VILLAGE STUDY REPORT

Name of the village: Kamplikoppa

Period of stay: 3 days (21-23 July 2008)

INTRODUCTION: Madhukeshwara Bhat and I went to study the village of Kamplikoppa for three days. We reached the village on 21 July 2008 at 10:30 a.m.

LOCATION & DEMOGRAPHY:

KAMPLIKOPPA is a small village located four kilometers away from Varur, NH-4. It is 22 kilometers away from the nearest growth centre and Taluk Place, Hubli and 40 kilometers away from District Place, Dharwad. Total population of the village is 1031, which includes 525 males and 506 females. The Scheduled Caste (SC) population of the village is 21, including 10 males and 11 females. The Scheduled Tribe (ST) population of the village is 133, including 76 males and 67 females. The total number of families in the village is 165.

PEOPLE :

The people are united, very hard-working and busy throughout the year. There exists diversification in their castes. Many castes, like Lingayats, Muslims, Jains, ST, SC, etc., can be seen. The people of Kamplikoppa are mainly dependent on farming and horticulture. A subsidiary occupation like dairy, vermicomposting also exists. Some people also go to work in VRL office. In total, there are 12 Self-Help Groups (SHG), and three are formed by BAIF.

Natural RESOURCES:

—  LAND: There exists shallow red soil suitable for plantation.

—  WATER: Water is a constraint in this village.  Six large ponds exist, which have now dried.

—  HORTICULTURE: Many plantation crops, like guavas, sapota, mangos, tamarind, curry leaf, lemons, etc., are grown here.

—  FOREST: A large number of forest species are grown here.  Examples include: subabul, teak, neem, etc.

—  LIVESTOCK: There are a large number of cows, buffaloes, bullocks, etc.

EDUCATION:

There is one anganawadi and one primary school from first to eighth standard in the village. There are exactly 129 children in the school. Due to the lack of a high school, students are deprived of access to higher education.

AGRICULTURE:

There are three big farmers, 125 small/marginal farmers and 35 landless farmers. There are around 52 to 60 wades/orchards located in the village. Mainly rain-fed agriculture exists in the village. Major crops grown are maize, savi, soybeans, hybrid jowar, cotton, etc., and minor crops grown include red gram, horse gram, chilli, etc.

We had a group discussion in the evening, which consisted of 35 people, including 21 women in the Yuvak  Mandal Hall.  During the discussion we talked about the following topics:

v  Extent of different services available to them.

v  Resource inflow and outflow.

v  Areas that needs to be improved.

Furthermore, in a tool designed to determine the extent of different services accessible to them, we learned the following points:                                       

v  BAIF is very near to the village, and it is easily accessible.

v  KMF and the bank are the most important and easily accessible services.

v  The post office, Veterinary Department and Gram Panchayat are the next more important, though less accessible, services.

v  KEB, the Women’s Welfare Department and Health Department are less accessible services.

v  The Horticulture Department, Education Department, Taluk Panchayat, Zilla Panchayat and Minor Irrigation Department are the least accessible services.

In a tool conducted to determine the resource inflow and outflow of the village, we observed the following aspects:

—  The inflow resources consist of agricultural implements, fertilizers, seeds, cows and buffaloes.  Daily-use materials include sugar, jaggery, oil, rice, clothes and onion as well as  building materials, like cement, iron and bricks.

—  The outflow resources consist of milk, sapota, guavas, mangos, vegetables, vermicompost, grass slips/seeds, soybeans, savi and cotton.

During the discussion we also learned the areas which need to be improved in the village. The list below includes some of the actions to be taken:

—  Standard of education is to be improved.

—  Veterinary hospital and primary health centre should be constructed.

—  Quality of roads to be improved.

—  Information about minor irrigation to be made easily accessible to farmers.

—  Drinking water facility to be improved since currently there is only one point for the whole village.

Some of the livelihood supports implemented by farmers include the following:

—  Around 52 to 60 families have sapota orchards.

—  Around 40 families are dependent on dairy, owning 165 to 190 cows and 75 to 90 buffaloes.

—  Around 40 farmers rely on vermicomposting as livelihood support.

—  They also earn from the sale of grass slips and grass seeds.

—  Some people even go to work in the VRL office.

A SUCEESS STORY OF A SMALL FARMER

I met a farmer named Shivappa Adargunchi who shared his success story. His story revealed that he had 2.5 acres of land under agriculture where he used to cultivate savi, jowar and maize before the intervention by BAIF. He was unable to meet the needs of his family by the income he earned from cultivation of land, so he used to work in other’s fields and also went for stone work. However, after the intervention by BAIF, he, with the help of BAIF, planted one acre of his land with sapota. He did not hire any labor. He also worked in others’ fields for four days apart from working in his own field for four days so as to support his family because he would not get any immediate returns. BAIF also helped him by paying Rs. 25 for the work he did in his own field. He planted 40 sapota and 1200 forest species and used pitcher irrigation, as water was unavailable. There was no income for the first four years, so he started vermicomposting and planted grass species. As his wife was in a self-help group, he took out a loan to purchase cows, which brought in more income. In the first year, he made a repayment of Rs. 14000. Now he is earning around Rs. 30000 from vermicomposting, Rs. 15000 from sale of earthworms and Rs. 3000 from sale of grass slips per annum.

There are some still-existing needs of the village that concern me.

—  De-silting of all six tanks, which will help to irrigate around 200 to 225 acres of land.

—  Encouraging farmers to produce more of vermicompost and making them use it in their own fields.

—  Certifying all the farmers’ fields growing horticultural crops organically through one of the certifying agencies so that the farmers could get higher prices for their produce.