.
Generates jobs.
Makes use of organic urban waste and wastewater.
Can be considered organic and supplied to niche markets.

17. Which indicators (see section 1.3 of the Innovation Solicitation

Document) will the innovation impact? (Only list the indicators. You do not
need to include targets. (Maximum of 3000 characters))
Agriculture/Food Security:

Increased farmer incomes (including women farmers) as a result of applying

new technologies or management practices
Technologies and processes to provide low cost infrastructure and business
models on food storage and processing, mainly in the perishable food sector
Improved access to age-appropriate safe and nutritious food

18. What steps shall be taken to make the project scalable and
sustainable? (Maximum of 3000 characters)
The Agri-Business Centres have enormous potential provided they are created for a
specific need of the community which in this case would be promotion f the dual
purpose integration of vegetable farming and livestock cultivation. Some elements
that can help make this business centres scalable and sustainable are :
Comprehensive Understanding of Rural Markets: Rural markets involve both
economic and social transaction. We place a lot of importance in understanding the
connections and operations of rural markets before conceptualizing a system. Use
of local population as much as possible has helped the network to get acceptance
closely.
Designing a WIN-WIN transaction model : The success ABCs comes from the
condition in which both the farmer and the processor share the benefits coming out
of the elimination of middle men and due to timely information availability.
Leveraging the logistics channels and existing resources: The existing
logistics of the rural markets are leveraged but they are not able to exploit the
information asymmetry (unlike that in a conventional market). In that sense ABCs
uses the local institutions but eliminates the information asymmetry. They can also
asses the resources of the community to find the most suitable package of practices
in their area.
Selection of Sanchalak: Both the selection of Sanchalak and the acceptance of
Sanchalak by the community are very critical for the success of an ABC. Sanchalak
is the interface for maintaining the platform. For the farmer the Sanchalak is the
centre. Training and sensitizing him for the crucial role has been the main reason for
the acceptance of the Sanchalak by the farmers. Sanchalak, thus, acts as
coordinator of the knowledge community, and a representative of farming
community.

Bottom-up model for entrepreneurship: ABCs encourages enormous amount of

creativity at the local level along with local entrepreneurship stimulation. The
farmer and Sanchalak are free to use the ABCs and develop new uses.
Training and Capacity Building: Capacity building through on ground IT training
for rural communities and capacitating the farmers and the lead farmers in modern
practices is a critical step in making an ABC sustainable, so that the farmers:

Become innovative, self-reliant, analytic and technologically sound;

Are capacitated to assess their own resource, strengths and stress factors
and come up with a improvement areas and methodologies that suit their
needs
Are trained through principles of modern farming techniques with multiple
skills and equipped with knowledge required to realize and improve their own
farms
Work in groups and form cooperatives to strengthen solidarity among the
community.

Provide Linkages: To enable scalability and sustainability, it is important to

provide linkages for further expansion of activities. The task can only be completed
by aligning & putting thrust on all levers, crucial for providing solutions to existing
challenges of desirability, affordability, accessibility & acceptability among the rural
masses. This will be implemented trough the creation of following networks:

Partnering with government for convergence of various government & nongovernment projects
Leverage resources, funds & grants available through various rural
development schemes
Provide rural micro credit for setting up the kiosk at ABCs and extend banking
related services through the network
Identify, nurture and build capacity in organizations willing to run chain of
kiosks in rural areas.
Critically examine various interventions & provide future directions and policy
advice, apart from evangelizing the effectiveness of the interventions

19. Measuring Impact (How will you measure progress toward your project
goals/impact? What is your approach to project evaluation? (Maximum of
3000 characters))

There will be two sets of evaluation: One which the farmer group will do in groups at
regular intervals. The other will be done by the Project Monitoring Committee.
Farmer Group Monitoring tool: Wheel/Web Diagram
1. The parameters can be decided based on the objectives of the project as follows:
a. Area under vegetable production
b. No external fertilizer input
c. Number of bio-digester
d. Training received
e. Group/Co-operative activities
f. Income by selling products
g. Etc
2. The criteria can be redefined by the group.
3. The farmers can give 0-5 according to their understanding of the progress.
4. This can be used as a community monitoring tool as a baseline, midline and
endline.
The blue line is the baseline and the
red line indicates our progress.

The following methods would be used

by the management Committee for
evaluation

Questionnaire & survey

Direct Observation
Case Studies
Most significant change
Spatial distributed information
o Photograph & Video
Analysis linkages &
relationships

M&E wheel or Spider web

Mapping on different indicators

over period of time
SWOT window for farmers &
FPCs
o At every six months
Ladder related to specific
indicators qualitative
comparison of before and after
situation
ABC maturity indices