 Wasteland Development: Social Forestry
During 2008-09, 2,392 hectares were
brought under Social Forestry plantations, expanding the cumulative total to 14,360 hectares. The Social Forestry project today covers 34 mandals, 454 villages and 16,061 poor households.
Poor households who have reaped the benefits of the social forestry programme, earned
Rs 7.7 crores from harvesting wood on 1,894 hectares. Most beneficiaries have ensured that the contribution to the Village Development Fund continues and as a result, the contributions have increased to nearly Rs 78 lakhs. The farmers’ own incomes have
also been invested wisely into productive
assets to ensure a longer-term virtuous cycle of development.
ITC’s social and farm forestry programmes have greened over 90,000 hectares of land.
Soil and Moisture Conservation
This programme, designed to help farmers in identified moisture-stressed districts through scientific soil and moisture conservation projects, continues to bring precious water resources to several rural communities.
A total of 357 large and small water harvesting structures were created by the end of 2008-09, taking the total number of structures created so far to 2,535. The total area covered under the watershed programme touched 43,841 hectares, covering 45,000 farmers in 7 states.
In another first of its kind agreement in the country, ITC signed a MoU with the Government of Maharashtra to implement NREGA in 2 blocks of Jalna district. The partnership will develop a model for undertaking NREGA work on an integrated watershed development project for natural resource management and drought proofing.
Integrated Agriculture Development
These interventions aim to improve farm productivity, contributing to higher incomes, by promoting
a package of efficient farm practices and technologies. During 2008-09, 65 group irrigation projects and sprinkler sets were installed, 550 composting units were constructed and 898 demonstration plots were promoted covering 1,750 farmers.
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