NGO Participation

Our Appeal

The Sundarbans, a UNESCO heritage sight known for its biodiversity and ecology, is characterized by severe poverty, which “both contributes to and arises from the population’s vulnerability to a growing range of natural hazards.” Depletion of forestry resources, cutting wood for fuel and other purposes, overfishing, and destruction of mangroves in Sundarbans for livelihoods have caused substantial damage, which is extremely difficult to arrest or reverse.

Climate change has exacerbated the region further, causing increased frequency of cyclones, sea level rise, and increased soil salinity, severely affecting agriculture and freshwater fisheries, the primary livelihood for people living in this climatic hazardous zone. This calls for developing climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture and fisheries-based livelihood development programs that provide gainful employment on the one hand and help preserve the ecology on the other.

• million people live in the Sundarbans, which has 54 habitable islands with limited livelihood opportunities to people living there. Farmers mostly have small plot holdings where they cultivate agricultural produce and grow fish in small The volume produced by individual farmers is not large enough to have bargaining power in the marketplace. They sell their produce mainly to the local market at a lower price without a structured value chain. As a result, they earn a meagre amount from selling their produce in the local market or intermediaries and struggle to meet ends. Poor average household earnings of 3731/ per month coupled with limited access to credit (only 42% have some access)² reflect the poverty level in this region, causing local youths to migrate to other states.

Many grow vegetables in their small holdings and in the absence of cold storage they often sell in the local market at throwaway prices, causing such low income for farmers. Against this backdrop, we propose the following clean energy-based interventions on a pilot basis to provide access to cold storage and soil testing facilities to increase productivity and profitability.

Innovative Clean Energy-based Intervention:

A few social innovation start-ups of the incubation center of IIT Kanpur have come up with unique clean energy-based low-cost vegetable storage solutions that keep the fruits and vegetables after harvest at 20°C and maintain adequate moisture levels so products are not harmed by outside heat. Another 3 MT solar power run cold storage has been developed by Sabzi Kothi, the innovator, is ideal for Sundarbans as it consumes very little energy and islands do not need large cold storage considering the existing supply chain at the village level, where the transport system is small boats. Low-cost soil testing facilities are a critical issue for farmers to identify what they will grow, as soil salinity is very high and understanding salinity level helps identify types of vegetables to grow for better productivity and profitability. XXX another social innovation by the incubation centre of IIT is ideal for smallholder farmers of Sundarbans.

Against this backdrop, Impact360 proposes a pilot with 12 cool storage, one 3MT energy efficient solar cold storage and four soil testing instruments to help Sundarbans farmers to store their vegetables, which they are unable to do now and resort to distress sale most of the time. This clean energy innovation will help farmers avoid distress sales, increase profitability and reduce post-harvest loss.

Target Location: Kakdwip, Namkhana and Patharpratima.

No of farmers to be benefitted: 500

Project cost: Rs 25 lacs.

Contact Details

DEBASISH RAY CHOUDHURI

• Phone: 9674175592
• Email: debasish.raychoudhuri@impact-360.org.in

Website Details

• Website Link: www.impact-360.org.in