completed· Health

Reconstruction and relief support to farmer cooperatives in Makwanpur

On April 25, 2015 at 11: 56 AM, Nepal was shocked by powerful earthquake with magnitude of 7.9 Richter scale, affecting the central part of the country mostly. The impact is huge in 14 districts of te country as well as in the capital city. Agriterra and its constituency decided that such a natural disaster can not be neglected as it is has a major impact upon the people's lifes. In total almost 9000 people were killed, over 17,000 peeple were injured, and at least 500,000 houses were destroyed. Makwanpur district is one of the 14 most hit districts. The District Agricultural Federation, having 25 Small farmers Agricultural cooperatives as member made an inventory of the damage among the members. Details of 10 cooperatives that Agriterra has been supporting over the last two years shows that out of 4141 member households - 8 people died and 12 got injured - 957 families completely lost their house/livestock sheds - 680 families partially lost their house/lvestock shed - loss of food stock in 5 cooperatives - loss of livestock 7 cooperatives. After receiving the first relief support, the first priority for people is to rebuild their houses. After that it is important that people pick up/continue their agricultural business as this is their main income and food source. Makwanpur is one of the 14 severely affected districts in Nepal. Agriterra works since 2013 with the District Agricultural Federation of Makwanpur. District Agriculture co-operative Federation was established in 2010 to work as an umbrella organization for the primary Agricultural cooperatives. Vision of the federation is to have a capable and transparent district level umbrella organization providing services to small scale agriculture co-operatives and related co-operatives in helping them economically, socially, culturally, and with technology based agricultural production, purification and marketing. Project 6016 (contracted through NACCFL but implemented by DAF makwanpur) describes how Agriterra has been working with 10 primary cooperatives in Makwapur district. The earthquake has severly damaged Makwanpur district including the 10 Village Development Commities in which Agriterra has been working actively. For these 10 VDC a relief and Agricultural reconstruction programme has been prepared. The support includes the following: - blankets and kitchen utensils - roofing matrials for house/animal shed reconstruction - knapsack sprayer for vegetables - vegetable seeds - beehives in one VDC - young animals in few VDC Financial support will be channelled through the District Federation. The Federation has created a disaster risk response team (responsible for selection of recipients and distribution of the goods) and a procurement team (collective purchase of goods). The primary cooperatives and the district federation will be responsible for the selection of the right beneficiaries, keep the records of the distribution of goods and provide technical support. Monitoring and evaluation of the support porgramme will be done by DAF, NACCFL and Agriterra. The period for the project is 3 months; june-July and August 2015. Beneficiaries: 4141 members, of which 470 members (Women only) receive support for reconstruction. Most families will receive seeds. Update September 2015: After the succesful distribution of different Agricultural inputs, and with the assage of time, farmers pick up their routine in farming again. Most families have foudn a temporarily housinga nd cultivate crops again. In ordre to furher support the farmesr in rebuidling their economic activities, this project will be extended till the end of 2015 to further strengteh the Agricultural reconstruction. DAF Makwanpur proposes several training activities, as well as s tronger focus on coopertaive marketing for those coopertiaves that have a fouvorable locationtowards the market. DAF Makwapnrur is very consious about teh sustainability of its activities and realises the importance of having farmer led advisory service sto teh memebrs. In this activity plan, lead farmers are the key persons in making a change and focusing really on commercial farming, bringing in a more entrepreneurial spirit and attitude. Budget: 59,500 Euro (June-AUgust 2015 Phase 1) 15,000 Euro (September-December 2015, Phase 2) Monitoring will be done by DAF and also by NACCFL and Agriterra. DAF will also receive donated high quality vegetable seeds and they will be distributed to selected farmers. The major objective of this project is “Access of immediate relief support for the reform of the Agricultural Sector to earthquake victim in Makawanpur district”.