By the completion of the project, 10 to 15 varieties of purified traditional seed paddy will be conserved, and farmers in the South of Sri Lanka will be trained and assisted in suitable / appropriate farming technologies for these crops.
The project will also have demonstration plots and conduct training and education programmes for traditional rice growers Training programs will be used to motivate farmers to grow and preserve traditional varieties. These training sessions and demonstrations will be conducted regularly throughout the project period.
Due to the growing market demand and premium price that traditional paddy has, the demand for traditional seeds will be ample. Apart from that caused by the climate change impacts under a situation where many paddy fields become non arable , traditional paddy farming is becoming a solution. Ranketha and Rural Enterprise Network (REN) have got pre trade agreements with the traditional paddy producers and new buyers are also emerging with the local and international demand. Rural Returns and Bio Foods like international companies came up with pre trade agreements and organic certifications which indicate the developing nature of the sector. Ruhunu Development bank (now changed the name in to Provincial Development Bank) has developed a very specific loan scheme for the small scale traditional paddy farmers, which has 7% interest rate and flexible procedures.
Policy Impact
Practical Action hopes to use the experiences and learning from this project to influence national level farming policies to be more supportive towards bio-diversity in rice in the country and conservation of suitable traditional rice varieties for low country farming.
A major activity of the project that will contribute to this lobbying will be the establishment National Seed Production System for traditional rice varieties. This system will have information on a combination of local knowledge and modern scientific seed technology that can result in production systems suitable to local conditions.
The Department of Agriculture has agreed to the project, and will work together with the project team during implementation.
Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment
The lessons learnt from this project will be on the importance of environmental considerations and better adaptation of landraces to environmental stresses such as salinity, flooding etc.
The ?Traditional paddy information and service centre? established through Practical Action intervention will share information with relevant stakeholders. Information on purified seed paddy, and cultivation methodologies and climate adaptation techniques will be shared with farmer organizations through workshops, training as well as public bulletin boards. A media briefing will be conducted and newspaper articles on farming amidst climate change will be available.
The project Evaluation will be conducted by the Sri Lanka Nature Forum, National Farmer Federation, Dept of Agriculture, and the Final report will be published as a public document.
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
The objective of the project is for Farmers to have access to purified traditional seed paddy, to enable production in better quality and quantity. It is anticipated that Farmers producing better quality paddy will increase their income by 15% due to better quality production and less vulnerability of crops to natural hazards.
Notable Community Participation
The project approach will be one of participatory development. Beneficiary participation in project actions will not only assure the appropriateness of development actions at the ground level, but also assure the sustainability of project actions in future.
Farmer?s participation will be ensured at each stage of the proposal, and their input will be sought for each activity undertaken - from seed collection, purification and characterization to multiplication, production and conservation of traditional rice varieties. The farmers will be the main stakeholder of the project.
The project was designed based on the needs and concerns of the farmers in the respective areas.
Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples
The target communities of the project are small scale paddy farmers in the South of Sri Lanka, who, due to their limited resources, are extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and to competition from globalised markets.
Even though the project does not directly work with indigenous communities, the project uses indigenous knowledge to increase health and nutritional aspects of organic rice, face adverse environments, reduce the carbon intensity of small scale paddy farming and to make them a viable option for small farmers.
The seed varieties researched and promoted by the project reflect the genius of the traditional farmer.
Inovative Financial Mechanisms
This project will be jointly funded by UNDP Small Grants programme (70%), and Practical Action (30%). At the operation stage Southern province development authority will be supported through the Govijana development bank to support farmers. That will help to develop the seed paddy distribution system and buying systems at the later part of the project.
Gender Focus
Women have an important role in paddy farming, and this project will ensure that their needs, opinions and knowledge are fed into all activities.
An intrinsic characteristic of how Practical Action has operated in Sri Lanka during the past 20 years is that we work together with poor communities to find practical technology solutions that support both women and men to overcome the poverty they face.
The project will learn about women?s innovations and their abilities/inabilities to be involved in the processes that change their lives. The project will bring into focus current barriers to women?s access to, and participation in, the small scale paddy farming process in the South of Sri Lanka, and explore opportunities to overcome these barriers.
Project Results
10 characterized and purified traditional paddy varieties are available for the farmers.
A network of traditional seed paddy producing farmers in main 10 districts has been set up. 3 farmers represent each district as seed paddy producers and that can be minimized the transportation cost of seed paddy from distance locations, suitable seed paddy varieties for the specific district and even information on seed paddy producing process can be obtained from the network.
Kilinochchi and Mulathivu farmers started cultivations after the war and they were keen to get traditional paddy varieties which strongly bound with their culture and tradition. They?ve already started cultivating Mottakarupan and Pachchaperumal varieties but due to the poor quality of the seed paddy, there were many weed seeds and mix grains.
