The Seghal Foundation’s agricultural development program works to raise farm productivity while building resilience to climate change challenges faced by small and marginal farmers. In order to help farmers to sustainably produce more, the team focuses on improving water efficiency in agriculture by promoting micro irrigation techniques and building check dams to replenish the groundwater table. Projects actively engage women farmers and improve school infrastructures to contribute to holistic improvements in the community environment. Female empowerment and education are critical to the vitality of agricultural communities.

To scale reach and impact on the agriculture sector, the Krishi Jyoti (enlightened agriculture) project was initiated through a partnership between the S. M. Sehgal Foundation and Mosaic India Pvt. Ltd. The project aims to help farmers in India move out of poverty and achieve greater food security in the UP, Haryana, and Rajasthan states of India. It focuses on reaching out to traditional agrarian communities that struggle with low productivity to encourage farmers to adopt new technologies that will improve on-farm efficiency and improve their livelihoods.

The project began in two villages in 2008. As of July 2022, it has directly impacted the lives of 150,501 families in 155 villages across three states. It emphasizes the importance of promoting sustainable agriculture practices among smallholder farmers in rural hinterlands. These approaches can be replicated into other low productivity areas.

The solutions offered through the project address multiple dimensions of rural society, including agriculture development (soil health, balanced crop nutrition, and agriculture advice); water management (augmentation and conservation); and education (school transformation and upgrades).

Kitchen/ Nutri Gardens

Besides focusing on enhancing the total farm produce, the Krishi Jyoti project also works towards enhancing the nutrition of farmers and their families by supporting the planting of kitchen gardens by rural households.

Malnutrition is a concern in rural India, especially among smallholder and marginal farmer families. Improving household food security with balanced, accessible and acceptable foods can counteract nutritional deficiencies and improve health. To improve dietary quality, the project promotes kitchen gardens, which creates diverse food choices while also saving money since these foods would otherwise be purchased from the market. Farmer families, particularly women, are trained in kitchen gardening by being provided demonstrations.

Seven hundred kitchen gardens, 900 square feet each, have been established in 20 villages. The households have been provided with seeds for seasonal vegetables, fruit saplings of papaya, lemon and guava, and fencing material for protection of the plants from wild animals.

The project also supports improving the learning environment in government schools in the project villages, wherein basic infrastructure such as toilets for boys and girls, a safe drinking water system, playgrounds, and smart classes were developed. A total of 7,551 schoolchildren benefited from this program so far.

Impact and Sustainability

By providing training, access to inputs, and improved access to diverse foods, the project has led to an improvement of agricultural productivity of 20 to 30 percent. This has resulted in a 15-20% increase in farmers’ income.

The check dams have given a boost in the direction of replenishing groundwater, making water available for farming. A total of 133.66-million-liter annual water recharge capacity has been created since 2008.

The kitchen gardens have provided more vegetables and fruits to the village families. The average number of vegetable available before were 5 (mainly bottle guard, sponge guard, okra, pumpkin, lobia bean) after the intervention an additional 5 types of vegetables and two fruit plants were available. Money saved from buying vegetables per household was approximately INR 3804. Four hundred and thirty one women out of 700 women farmers had sold surplus vegetables in the market and earned an average annual amount INR 1540.

A Village Development Committee (VDC) was formed within each village. The VDC oversees all aspects of the project. The members participate in regular training offered by agricultural experts. A community contribution is collected by villagers and is deposited in the name of VDC. These fees are used for maintaining infrastructure in the long term. The school management committees (SMCs) are responsible for management and upkeep of school infrastructure. Capacity building of SMCs was conducted to maintain and improve any school infrastructure created in Krishi Jyoti project.