Dantewada, a tribal district in Chhattisgarh, is on an extraordinary journey to become a 100% organic district. This remarkable transformation has been catalysed by Nirmaan Organization by working closely with the local district administration since 2016.
We are launching a crowdfunding campaign this year to further this mission and invite you to join us in supporting Dantewada's Organic Revolution.
Together, we can create a sustainable and organic future for this district and a model that can be replicated in similar areas in central India.
The Journey so far:
- Chemical-Free Transition: To declare Dantewada an organic district, the Government of Chhattisgarh has taken substantial steps, including ensuring that no government agencies engage in the promotion, or distribution of chemical inputs. Furthermore, licenses for private agencies in this regard have also been discontinued
- Targeting every village: Out of 227 Dantewada villages, 119 are chemical-free, with Gram Sabhas declaring them organic. We're working to support these villages and aiming to convert the rest to organic.
- Area under Certification: A total of 65,000 ha in 110 villages is undergoing Large Area Certification (LAC), the largest in India. Additionally, In the past 5 years, 8875 farmers, including 50% women and 80% tribal members, received PGS organic certification.
Creation of a trained field cadre: Over the past 5 years, we've established a cadre of 130 village youth trained in organic farming, serving as a strong backbone for scaling up organic farming efforts in the region
- Bhoomgaadi, A farmers' enterprise: Established with Nirmaan's support, Bhoomgaadi has over 3100 members, comprising 80% tribal and 30% women farmers. It aims to connect 30+ indigenous organic products to the market.
Why we need you support?
- Long-term engagement with farmers: Converting a sizable region like Dantewada into organic and strengthening of farmers' livelihood requires a sustained engagement of dedicated professionals and field cadre, along with patient investment of resources over long term
- Seeds-to-market ecosystem for 110 villages under LAC: The farmers from these villages need comprehensive support including systematic work on indigenous seeds, continuous hand-holding by field cadre in every village, organic certification, and assistance in market linkage.
- Persuading remaining villages towards organic: The farmers in the remaining 117 villages of Dantewada also need persuasion toward organic through awareness campaigns, training, and technical support.
- Demonstrating Sustainability: We aim to work with 1000 model farmers to demonstrate that food security, better nutrition, and enhanced incomes can be achieved through sustainable agriculture techniques.
- Professionalizing market linkage: To connect larger volumes of organic produce to markets, we need to provide better professional handholding to Bhoomgaadi.
Your support is going fill the critical gap especially in professional human resources and field cadre which is often overlooked by government and supporting agencies but is a backbone of all our efforts.
