Farming has always been the most important economic activity in India. According to government data, more than half of India's population depends on agriculture for a living, with the majority of these being small and marginal farmers. Poor infrastructures, lack of modernity, and diminishing production have made it difficult for Indian farmers to come out from the debt and poverty cycle. Thousands of farmers take their own lives each year as a result of crop failure and inability to repay debts.
Indian farmers have long been responsible for guaranteeing the country's food security, but the majority of them are now toiling in the fields with little success. Several charities collaborate with rural communities to promote sustainable farming and improve their quality of life.
NGOs Helping Indian Farmers in Growing & Sustaining Their Crops
Today we have listed out Top 10 NGOs, who are doing great work in rural India to empower the Farmers.
Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR)
Watershed Organization Trust (WOTR)is a well-known Maharashtra-based organization that works on a variety of rural development projects. Agriculture, allied sector growth, climate change adaptation, watershed, natural resource management, social development, training, and capacity building are among the topics addressed.
Through participatory watershed development, ecological restoration, and climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture, WOTR aims to improve the lives of millions of underprivileged villages across India. Its focus is on strengthening underprivileged communities, farmers, and women. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) presented WOTR with the coveted Land for Life Award 2017 for attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Universal Versatile Society (UVS)
Agriculture, environment, rural development, education, and women empowerment are just a few of the essential sectors in which the NGO works. Its purpose is to help communities by connecting funders with community-based projects and using its expertise to promote long-term development.
UVS' initiatives are aimed at reducing farmer suicides by offering basic education, creating awareness, imparting employable skills, developing infrastructure, and growing small businesses, all of which lead to long-term revenue generation and employment prospects.
Gramya Resource Center for Women
Gramya was founded in 1993 to promote women's rights. Its mission is to build a just society where women, particularly tribals and Dalits, have equal opportunity. Gramya works in rural areas to improve the well-being and rights of farmers by tackling the pandemic of farmer suicides and aiding the victims' families. Thousands of struggling farming families are benefiting from their combined efforts.
Gramya also advocates child rights, with a focus on education and the female child, and collaborates with community-based organizations to pursue justice for marginalized groups.
Dilasa Sanstha
Dilasa Sanstha, founded in 1994, collaborates with a number of smaller NGOs in Maharashtra's Vidarbha and Marathwada districts. It promotes creative and long-term irrigation technologies to help tribal people and small Indian farmers expand their agriculture. Dilasa's low-cost technological solutions assist farmers in improving irrigation practices and practicing mixed agriculture.
Dilasa has also established 7,650 women's self-help groups (SHGs) to promote organic farming. A farmers' assistance centre is also established by the organization to keep farmers informed about various government programs. Over 125,000 people have directly benefited from the organization's programs, and over 100,000 more have been positively impacted.
End Poverty
End Poverty was founded in 2009 with the goal of alleviating poverty in India by promoting sustainable livelihoods, girls' education, rural development, and the development of civil society. Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Delhi are among the states where the NGO is active.
Poor, landless rural Indian farmers, tiny and marginal farmers, traditional artisans, poor women, uneducated girl children, unemployed youth, and others are the main beneficiaries. It offers training and capacity building to a variety of groups.
End Poverty creates and implements innovative, self-sustaining social impact programs. In the previous three years, it has spent over 60 crore on development projects that have benefited approximately 24,000 individuals.
Swades Foundation
Swades Foundation was founded by Ronnie and Zarina Screwvala with the goal of strengthening rural India through creative methods and the use of modern technology. Swades intends to empower one million rural Indians every 5-6 years by focusing on health, education, water and sanitation, and economic growth.
Rural communities are connected to corporates, young urban India, non-profit organizations, and governments through the organization, allowing marginalized people to improve their life. Their 1,600-person team consists of 1,300 community volunteers and 300 full-time specialists and professionals who operate at the grassroots level.
Marathwada Navnirman Lokayat (MANAVLOK)
MANAVLOK is a non-profit organization dedicated to the socioeconomic upliftment of the rural poor. It was founded in 1982. It is headquartered in Ambajogai, Maharashtra's Beed district, and operates out of seven sub-centres in the districts of Beed, Latur, and Osmanabad. The goal of MANAVLOK is to achieve equality in the lives of women, landless laborers, and farmers.
Community-based monitoring programs, watershed development programs, Trupti Kitchen for senior citizens, Krushak Panchayat, free legal assistance centre, and other initiatives are among its initiatives. MANAVLOK also works in the areas of sanitation and disaster assistance, as well as monitoring and evaluating government initiatives and programs.
Vrutti
Vrutti has greatly impacted the lives and livelihoods of approximately one million disadvantaged and marginalized persons and households throughout the course of its 23-year existence. Vrutti's work focuses on improving people's lives through information, innovation, and revolutionary activities. It uses an ecosystem strategy to integrate and supply end-to-end services that help small producers become prosperous and break free from poverty.
Over 40,000 smallholder Indian farmers are covered by Vrutti's flagship concept, '3Fold,' which enables them to access numerous services (farm, financing, market, institutions) and become self-sufficient and resilient. Similar models for women-owned enterprises, marine fishermen, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and people in exceptional circumstances such as sex workers and transgender people are also included in its portfolio.
Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN)
PRADAN, which was founded in 1983, strives to alleviate rural poverty by fostering sustainable livelihoods in rural areas, particularly among tribal and vulnerable populations. Its efforts to relieve rural poverty are centred on long-term collaboration with the government and donors.
PRADAN also educates and employs well-educated, compassionate people at the grassroots level to support and engage women-led collectives. PRADAN works with more than 862,300 households from the most disadvantaged groups, like as Dalits and tribal, in more than 8,600 villages throughout seven states as of 2020.
Seven Sisters Development Assistance (SeSTA)
SeSTA literally means 'effort' in Assamese, and the organization has been fighting to create an egalitarian society in Northeast India since its founding in 2011. It works with 8,000 families in 100 villages in Assam's Chirang, Bongaigaon, Goalpara, and Kamrup districts.
It has aided around 8,600 small and marginal farmers in increasing the production of crops such as paddy and maize thus far. SeSTA plans to expand its work to other parts of Assam and the Northeast in the next three years, with the goal of reaching over 30,000 rural poor families.
