April - June, 2013Issue 8

Intercooperation Social Development India Page 1

What is new in Intercooperation!

Small holder dairy value chains for India

ICSD has been contracted by International Livestock ResearchInstitute (ILRI) to prepare a situational analysis report of the Smallholder dairy value chains for India and specifically Bihar and Assam.

Impact Evaluation of Jalanidhi I

ICSD has received a contract from The World Bank to conduct thesocial and technical audits for the impact evaluation of the KeralaRural Water Supply and Sanitation project (Jalanidhi I). We haveCentre for Socio-economic & Environmental Studies (CSES) asour partner for this assignment.

Value chain assessment and market assessment

We undertook a scoping exercise to develop value chains(Cashew and Cotton) and assess market environment in AndhraPradesh and Karnataka, on request from HEKS, India office.

Low carbon development pathway for Bihar

We have been assigned the task of developing Low CarbonDevelopment Pathway for the state of Bihar. This is supported byShakti Foundation/Climate Works Foundation. The study envisagessuggesting packages of measures/actions that enables the stateto pursue a low carbon (C) path while it aggressively pursues itsgrowth and development agenda. The packages in general willmap implementable cost effective and feasible alternative low Ctechnologies for different sectors along with policy options andassess other requirements including capacity development forcreation of an enabling environment for pursuing a low Cdevelopmental path. The effect therefore will facilitate framingBihar’s response to climate change and augment the activitiessuggested in the State Action Plan on Climate Change (SAPCC).The outcome of this project would help the policy makers of Bihar,sensitised about low C developmental pathways through which thestate can sustainably achieve its desired developmental goals.

Mr. Monojit Chakraborty has joined ICSD as Project

Associate – Climate Change and Sustainability. He

is a Post Graduate in Environmental Science with

specialization in Environment and Water

management. He also has a Post Graduate Diploma

on Environmental Law from Indian Law Institute,

New Delhi.

Welcome

Ms. Manjari Aishwarya has joined us as Research

Associate – Climate Change and Sustainability. She

is M.A in Applied Economics with specialization in

Mathematics for Economics.

Welcome Monojit and Manjari!

Intercooperation Social Development India Page 2

Fair Trade – Fair and Good for allAshish Srivastava, Project Coordinator – Organic Value Chain

You enter a shop and see a product labeled as Fair Trade. You arevery much surprised to see it and start exploring about this newlabel and the more you get involved; you tend to become fair andgood to all. But, what is Fair Trade all about?

Fair Trade is largely described as an alternative approach toconventional trade, based on a partnership between producersand traders, businesses and consumers. Fair Trade offersproducers a better deal and improved terms of trade. This allowsthem the opportunity to improve their lives and plan for their future.Fair Trade offers consumers a powerful way to reduce povertythrough their every day shopping. Fair Trade’s vision is a world, inwhich all producers can enjoy secure and sustainable livelihoods,fulfill their potential and decide on their future.

Fair Trade started at least 50 years ago with community and churchorganisations in Europe and North America buying products fromother community organisations in the developing world. As it hasgrown, fair trade has also moved into traditional shops and super-markets. Fair Trade terms became formalised as Fair trade whenthe Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International (FLO) was setup to agree international Fair Trade Standards. This label or markprovides a guarantee in the commercial context that Fair Tradestandards are being kept. The Standards are designed to addressthe imbalance of power in trading relationships, unstable marketsand the injustices of conventional trade. In all cases, its emphasisis on empowerment and development of small farmers and ofworkers.

FLO International sets three common principles to follow. Principlesof economic development, principle of environmental developmentand principle of social development are the key principles of fairtrade.

There are two distinct sets of Fair Trade Standards, whichacknowledge different types of disadvantaged producers. One setof standards applies to smallholders that are working together inco-operatives or other organizations with a democratic structure.The other set applies to workers, whose employers pay decentwages, guarantee the right to join trade unions, ensure health andsafety standards and provide adequate housing where relevant.

Fair Trade Standards also cover terms of trade. Most productshave a Fair trade Price, which is the minimum that must be paid tothe producers. This price aims to ensure that producers can covertheir average costs of sustainable production. It acts as a safetynet for farmers at times when world markets fall below a sustainablelevel. Without this, farmers are completely at the mercy of themarket.

Standards require producers to have an organizational structurethat will allow them the ability to directly bring their products to themarket. It is also important that everyone involved in the productionhas a say on the decision-making process and it is encouragedthat everyone participate when such activities are done. In addition,the organization must be set-up in a way that there is transparencyand there is no discrimination with democratic control.

In addition producers get an additional sum, the Fair TradePremium, to invest in their communities. This money goes into acommunal fund for workers and farmers to use to improve theirsocial, economic and environmental conditions.

The use of this additional income is decided upon democraticallyby producers within the farmers’ organization, or by workers on aplantation. The Premium is invested in education and healthcare,farm improvements to increase yield and quality, or processingfacilities to increase income.

Apart from the above said benefits Fair Trade is better for theenvironment. Fair Trade supports sustainable practices thatminimize our environmental footprint. Fair Trade actively promotesintegrated farm management systems that improve soil fertility andpreserve valuable ecosystems, and limit the use of harmfulagrochemicals that present dangers to farmers’ health. That meansfood that’s safer for consumers and for the people who grow it.

Be it the products made by artisans or the food products grown bythe farmers, both carry the quality and attributes demanded by theconsumers. One can be very sure of quality of the fair-trade productsand definitely the taste of fair-trade food.

Fair Trade products are unique to the places they come from andthe people who make them. Farmers and artisans are involved inthe entire process, and Fair Trade products reflect the people andcultures they come from.

India is warming up to fair trade. But the concept remains a nichemarket as companies are hesitant about taking it to the masses.Indian farmers have been selling their fair trade produce like coffee,tea, cotton, basmati rice, fruits, handicrafts etc to developed marketsfor years by getting certified by the FLO. More than $4 billion worthof fair trade products were sold internationally in 2008, up 22 percentsince the previous year. While sales of products like fair trade tea,coffee, flowers, wine and beer have grown in double digits for thelast several years, cultivation has outpaced demand, according toreports.

The Indian market and other domestic markets in producingcountries are increasingly important for the fair trade movementbecause they could each be larger than the European market, whichis the largest market for fair trade products.

Intercooperation has been supporting farmers of various states in India in making their practices and products fair trade compliant.

Intercooperation Social Development India Page 3

Project Updates

Getting Climate Smart for Disasters

We had a workshop during May 2013, titled ‘Training Workshopon FORIN (Forensic Investigation also known as reverseengineering approach) and M&E for Climate Smart Disaster RiskManagement Approach’ in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In attendancewere Ms. Elizabeth Colebournof Climate Development KnowledgeNetwork (CDKN India), Mr. Ambika Prasad of UNDP, Dr. Anil Guptaand Dr. Sreeja Nair of National Institute of Disaster Management(NIDM), Mr. Mihir Bhatt of All India Disaster Mitigation Institute(AIDMI), Ms. Paula Silva Villanueva of Resilience Monitor, whowas one of the original authors of the CSDRM approach, amongothers. The workshop focused on trainings on the FORIN tool(Forensic Investigation also known as reverse engineeringapproach) and on M&E of CSDRM. This workshop picked up fromthe earlier one where stakeholder partners were trained on how touse the CSDRM approach to make their ongoing and futureprogrammes, projects and policies on development more climatesensitive thereby increasing resilience against disasters.

TNA for Climate Change Adaptation in Himachal Pradesh

We completed the Training Needs Assessment for the CapacityBuilding programme for Climate Change Adaptation. This was partof the Indian Himalayas Climate Adaptation Programme (IHCAP)supported by Climate Change and Development (CCD) Division,Embassy of Switzerland. The objective was to identify to whatlevel the officials of Government of Himachal Pradesh aresensitized to climate change and also identify what kind ofinformation pertaining to climate change is in their current trainings.Based on the mapping of departments and identification of climatechange concerns that the various departments have to address, atraining plan to assimilate climate change concerns in the planningprocess of the government as well as towards implementation ofstrategies to ameliorate the impacts of climate change are beingdesigned.

From the Rice Fields

The period April – August was impressive for the project onSustainable Production of Organic and Fair Trade Basmati Riceas the monsoon was good and excellent management whichresulted in excellent crop growth in fields. With the timely arrival ofrains, all the seed distributed were transplanted. Except a pocket

in Betalghat, where irrigation canal broke due to landslides,everywhere else the basmati is in full bloom in the quarter. Thereare very less disease and pest incidence this year.

As against target of 1000 farmers registration, the project achievedthe registration and seed distribution to 994 farmers (includingfarmers who used their own seeds). By the end of quarter,transplanting of almost 25% was also over. The harvest data ofRabi PTD has given encouraging results for wheat, lentil andchickpea from the project.

Strengthening of Dairy Value Chain in Jaunpur, Eastern UP

During the quarter workshops were conducted for womenproducers. on ‘Income generation and employability of rural womenof Swaayam Ksheer Producers Companly Limited (SKPCL) throughdairy farming’ at Rampur and Ramnagar blocks of Jaunpur. BlockDevelopment Officers and other block officials participated in theworkshop along with the Board of Directors of SKPCL and thewomen producers. Animal vaccination program has also beenstarted in Rampur and Ramnagar blocks, thanks to the support ofthe district administration and the concerned departments. Duringthis period 25 villages have been covered and more than 2000cattle have been vaccinated.

India Organic Cashew Value Chain - Goa & Maharashtra

During this season impact analysis survey has been completedfor Goa region.

Mango Value Chain was developed for Maharashtra farmers. Thisvalue chain will add up to activities of farmers’ organisation inMaharashtra. We have linked 20 MT of organic alphonso mangoto Asia’s biggest agriculture market at Vashi APMC.

Organic and Fair trade Cashew Value Chain - Odisha

A Producer company has been formed and registered as KalingaJaibika Cashew Chhasi Unnayan Sangha. One of the importantactivities of the project has been enhancing the knowledge andskill of farmers on cashew production so that they augment theirproduction and increase income.

The child care centre supported by the project is successfullyfunctioning in the premises of the MAA Cashew processing unit,Angargaon village, Odisha.

ICSD TeamDr Joy Elamon, Dr Raja Rathinam, Dr C K Rao, Dr Sumana Bhattacharya, Mustak Khan, Mariamma Sanu George (Nirmala), Ashish Srivastava,

Shazneen C Gazdar , Monojit Charaborty, Manjari Aishwarya, Abhijeet Dabhole, Nihar Kanti Priyadarshi, Nakul Sharma, Sreelatha, Madhuri, Shoba, Venkatamma

Board of DirectorsG. Sreekumarana Nair, Nandita Ray, Rupa Mukerji,K V Sreeram, Padma Kumar, Geeta UnnikrishnanFelix von Sury - Honorary Advisor

News Post Editorial BoardJoy Elamon, Ashish Srivastava,

Sreelatha

Intercooperation Social Development India Page 4

Recognizing their hardworkThere were a few partners in the project on Sustainable Production of Organic and fair trade Basmati rice who struggledvery hard to contribute to the project, despite many challenges. They continued their endless support and promoted theproject through their ways and available means. The project recognized their efforts through an award ceremony. Thewinners were selected by a jury of farmers and staff. There were 5 categories (Best Producer, Most Efficient Producer, BestLeader, Best Supporter and Best Extensionist) for 4 clusters (Betalghat, Patkot, Dhela and Kotabag).

This quarter also witnessed the cashew nut growers of Odishaproject receiving the organic certificate and the processor ‘Maacashew industries’ was able to export 10 MT of cashew kernelsfor the first time through our marketing partner Nature Bio Foods.The product was exported to Middle East and USA.

Reducing GHG Emissions in Organic Basmati RiceProductionIn the second phase of the project ‘Sustainable Production ofOrganic and Fair Trade Basmati Rice in India’, GHG mitigationin paddy has emerged as an important element. Earlier in theyear a proposal with activities outlined for the new croppingseasons was outlined. The next phase of the project is based onliterature review and focuses on recommendations to reduce,offset and mitigate GHG emissions from rice cultivation.

Training Needs Assessment for the Young ProfessionalProgramme as part of the Maharashtra State Rural LivelihoodMissionTata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) has contracted ICSD toundertake a Training Needs Assessment for the training, supportand mentoring of Young Professional Programme (YPP)undertaken by TISS for MSRLM.

HELVETAS colleagues in IndiaIntercooperation India hosted internal Face to Face meeting (F2F)of the team members of HELVETAS Swiss Intercooperationworking on the thematic area of Climate Change. Participantswere from South Asian country offices, Bolivia, Tajikistan,

Kyrgyzstan and Switzerland The objectives of the event wereto share experiences, learn from each other, find areas forfuture activities and make concrete plans for activities inthis domain.

Workshops, Meetings and Trainings

w As part of the CDKN-START programme Dr. Sumana

Bhattacharya participated in the DRM Learning andInnovation Hub Asia Mainstreaming Disaster RiskManagement into Climate Compatible Development atBangkok, Thailand during 19th – 21st June, 2013. In thisprogramme, Dr. Bhattacharya presented on the topic‘Getting Climate Smart - Integrating CC Adaptation in DRM’

w Aspiring Entrepreneurs’ Workshop, Sawantawadi: A fourday training cum workshop was organised by ICSD withthe support from I- create for the Cashew and Mangoproducers of Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra.