COMMUNITY SERVICES UNIT
Realising that to avoid preventable diseases education and awareness is important, we started out community service initiatives that include community health and education, organic farming and other programs.
Visit of District Collector
to Asha Kiran Society
On February 18th, the Dist. Collector K Sudarshan Chakravarthy, visited Asha Kiran Society during the farmers training program under the aegis of Adrash Bagicha. The honourable Collector spent some time talking to the 138 farmers present, speaking to them about their difficulties, results and experience after adopting new farming practices. He encouraged the farmers to emulate the progressive mind-set and farming techniques adopted by farmers in Araku. He further directed the government officials to address the issues affecting the farmers participating in the project and encouraged them to actively participate and contribute to this endeavour. He expressed his happiness with the work done by the CSU team with regards to Adarsh Bagicha and congratulated the team for their role in transforming the agricultural practices of Koraput to a more sustainable and profitable model.
ADARSHA BAGICHA
(Model Farms)
In spite of being an almost exclusively agrarian community, archaic practices along with the use of inorganic fertilizers and deforestation were devastating the farms in the area.In 2010 CSU introduced the adarsh bagicha or model farm concept which promotes agro-forestry, multi-cropping and organic farming with an emphasis on land and water conservation. There are now 236 farmers working with us. Noting the superior yield throughout the year with this model of farming, the district administration has begun to be involved.
PARTNERSHIPS AND ADVOCACY
CSU is working with other NGOs of Koraput and the district administration to convert 500 acres of arid land across Koraput district into Adarsh Bagicha farms under the MGNREGA scheme. We have worked out linkages with different departments of the Government to access forest and horticulture saplings and with the Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology for trainings of farmers. Through a partnership with Dhan foundation, Madurai, an opportunity was made available to train farmers in SLI method of intensifying millet production, a staple crop of this area.
