Green College
To adopt sustainable agro-ecological farming practices and to empower the youth for making them social and environmental service providers in terms of agricultural and related inputs, SPWD’s Green College program supported by Welthungerhilfe (WHH) is acting as a rolling wheel for those who possess the potential to grow and become an agricultural entrepreneur. These limitations are being overcome by adopting sustainable agro-ecological farming systems like interlinking the agricultural subsystems with the other so the poultry waste is utilized as manure for paddy field as it is rich in phosphorus, sulfur, and calcium. Agricultural waste is being used for mulching the field after some value addition. Various medicinal leaves after decoction are being used as a pesticide and acidic soil by use of liquid manures is being brought to a balanced pH. Training on these practices is enabling the farmers to manage their farm systems and increase their productivity.
Green College since its inception has completed one year with the mission to reduce poverty through improved livelihood with the help of its skill enhancement training courses in agriculture and allied sector. SPWD in adherence to this mission has put its persistent effort to fulfill the objectives of Green College. Our trainees are practicing the organic and agroecological ways of farming that has been imparted to them. At the Angara block of Ranchi, about 10-15% of the trainees have left chemical farming altogether and are practicing natural farming. In Purulia too our trainee farmers are practicing natural farming.
The two Community Facilitation Centre (CFC’s) set up by SPWD have a major role to play in value chain development. Both are functional now. Especially in the Angara block, the CFC is providing service in terms of paddy de-husking. Also next year it has been planned to develop it as a knowledge center for the trainees and nearby villages of the area. For this, a farm plan and a business plan has been developed so that CFC could be run in a self-supporting mode by the farmers and for the farmer members of the CFC running committee.
Green college in numbers
323 trainees from Ranchi, Jharkhand and Purulia, West Bengal
Outreach in more than 10 Gram Panchayats
54% are female trainees and 46% male
62% Scheduled Tribe, 14% General, 13% Scheduled Caste and 11% Other Backward Class
Trainees under each course in Green College
• Bio-inputs/ Bio-input producer – 29%
• Sal leaf making (Plates and Bowl) – 19%
• Lac Cultivation/ Cultivator – 18%
• Paddy farmer – 12%
• Sabai grass handicraft making – 09%
• Vegetable Cultivation/ Cultivator – 03%
8 FFS (Farmer Field School) in Purulia, West Bengal and 7 FFS in Ranchi, Jharkhand
10% trainees of Green College attended Lead Farmer Training to conduct FFS and also to understand SIFS