Income Generation Activities:

Revolving fund is also supporting the SHG for marketing. In this area in spite of sal leaves, siali leaves are plentily available. So stitching machines are used by women groups individually in rotating manner. For reducing production cost we are planning to operate all these machines in centrally placed unit.
Small live-stock: Sheepery
For income generation of the poor tribal families livestock has been one of the source of livelihood for the vulnerable families. Though earlier support was given for goatery and ducks, these are no longer advisable as these are susceptible to diseases and not environment friendly. So it has been proposed to support 12 nos. of beneficiaries with sheepery. Each beneficiary will be supported with 1500 rupees to about 3-4 female sheeps and a male sheep. Each beneficiary is expected to have an income of Rs 1000 p.m. after 12 months of implementation. These are marketable at nearby market and it has been successful in the area.

Leaf plate and cup making:
In tribal areas of Orissa, leaf plate and cup making has become a major source of livelihood, which is prepared by Sal leaves. Beginning from Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar up to the districts of western Orissa, the tribals are preparing leaf plates. These are also being encouraged by the government agencies like ORMAS and other private agencies. Leaves are being plucked from the nearby forests by the women are being sold directly with lower rate without adding any value to it. So it has been proposed to supply two leaf-stitching machines to two groups with other accessories.

Dehydration of Onion:
Presently onion is being used by spices industries for preparation of various spice powders. They take the sliced dried onion and grind these to be used for various purposes. It has been decided after discussion with the beneficiaries that onion, which is plentily produced in the area will be treated with the dehydration technology. It is a low cost technology, which can be adopted by the landless and marginal categories.

One quintal of dried onion will be produced from 5 quintals of onion. To purchase 5 quintals @Rs.400 per quintal, the rate is Rs2000. The rate of dried slice is Rs 3000 per quintal. So the profit will be Rs.1000/- per quintal of sliced onion. From March to September every year, if one beneficiary produces at least 20 quintals of dried slice, then he can get Rs.20000/- per annum.

Vegetable Vending & Small Business:
The growth in vegetable production has created employment opportunities for the landless persons to procure and sell vegetables in the nearby markets of Lathor as well as Udyan Bandh. Also, some of them are selling door-to-door in different villages. Many destitute women and aged persons prefer to sell rice, de-husked rice, puffed rice, dry fish and other grocery items in small way. All these activities have a good potential for regular income by the landless persons. However, they are unable to invest on these activities and trying to do on a very low scale. We have supported these activities and improve the scale of its operations. Both with growth in production in vegetables and purchasing power of the people, the demand for these services will increase. In addition to this, sell of seeds, bio-compost, bio-fertilizer, duck feed, fish feed, etc. will be linked to provide services to the agriculture sector in the area. About 42 women are supported for this scheme. An amount of rupees 1500 is given to each member as initial investment. Each family earns about 300 to 500 rupees per week.

AGRI-FINANCING:PROMOTION OF CASH CROPS:

Zinger And Turmeric
In order to bring a rapid change in the cash generation, Zinger and Turmeric seeds were supported through various NHCs. These seeds were procured from the High Altitude Research Station (at Pottangi of Koraput district, Orissa), an extension research out let of Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT). The following varieties were used: Zinger – Suprava, Suruchi and Kalipanga; Turmeric – PTS-9 Roshni, PTS-10 Roma, PTS-19 Sonali, PTS-24 Surama, PTS-38 Ranga and CM3 Amba. Due to intervention of CPSW while about 99% families cultivate turmeric, 20-30% use improved seeds. Improved varieties of Zinger and turmeric were introduced. Last year, 155 beneficiaries were supported with zinger and 84 beneficiaries were assisted for turmeric. This year the harvesting has been much satisfactory. The new villages have been given priority. The cultivation in small patch of land like turmeric in 0.5 acres and zinger in 0.3 acres have earned an income of Rs.5000/- to Rs.7,000/- per family.

Onion Cultivation

Initially onion cultivation was taken up just to meet the household needs on small patches.  Now area under onion increased enormously because of development of water resources and increase in ground water table.  In addition, supply of quality seed facilitated by the organization also has lead to increase in area under onion cultivation.  At present Onion cultivation has been taken up as one of the important winter crops.
At present Komna block is being considered as the largest producer of onion in the district.  The cultivators are trying up commercial cultivation. Today, the crop is cultivated in approximately 200 acres of land involving 300 households producing 400 Metric Tonnes but lacks organized marketing facilities.   The marketing of onion is totally controlled by the local/area traders and is considered as buyers market.  The cultivators primarily depend on the weekly markets of Lathor, Udyan Bandh and Nuapada.  Unfortunately the project could not properly responded to the marketing problems encountered by the onion cultivators resulting in farmers resorting to distress sale.

Pisciculture
Government of Orissa policy and other development interventions by NGOs to harvest rain water to meet the water scarcity and recharging ground water through construction of soil basin to hold rain water from catchment is being implemented in a systematic manner, which would also serve as a ideal place for fish farming. Having such a huge water body and local advantage like plain land, good soil quality, leading to higher productivity and water retention, optimum rainfall and cultivable fish / shell fish and cat fish species, the present level of exploitation in the state in terms of aquaculture production is limited to just over 50% of total estimated production of 3 lakh tonnes / year.
The rural landless people can earn their livelihood by doing pisciculture in these structures. Hence, we promote scientific fish culture activities for optimum use of resources to increase aquaculture production for upliftment of over all socio-economic status of rural families.

Suitable types of Fish:

Bhakur – catla catla: Leaves on the surface water and eats plankton organisms.
Rohee – labeo rohita: Leaves at the middle of water body and takes plankton or organism;
Silver Crap: Leaves on the upper layer of water body and feeds on plant and plankton;
Grash crap: It leaves on the all parts of water body and feeds on grass and water hyacinths;
Bilati Rohee – Common crap: It leaves at the bottom layer of water body and feeds on plankton and the decomposed materials from the bottom.

We have undertaken pisciculture in the existing Water Harvesting Structures (WHS) and small Chhuas of No WHS 13 no of containing 32 acre of water. And Small Well – 50 no (width 3 Mt and depth is 20 ft). During the rainy season June to October water is available.

Assuming 50% survival i.e. from 20000 fingerlings, we get 10000 number of fishes. Each being 0.7 kg, in an average, we sell about 7000 kg of fish with a net income of (Rs.140000.00 – Rs.22600.00) = Rs.1,17,400.00 per pond. Intensification of practices, recycling of abundant organic material, comprehensive environmental management, development of superior breeds, systematic measures against fish diseases, community aquaculture and financing are prominent strategies to increase fish production. Some of the important approaches for sustainable fish production in fresh water