Tackling rural poverty, together

Extract

Aiming to sustainably improve the livelihoods of 700,000 poor tribal people in Western India, the project inculded participatory generation, testing and dissemination of improved farming systems technologies (especially plant varieties), testing and scaling up of a rights-based programme to support villagers when they migrate as labourers to cities in the dry season, as well as policy advocacy with government in key areas, including seed systems and laws affecting migrant labourers. Lessons learned include that support programmes for seasonal migration can significantly increase the returns to labour migration and reduce the vulnerability poor people face when migrating. Also participatory varietal selection (PVS) and plant breeding (PPB), in which the poorest farmers work in partnership with plant breeders to test existing and breed new varieties, can work and bring substantial benefits.