The Vedanta Aluminium has been transforming the lives of farmers in Jharsuguda through its ‘Jeevika Samriddhi’ project. This initiative is envisaged as a sustainable livelihood project in agriculture, which aims to introduce small and marginal farmers to better, more efficient and sustainable methods of farming, thereby increasing their quantum of yield and sustained return on agricultural investments.
Now in the second phase of its operations, the project has positively impacted over 300 farming households across five villages, Siriapali, Keldamal, Gudigaon, Katikela and Kurebaga.
The project has had a far-reaching impact on the agricultural landscape of the region, including:
Monthly income of 77% of the farmers has increased by nearly 50%
Most of the farmers involved in the project, are engaged in cultivation round the year due to improved irrigation facilities
Farmers are now less dependent on monsoons for cropping
Adoption of cash crops has also increased, contributing to better revenues for the farmers
Increase in diversity of crops produced, with farmers being provided resources for new vegetables
In the last fiscal, more than 20 trainings (4,400 training hours) were imparted to the farmers by agricultural scientists from Krishi Vigyan Kendra, horticulture officers from government line departments, etc; on areas such as crop planning and management, post-harvest management, Package of Practices (PoP), etc.
Vedanta, Jharsuguda CEO Sunil Gupta said, “Our Jeevika Samridhhi project is fast becoming a holistic solution for farmers to improve yield and household income.”