Providing COVID Relief for Farmers in Rural India

FORRAD's pyne restoration project provides much needed income to the local community members employed on the project while simultaneously restoring water resource management systems in this drought prone area of rural Bihar.  Pynes are flood water control canals that provide irrigation to crops and water supply to livestock. 

The pynes to be restored as part of this project have been identified in Hilsa and Silao blocks of Nalanda district. The community is more than interested in undertaking the work for the wages it will provide. The need for income is dire with thousands of people -- many of whom are returned migrant workers -- without employment in the surrounding villages. 

A few days of work at Rs 200 a day means that these families will be able to put food on the table. The most vulnerable families of the most marginalised sections of the community have been selected to work and receive wages.  

Unseasonal post-monsoon rain has left the ground swamped making any kind of excavation work impossible until the rain stops. Once the rain stop, then the ground will be dry enough within 10 days to start working on the restoration.

This year's monsoon has demonstrated the great benefits of pyne restoration as farmers whose fields border the pynes FORRAD helped to restore in previous community projects are now using the water to irrigate their crops without having to rely on tubewells.  

The attached pictures illustrate what the pyne looks like after restoration and what the condition is now, before the restoration, for the two pynes that will be restored.

Your support means people in these communities in rurall Bihar will be able to earn enough to support their families. The pynes they restore will benefit the entire community with an improved flood water management system

We thank you for your support.

Best,

Susan Abraham

Director, FORRAD

Links:

• FORRAD