Page 48 - Tata-Trusts-Annual-Report-2021-22

OVERVIEW KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
As part of its Rural Upliftment portfolio, the Trusts work
with rural poor, particularly women, in an equitable and
sustainable manner to ensure better access to assets
and services, and control over productive capital. The
focus is largely on poverty alleviation by increasing
incomes and through the creation of a basic social and
economic infrastructure.
This is supported by training rural women and youth, and
skilling and employing marginal farmers. The creation
of embedded entrepreneurs within a production
framework, where their trainings are linked to ongoing
job creation activities, allows for introducing long-term
sustainability in the system. A ‘from the ground up’
approach to resource production and job creation
implies that jobs are created as a response to a felt
need, while allowing for outward growth of the
market. Sparks of innovation either evolve
or are brought in through research and
development during various stages of
resource use, processing, marketing,
entrepreneurship, and in programme
management processes itself. These lead to
successful pilot projects, which are then
scaled up, often across geographies.
The portfolio has grown around a central
theme of community strengthening and
growth. Integrated community-based
interventions that strive to improve rural
incomes by improving farming practices,
water management, soil conservation,
livestock and animal husbandry, market
linkages, crafts, etc., form the core of the
portfolio. Working closely with locally
influential stakeholders, including relevant
government departments, civil society, and market
influencers, is also an important aspect of the process.
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• Starting from a base income of `40,000 to `45,000,
most of the families covered under interventions have
seen a jump in their annual income to `75,000 per
annum, while a substantial portion fall in the `100,000 to
`130,000 brackets.
• Close to 24,000 village-level community institutions,
with a membership of over 285,000 members were
operational in project areas.
• Annual turnover of `980 million was achieved by
82 federations, comprising 155,000 members.
Similarly, annual turnover of `3.79 billion
was reported by 29 Farmer Producer
Organisations, comprising 115,000 members
across the Trusts’ project areas.
• Out of a total outreach of 785,000
households, various agriculture
interventions were undertaken
with 524,000 households. Water
harvesting structures, such as
farm ponds, check dams, gully
plugs, etc., were completed to cater
to the irrigation needs of 33,000
acres of farming land, belonging to
28,000 households. Improved
irrigation management practices
(drip irrigation/sprinklers) were
adopted by 26,000 households
across 18,000 acres.
• High value agriculture initiatives
with 172,000 households covering
95,000 acres resulted in higher
incomes. High value horticulture (fruits
and vegetables) was adopted by 92,000
households and covered 31,000 acres of
orchards and fields. Other agriculture interventions were