This Acorn project, run by our partners NABCONS in India, is currently supporting over 2,000 smallholder farmers as a pilot project in Karnataka.
In the Kolar district in the state of Karnataka, south-west India, farmers face low crop productivity as a consequence of low soil fertility and poor water availability, as well as conflicts with wildlife which damage the plantation, resulting in low seedling survival rates. While smallholder farmers usually live above the poverty line, they have no financial stability and are hardly able to invest in their land.
NABCONS is a consultancy-focused subsidiary of NABARD, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development — a direct finance institution promoted by the Government of India. This organization has been providing consultancy services in India for the past 19 years, providing consultancy in the areas of agriculture, livelihood, socio-economic development, climate change and others. Together with Acorn, India’s Department of Horticulture, and a variety of NGOs, NABCONS is now enabling smallholder farmers to adopt agroforestry and access the voluntary carbon market.
The Department of Horticulture, Government of Karnataka identifies eligible farmers and engages with them, partnering NGOs carry out field surveys and collect data, and NABCONS representatives monitor, train, and report on project activities – this project involves primarily one agroforestry design: mango and border trees consisting of different forestry species.
This Acorn project implements long-term and sustainable agroforestry systems, with the aim to improve mitigate the impact of climate change, strengthen smallholder farmers’ income, and improve their quality of life. Additional to providing income from carbon finance, this project will enable farmers to achieve additional revenue from tree products. The participants will use the additional revenue to offer better nutritional value to their families, especially their children. The community has traditionally practised intercropping of annual crops but has been restricted to only one or two locally cultivated crop varieties.
Through the project interventions, especially the training imparted through the project councils and stakeholder awareness sessions; the target population will be educated on cultivating a good mix of suitable inter-crops to make more varieties of nutritious foods readily available to the participants' families. By rotating the appropriate annual inter-crops according to the season, the households consume a portion of the produce. This, in turn, improves the quality and variety of their intake, and the nutritional security of the project area population. Furthermore, the project will promote additional tree planting by distributing seedlings of other varieties after consultation with the farmers.
The project has already undertaken the following activities:
Click the links below to download the project's certification documents.
