Creating wealth for poor farmers
Vision
To reduce poverty and create sustainable income for small and marginal farmers.
Mission
To move one million small and marginal farmers from poverty to middle income group.
India is primarily an agricultural country, and our farmers are the very backbone of agriculture, but unfortunately, most of our farmers are reduced to being agricultural labourers. These poor farmers have a look of despair, barely a smile on their face, and hardly any hope in their heart, they are condemned to a miserable life. These farmers usually own lands that are less than one acre, or even a half acre, so they work on the farms of other people, for very low daily wages. The poor farmer usually has a large family to support and accumulates a lot of debt. these families rarely have two meals a day, they usually don’t have any possessions, not even proper clothes to wear, and if they fall ill, they cannot afford medicine or treatment. these farmers are caught up in a vicious cycle of bad loans and are unable to come out of this situation.
The small farmer (owning less than 2 acres of land) is the most vulnerable in rural Indian society.They make up most of the 58% of rural population (approx. 700 million people) that depend on agriculture for their means of livelihood. Technology and progress have bypassed them, supporting the big farmer and the agri businesses more than the small farmer, and it is not a level playing field by any means. A single mishap, be it the weather, an accident or a health condition, can easily drive these farmers to the money lenders, and future jeopardy. More small farmers today are committing suicide than ever before.
Is there a real solution to solve the farmer crisis? Is there an agriculture model to generate a regular income and liberate them from money lenders?
Inspired by the late Prof Antony Davis, a pioneer in coconut breeding from the US, David Lobo, (founder of DASF) decided to begin coconut breeding in 1984, on 80 hectares of his farm. It took six years to develop the first hybrid seedling, but since then, his team have successfully developed hybrid coconut palms that offer thrice the economic yield of regular palms and have been a boon for financially distressed farmers, transforming more than 5,000 lives.
At DASF, it is our sincere endeavour to provide solutions for the poor, marginalized and small farmers in despair, without whom we would not have food on our tables. Until we can reach out to the entire farming community, we will continue to help one farmer at a time.
Livelihood Income Generation Program for Tiger Widows- 2015
The Sundarbans in Bengal (Bangladesh and West Bengal) is the largest single block of tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world. The area is also known for a wide variety of wildlife, most notably the Royal Bengal tiger. Until a few decades ago, it was a fine example of how man and nature can live and thrive together. Due to climate change, however, soil erosion and accretion has adversely impacted human life in the region. Man-made hazards such as setting up power plants in the area, intensive agriculture, and unplanned growth of shrimp culture have endangered the lives of wildlife in the Sundarbans, most critically that of the tiger.
It is hardly a surprise, then, that the feline animal is venturing into human habitat more often than ever, leading to lot of unfortunate face-offs between the two species. More and more incidents of the tiger attacking humans in the region are being reported. On an average, tiger attacks lead to 50 deaths every year, most of them men, who venture out of home for work. These deaths lead to entire families losing their sole bread earner and dip further below the poverty line. These widowed women then face a bleak future and are at a loss when it comes to providing for the family after their husbands have been killed by the tiger. There are several instances of the crocodile killing the earning member of a family.
- Project Proponent : Deejay Agri Support Foundation
- Project Location : Sundarbans- West Bengal
- Project Date : 15th March, 2015
- Covered Beneficiaries : 300 Tiger Widows at Sundarbans
- Objective of the Project :To provide sustainable income to 300 tiger widows family
- Project Time Frame: (i). The project duration was for 3 years (from 2015- 2018), however the organization has been giving the required technical input on cultivation aspect to ensure good growth of the seedlings even after the project time frame.
Project Event:
- The event was coordinated by the WPSI Wildlife Protection Society of India.
- The event was conducted by Kolkata- based Sustainable Green Initiative (SGI).
- Held at Kalitala Gram Panchayat in the Sundarbans
Attendees:
- Soumitra Dasgupta- IFS, CCT & Filed Director.
- Dr. Kishor Makar- IFS, Dy. Field Director, Sundarbans Tiger Reserve.
- Mr. David Lobo- Founder & Chairman, Deejay Agri Support Foundation.
Project Details
As a step to help and assist the Tiger Widows women find livelihood, Deejay Agri Support Foundation, distributed 1000 Deejay Sampoorna ® Hybrid Coconut seedlings to about 300 families on March 15, 2015. The seedlings flower in one-third the time and yield three times more produce. They are also much shorter at about five feet. The families will nurture these seedlings and will be able to sell the produce for a profit.
Future Impact
- The coconut palm can give an assured monthly income, consistently and over the next 50 years, eliminating the risks from an otherwise unsure annual or bi-annual income.
- 10 Deejay Hybrid palms gives small farmers a financial security.
- These hybrid palms help farmers to generate approx. monthly income of Rs. 3000/- from its 4th year of yield from its plantation.
- This income will reduce the dependency of small farmers and gives significant support such as clearing small debts, more investment in primary crop(s), etc. in future.
Livelihood and Income Generation Program for small & Marginal Farmers- 2018
In India, nearly 70% of farmers are small. About 67% of farmers hold less than one acre of land. CSDS (Centre for the Study of Developing Societies) report says about 76% of farmers want to give up farming.
So many of our farmers fall into this category. Many of them – who feed the rest of us- they themselves go hungry. Debt enforced by circumstances outside their control, failure of the rains, and collapse of their crops, makes suffering and hunger their constant companion. Sadly many are forced to take the fatal way out! For generation after generation, this situation continues.
To reduce this situation and bring the change, DASF has launched a project under Farmer-Support-Farmer program. The project aims to eradicate the poverty of small and marginal farmers and leverage them a monthly stable income approx. of Rs. 3000.
- Project Proponent: Deejay Agri Support Foundation
- Project Location: Maragowdanahalli, HD Kote, Mysore dist. Karnataka.
- Project Date: 15th August, 2018 & 10th December, 2018
- Project Objective: To provide 217 women farmers with Financial Stability & Security
- Project Partner: Jaya Organic Yojana, Bengaluru
- Project Time Frame: The project duration is for 3 years (from 2018- 2021), however the organization will provide required technical input such as cultivation guidelines even after the project time frame
Project Event:
- The event was organized by DASF & JOY.
- The event was conducted at Maragawdanahalli, HD Kote, Mysore.
- DASF helped with distribution of 600 Deejay Sampoorna ® Hybrid Coconut seedlings & JOY helped with distribution of basic inputs (Trichoderma & Vermicompost) to the farmers.
Attendees:
- Alok Sulakhe- Project Manage, Deejay Agri Support Foundation
- Paulose – COO, Jaya Organic Yojana
- Raghavendra- Training Manager, Jaya Organic Yojana
- DASF & JOY staff and others.
Project Details
DASF has a vison of moving one million poor farmers from poverty to the middle income group. With this vision, DASF launched a project Farmer-Support-Farmer program on August 15th, 2018, under which a distribution of 600 Deejay Sampoorna ® Hybrid Coconut seedlings to 60 small farmers has been carried out. These farmers are in HD Kote of Mysore dist., Karnataka.
Similarly, on 10th December 2018, DASF launched one more program to provide 157 poor farmers with financial security and stability by distributing 1570 Deejay Hybrid® Coconut seedlings at HD Kote & Nanjangud of Mysore dist., Karnataka.
This Hybrid Coconut is early flowering bearer and produce the nuts from end of 3rd year of its plantation and can yield around 200 to 250 nuts per tree/ year which contributes to significant higher earning than the normal ‘Tall’ coconut tree.
We believe, this project will provide a monthly stable income approx. of Rs. 3000 which will help reduce the poor farmers’ dependency in near future.
Future Impact
- The coconut palm can give an assured monthly income, consistently and over the next 50 years, eliminating the risks from an otherwise unsure annual or bi-annual income.
- 10 Deejay Hybrid palms gives small farmers a financial security.
- These hybrid palms help farmers to generate approx. monthly income of Rs. 3000/- from its 4th year of yield from its plantation.
- This income will reduce the dependency of small farmers and gives significant support such as clearing small debts, more investment in primary crop(s), etc. in future.
Livelihood and Income Generation Program for small & Marginal Farmers- 2019
- Project Proponent: Deejay Agri Support Foundation
- Project Location: Maragowdanahalli & Yathambadi, Mandya dist. Karnataka.
- Project Date: 13th Feb, 2019
- Project Objective: To provide 98 women farmers with Financial Stability & Security
- Project Partner: Jaya Organic Yojana, Bengaluru
- Project Time Frame: The project duration is for 3 years (from 2019- 2022), however the organization will provide required technical input such as cultivation guidelines even after the project time frame.
Project Event:
- The event was organized by DASF & JOY
- The event was conducted at HD Kote & Nanjangud, Mysore.
- DASF helped to 157 poor farmers with distribution of 1570 Deejay Sampoorna® Hybrid Coconut seedlings & JOY helped with distribution of basic inputs (Trichoderma & Vermicompost) to farmers.
Attendees:
- Alok Sulakhe- Project Manager, DASF, Bengaluru
- Paapanna- Field Executive, Jaya Organic Yojane, Bengaluru
- DASF & JOY staff and others.
Project Details
From the immense response and interest, DASF launched its third project Farmer-Support-Farmer program on February 13th, 2019, under which a distribution of 980 Deejay Sampoorna® Hybrid Coconut seedlings to 98 small farmers has been carried out. These farmers are in Maragowdanahalli of Mandya dist., Karnataka
With all the 3 four projects, DASF has distributed a total of 4150 Deejay Sampoorna® Hybrid Coconut seedlings involving 300 tiger widows and 315 poor farmers.
“KALPAVRUKSHADHARA”
Figure 1: 300 ornamental seedlings donated
Deejay Agri Support Foundation, a leading organisation in upgrading farmers in India, donated 300 ornamental seedlings to Association of People with Disability, in July, 2020. As part of its bunch of activities DASF distributed the hybrid coconut seedlings to people with Disability which makes them self –reliant.
As the name of the project itself resembles its significance, this project becomes the lifeline for the disabled persons of APD. APD have many mother plants planted and 3 propagation houses and 3 conservatories also there. Horticulture training program of APD is reaching to around 100 people every year. They are from various districts of Karnataka having less education and
no education with different disability types. Highly productive seedlings earn these 100 disabled livelihood and make them long term sustainable. Through APD, DASF reaches corner of the state Karnataka. Through this program it helps even small and marginal farmers who get seedlings from APD.
On 4th of August official launch of the program was done by the senior officials of the Deejay Agri Support Foundation.
Figure 2: Senior officials of DASF with disabled
LIVELIHOOD GENERATION PROJECT FOR 200 TRIBAL FAMILIES IN MASTIGUDI TRIBAL REHABILITATION CENTRE, BHEEMANAHALLI, HD KOTE TALUK, MYSORE DISTRICT, KARNATAKA
Figure 1: Officials distributing the seedlings in the event
Under this project, 200 Tribal families got 3 seedlings each. They are the survivors of Kabini Project by Government of Karnataka, who were allotted 600 acres of land, 3 acres each. Deejay seedlings will be cultivated in this 3 acre farm. They are the small and marginal farmers qualifies DASF criteria. It’s a livelihood generation project under which tribal families will benefit by the ornamental seedlings. Each seedlings after its flowering by third year will give 100 nuts per tree per year which will be an income source for the tribal family.
The Project was officially launched on 24th August by the Guests, viz., Mr. Rudresh, Deputy Director Horticulture Department, Mysore and Mr.Raveendra RFO, Mysore District, DASF team and JOY team during which the seedlings were handed over to 199 tribal families of Mastigudi Rehabilitation Centre.
The project duration is three years (2020-2023). During this cultivation period, DASF assists the farmers through JOY with technical team. It has provided cultivation guide in local language i.e., in Kannada to farmers through JOY. Also every grievances from farmers regarding cultivation will be directly by DASF or indirectly through JOY will be addressed in time till the completion of this project. Seedlings will start yielding from 3rd year which upgrades the income of the farmers.
Figure 4: Women farmers Representing 200 tribal families
Deejay Agri Support Foundation (DASF) a pioneer non-profit organisation in India had an opportunity to serve tribal families in Karnataka. Our partner for the project Jaya Organic Yojana (JOY) assisted DASF in finding beneficiaries. In this project Deejay Agri Support Foundation facilitated free issue of 600 coconut seedlings to 199 tribal families in Mastigudi Tribal Rehabilitation Centre, Bheemanahalli, HD Kote Taluk, Mysore District.
Figure 2: 600 seedlings delivered from DEEJAY Penaconda Nursery, Andhra Pradesh
Figure 3:Deejay team distributing seedlings to women farmers