Regional Center for Development Cooperation

There are often renewable resources available, in forests for example, that can provide communities with an income if they are managed properly and marketed effectively. By developing production of NTFPs,pressure on forest timber as a source of income is reduced and communities are able to have a sustainable, forest-friendly livelihood base.

RCDC has become a leading organisation in Odisha on NTFPs: from implementation at the grassroots to knowledge and expertise in the international arena. Our current NTFP field operations are based in Kalahandi, Nuapada, Koraput, Malkangiri and Rayagada districts of Odisha – overseen by our Koraput Regional Office.

How our NTFP work has evolved

During 1990s we, along with different CBOs and NGOs, began bringing greater attention of government and civil society to NTFP policy, management and trade. We carried out several studies and mobilised different stakeholders to fight for appropriate changes in NTFP policy, particularly for the liberalisation of collection and trade.

After the declaration of a special NTFP Policy in 2000 (State of Orissa), our work on NTFP has been focused on the implementation of the policy through :

Support and facilitate initiatives on forest produce through cooperatives.
Creating an alternative arrangement for marketing of NTFP.
Working on market intelligence.
Product development.
Sustainable NTFP harvesting, processing and management protocols.
Promoting community managed NTFP enterprises.
Working with other stakeholders to come up with a uniform NTFP policy for all Central Indian States.

By developing the production and marketing of NTFP as a livelihood resource, we have been helping communities have a more sustainable and forest-friendly livelihood base. Over the years, RCDC has helped form NTFP cooperatives (and federations of those cooperatives) with the objective of enabling forest-dependent communities to control and manage their NTFP and agricultural produce.

Producing and trading NTFPs :

Enabling primary collectors and their federated bodies to manage and market NTFPs and agriculture produce available in their area.
Reducing the number of intermediaries in the procurement and trade of NTFP.
Building linkages between NTFP producers with marketing and financial institutions.
Creating and strengthening primary collectors and producers engaged in the production and sale of NTFPs.
Helping local cooperatives to get involved in both raw materials trading as well the sale of value-added goods that use NTFPs.
Developing sustainable, alternative marketing frameworks for NTFPs.

We have formed 30 Self Help Cooperatives (SHCs), covering 70 GPs in 18 blocks of five districts -reaching more than 14,000 families.

Ensuring a forest-friendly approach

We aim to secure the ecological health of the forest by making communities understand the need for a sustainable approach to cultivation. We train cooperatives in, and create protocols on, sustainable forest management and NTFP harvesting, as well as working with communities to document forest flora species.

Influencing policy

We also put pressure on government to make favourable policies in relation to NTFP as an enterprise, and we enable communities, cooperatives and other stakeholders to take part in active policy analysis and debates.

We have had policy-level interactions with relevant ministries (such as the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Environment & Forest, and Ministry of Rural Development) on issues of enterprise development, marketing and minimum support price of NTFP, policy issues in forest and environmental governance, and livelihood development strategies.

Our policy and advocacy work on NTFP also involves :

Generating public pressure and advocate for proper implementation of PanchayatExtension to Schedule Areas Act (PESA), Forest Rights Act (FRA) and other schemes.
Monitoring and analysing government and non-government programmes, schemes and developments and making appropriate interventions to facilitate livelihood security.
Advocating for the formulation and implementation of pro-poor and gender-equal forest-based livelihoods policies and programmes.
Lending resource support to government and NGOs on NTFP value addition, marketing and forest-based livelihoods through research, analysis, dissemination and other communication.

Banajata the website www.banajata.org presents information on NTFP management and trade, with particular relevance for Odisha.

Odisha depends on agriculture

Odisha has about 6.4 million hectares of cultivable land, but its agriculture sector is underdeveloped and its productivity levels among the lowest in India. Around 2.9 million hectares of cultivable land have been identified with acute soil erosion and quality problems. Around 62% ofOdisha’s workforce continues to directly engage in the agriculture sector for employment.

With increasing climatic changes and the impact of widespread modern farming techniques, many farmers are now in debt and communities face food shortages. Our sustainable agriculture targets those most in need in Odisha – the rural poor.

Promoting traditional methods

We understand that traditional agricultural wisdom and practices are people-friendly (in terms of health and cost) and environment sensitive. We promote the following:

Organic Agriculture.
Vermi-compost techniques and natural liquid manure.
Systematic Rice Intensification (SRI) methods of paddy cultivation.
Small-scale self-sustaining farming, including kitchen gardens.
Crop diversification.
Low-cost technology.
Quality seed replacement, avoiding genetically modified and monoculture varieties.
Grain and seed banks for community storage and to guard against productivity fluctuations.

Over the years, we have perfected a strategy for the promotion of ecological farming - with a clear focus on enhancing agricultural productivity and maintaining crop diversity with and reducing dependency on external actors.

Capacity building and income generation

We enable people to generate income through agricultural channels. Communities help us to identify those most in need and we actively support them through a number means to generate income security :

Forming and strengthening Farmers’ Committees, Food Security Committees and Self Help Groups, which make key decisions, act as united fronts and manage community funds. With them, we run training programmes and encourage entrepreneurial activities.
Building the capacity of farmers in traditional practices and monitoring progress.
Linking eligible people with relevant government schemes, particularly the National Horticulture Mission.
Supplying vulnerable families with poultry, pig and goat stocks as a sustainable source of income.
Developing and promoting models for integrated farming and community food security for widespread implementation.

Research and Advocacy

In order to make a broader impact, we also do the following :

Conduct research on agriculture and food security and share our learning.
Monitor, analyse and disseminate government food and employment programmes, schemes and investments.
Keep on eye on food schemes of organisationssuch as the World  Bank, Asian Development Bank, DFID and USAID.
Make appropriate interventions at different levels – primarily through networks and linkages at lower levels and through lobbying and advocacy at the higher policy formulation levels.
Advocate for a proper Right to Food Act and its implementation.

For more information on our sustainable agriculture work, take a look at our Balangir and Nabarangpur pages

Enhancing Access to Government Schemes and Programmes

There are a number of government schemes that are designed to improve livelihoods for the poor. RCDC works extensively to enable CBOs and their apex bodies at the block and panchayat level to mobilise government schemes and programmes, particularly relating to food, livelihood and social security.

We play a supportive and catalytic role, facilitating dialogue between government department officials and the community, to ensure eligible persons get what they are legally entitled to.

Village micro-plans, which incorporate the list of eligible beneficiaries under different food and social security schemes (namely MGNREGS, FRA, Vasundhara, Mo Jami Mo Diha, Indira AwasYojna, Mo Kudia, etc.), are annually updated which helps in assessing the initiatives taken by such village institutions. Based upon the village micro-plan, an annual plan is developed and activities chalked out on the basis of their priorities.