Request for Project/Programme Funding from the Adaptation Fund
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Amended in November 2013 REQUEST FOR PROJECT/PROGRAMME FUNDING FROM THE ADAPTATION FUND ENHANCING ADAPTIVE CAPACITY AND INCREASING RESILIENCE OF SMALL AND MARGINAL FARMERS IN PURULIA AND BANKURA DISTRICTS OF WEST BENGAL By Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) Through NATIONAL BANK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (NABARD) 1 Amended in November 2013 REQUEST FOR PROJECT/PROGRAMME FUNDING FROM THE ADAPTATION FUND The annexed form should be completed and transmitted to the Adaptation Fund Board Secretariat by email or fax. Please type in the responses using the template provided. The instructions attached to the form provide guidance to filling out the template. Please note that a project/programme must be fully prepared (i.e., fully appraised for feasibility) when the request is submitted. The final project/programme document resulting from the appraisal process should be attached to this request for funding. Complete documentation should be sent to: The Adaptation Fund Board Secretariat 1818 H Street NW MSN P4-400 Washington, D.C., 20433 U.S.A Fax: +1 (202) 522-3240/5 Email: [email protected] 2 Amended in November 2013 PROJECT/ PROGRAMME PROPOSAL TO THE ADAPTATION FUND PART I: PROJECT/PROGRAMME INFORMATION Project/Programme Category: REGULAR PROJECT Country/ies: INDIA Title of Project/Programme: ENHANCING ADAPTIVE CAPACITY AND INCREASING RESILIENCE OF SMALL AND MARGINAL FARMERS IN PURULIA AND BANKURA DISTRICTS OF WEST BENGAL Type of Implementing Entity: NIE Implementing Entity: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) Executing Entity/ies: Development Research Communication and Services Centre (DRCSC) Amount of Financing Requested: 2,510,854 (in U.S Dollars Equivalent) Project / Programme Background and Context: Provide brief information on the problem the proposed project/programme is aiming to solve. Outline the economic social, development and environmental context in which the project would operate. 1. Climate Vulnerability Profile of India A vast country with multiple agro-ecological and meteorological zones, India supports one sixth of the world’s population on only 2% of its landmass. Nearly 59% of India’s land area is prone to risks of earthquakes, 12% is prone to floods, about 8% is prone to cyclones and is exposed to tsunamis and storm surges, 2% of land is landslide prone and 68% of India’s arable land is affected by droughts. Thus the entire country is significantly impacted by at least one hazard and related mortality. Intensification of these risks or slower onset disasters like land degradation, drought and floods, are predictable impacts of climate change and climate instability in future. Lack of access to technological and financial resources along with high dependence on climate sensitive livelihood sectors like agriculture, fisheries and forestry, makes India highly vulnerable to climate change. Some current trends and projection of climatic factors1 Surface Temperature: At the national level, increase of 0.4⁰ centigrade has been observed in surface air temperature over the last 100 years. 1Source of data –National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) 3 Amended in November 2013 Rainfall: Long-term rainfall does not show a very significant trend. Marginal increase in monsoon rainfall is expected along the west coast, northern Andhra Pradesh and north-western India (+10~12%). A decreasing trend is observed in eastern and north-eastern India, part of Gujarat and Kerala (-6~8%). Extreme Weather: Over the last 130 years no large-scale droughts and floods have been recorded. However, there has been an increasing trend in severe storm incidents along the coast at the rate of 0.011 events per year. Sea level rise: North Indian Ocean is showing a sea level rise of 1.06~1.75 mm per year. Sea level fluctuations have been estimated at 21 °31' 00"N, 88°03' 00"E during 1985-2000, which shows that the relative mean sea level of the Bay of Bengal is rising @ 3.14 mm/year. Indian Scientists at the Indian Institute for Technology (IIT) Delhi have indicated that that the severity of floods under the projected climate change is likely to intensify (Gosain et al, 2006). The projections by the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) showed an increased occurrence of cyclones in the Bay of Bengal, particularly in the post-monsoon period, along with increased maximum wind speeds associated with cyclones and a greater number of high surges under climate change (DEFRA/GoI, 2005). Along with floods, India will also suffer from acute water shortage. Amongst all the disasters mentioned above, though the number of deaths directly attributable to drought during 1963-1992 is quite less (3%) compared to that caused by floods (26%) and tropical cyclones (19%), yet the number of persons affected by drought (33%) is the highest amongst all the natural disasters and the significant damage caused by drought is 22% which is comparable to the corresponding values of floods and tropical cyclones. Three fourth of India's annual rainfall comes from the summer monsoons that occur between June and September. Major staple crops like rice, maize and some millet are rain-fed and sown during this season. The agricultural sector lies at the core of Indian society employing 60% of the population and contributing approximately one fifth of the country's GDP. Thus the monsoons are one of the most important factors for the country’s growth. The monsoons and other climatic factors also control the well-being and food/nutrition security of the majority of the Indian populace. 43% of the rural population is landless or near landless (<0.2 ha.) and is dependent on seasonal rain-fed farming or collection of small forest produce or work as wage labour. Monsoons are also responsible for recharge of ground water and surface water systems. A water famine is looming on the horizon because of erratic rainfall, longer dry spells between rainy days, increases in temperature, consecutive droughts and over exploitation of ground water. Water levels in North India fell by 4 centimeters per year, between August 2002 and August 2008. Practices like shifting from growing water prudent millets like sorghum which needs 300 mm of water to water intensive crops like sugarcane which needs 2,500 mm of water, contributed to this situation. More than 109 cubic km of ground water disappeared from aquifers during this time. Red and Lateritic Soil zone of India Water scarcity, coupled with poor soil quality increases the vulnerability of the area dominated by Red and Lateritic soil. 4 Amended in November 2013 Red and Lateritic Zone Figure 1: The lateritic zone in India and West Bengal Red soils are generally red or reddish brown in colour. The colour is due to the coatings of Ferric oxide on the soil particles. Red soil ranges in depth from shallow to very deep, is thin in composition, gravelly in the uplands and deep to very deep in the plains and valleys. The pH varies from generally neutral to slightly alkaline (pH 6.3 to 8.0). Down the slope the pH changes from acidic to neutral (or alkaline). The soil is severely deficient in organic matter, nitrogen, phosphorus and lime but is well supplied with potassium. In some cases, deficiency of calcium and magnesium is also reported. On the other hand, lateritic soils are deep reddish in colour due to the presence of hematite. These soils are deeply weathered and may extend up to several meters deep. With depth, there is a decreasing intensity of red colour and clay content. The soils are generally well drained and porous. Laterization is intensified with the increase in rainfall. The soils are generally acidic in nature with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. All lateritic soils are very poor in lime and magnesium and are deficient in nitrogen. Occasionally P2O5 may be high, probably being present in the form of iron phosphate, but K2O is deficient. Table 1: Red and Lateritic soil areas in India State names Area Projected soil zone (km2) population Tamilnadu, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, 590,000 416 million (approx.) Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Assam, East Rajasthan, South Karnataka Red soil is generally poor in its water holding capacity, which does not permit post rainy season cropping. Such areas face severe problems of soil erosion and are unfit for raising crops. The lateritic soils are also poor in terms of deficiency in phosphate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc and boron content. This pre-condition clubbed with undulating terrain and erratic rainfall has made the target zone for this proposed project more vulnerable. The red/laterite soil zone of India supports some of the worst 5 Amended in November 2013 rural poverty in the nation. It is also home to approximately 416 million people out of which 53.7 million belong to scheduled Tribes (STs), and Scheduled Castes (SCs) 12.4 million. A large part of the country’s agricultural land has been brought under irrigation but the limited extent of lands owned by the SCs remain almost wholly un-irrigated, forcing even small farmers among the SCs to depend on agricultural wage-labour. STs, proud masters of their traditional territory, are being progressively deprived of their lands and have, in many cases, been reduced to minorities in their own home-lands. The lands that still remain with them are poorly developed, are rarely irrigated and are unintegrated or poorly integrated with the market, leaving the field open to exploiters and middlemen from outside. Irrigation projects undertaken in the tribal areas, submerged tribal lands, thereby scattering their settlements. As a result an increasing number of STs are forced into agricultural wage labour and the proportion of STs among agricultural wage labourer has increased in recent decades. Traditional symbiotic relationship between tribes and forests has been unilaterally abrogated and abridged.