Case Study Status Report on Gram Nidhi - APFED

Gram Nidhi: Eco Enterprises for Sustainable Livelihoods in
Ecologically Semi-Arid Rural Areas, Gujarat State, India
<strong>Status</strong> <strong>Report</strong>
Kyoko Matsumoto
Project Management Office
This report summarises the findings from APFED Hashimoto Ryutaro Silver Award project in 2007,
entitled “Gram Nidhi: Eco Enterprises for Sustainable Livelihoods in Ecologically Fragile Semi-Arid
Rural Areas, Gujarat State, India”. This project has been implemented by the Centre for
Environment Education (CEE), which has been involved in activities for sustainable development
for over 17 years in ecologically fragile semi-arid rural areas in India. The target villages of this
project are located near Rajikot, Gujarat State in Western India. The mission to the project sites was
conducted from 5 - 7 February 2009 with a local collaborator, Dr. Madhumita Mishra from TERI
University, India. This preliminary report of the case study has been prepared based on summaries
of findings, including some discussions made with stakeholders and the collaborator.
Background
The efforts for pro-poor in rural areas of India have been made by the Indian government,
international organisations, and other donor agencies. Although tremendous efforts were made,
there were still over 220 million people in the rural areas living under the poverty line in 2004-2005
(Government of India, 2007). Recently, the economic growth of India has been prominent but
despite outstanding economic progress, a quarter of nation’s population earns under the poverty
threshold, which is 356.3 INR. per capita/month (= approximately USD7.1 in Feb. 2009)
(Government of India, 2007). According to the CEE staff, when measuring poverty in India, it can be
said that if one household with an average of five family members have two calves, the life of
household would be barely over the poverty line in India. Unfortunately, most villagers still could not
meet this baseline. Hence, the practical measures require assisting the rural development.
The Gram Nidhi project has been implemented in a large area of Gujarat State in Western India,
aiming to establish eco-enterprises for supporting rural development. The initial target villages for
the implementation programme are in semi-arid rural areas with very limited natural resources and
an environmentally vulnerable area, the Hingolgadh sanctuary (15 km 2 ). The surrounding villagers
depend on the natural resource in the area for their livelihood, so that there is concern about further
degradation of the sanctuary. In addition, the area has been traditionally cultivated for cotton, which
is a water intensive cash crop and there has been soil degradation due to the use of chemical
fertilizers and pesticides. Therefore, the protection of natural resources in Hingolgadh sanctuary is
required to ensure sustainable development in neighbouring villages. Five villages surrounding the
sanctuary in Jasdan Block have been selected for this project. The key objectives of the project are
follows;
- to establish eco-enterprise through the village-level institution Paryavaran Vikas
Mandlas(PVM),
- to enhance capacity of target villagers for effective management of natural resources through
the Gram Nidhi model.
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