Major Programmes

Livestock Development

It includes cattle and buffalo breed improvement for promoting dairy husbandry in 2217 villages in 09 districts; conservation of Ongole breed through awareness, selection of elite germplasm for providing breeding services and primary health care.

Salient features

• Doorstep breeding services
• Integration of breeding services with fodder resources development, health care Monitoring and technical advice on cattle management
• Involvement of farmers in programme management
• Capacity building of farmers that includes women through motivation, training and formation of people's organizations
• Programme administration through formation of Cattle Breeders Associations for programme sustainability.
• Linkage with banks and marketing agencies.

Mode of Operation

Impact

• Number of farmers keeping livestock has increased.
• Sale of animals has come down, thanks to the availability of doorstep services.
• Production of milk has gone up by two folds.

Ongoing Livestock Development Programmes of BIRD-AP

Water and Land Resource Development

It includes land treatment, gully plugging and contour bunding followed by promotion of improved agricultural practices in 33 villages in 6 districts namely Mahabubnagar, Anantapur, Prakasham, Guntur , Nalgonda and Ranga Reddy benefiting more than 6000 families in the state.

Salient features  

• Conservation of water and it's efficient use for enhancing the productivity of farming system in the rainfed areas. 
• New methods for harvesting rain water
• Ensure equitable distribution through user organizations.

Ongoing Land Based Development Programmes of BIRD-AP

Major Projects

Andhra Pradesh Rural Livelihood Programme

Project components

• Natural resource management for developing degraded watersheds
• Enhancement of soil productivity
• Adaptive trials for innovative technologies
• Promotion of micro enterprises
• Capacity building through training and formation of community based organizations.

Project period and coverage

The Government of AP sponsored APRLP project in year 2002 and was implemented for 5 years in Mahbubnagar district by BIRD-AP. The project covered 17 villages and 7000 ha of degraded land was treated.

Impact

• The productivity of rainfed farming in this area has gone up by 20%
• Migration for want of employment has come down.
• Increase in cultivation of vegetables and fruit crops

Greening Dryland through Agro-forestry

The project started in 2005 and implemented in 2 villages in Mahabubnagar district till December 2007. BIRD-AP was the resource agency for this project supported by Agriculture Man Ecology Foundation. As many as 153 participants consisted of farmers, village youths and development functionaries have been trained in various aspects of natural resource management and livestock development.

Enabling Rural Poor for Better Access to Improved Natural Resource

Management in Semi Arid Tropics in India

This research cum development project sponsored by DFID-NRSP through Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) was carried out during 2003-05. In Andhra Pradesh the project covered 7 villages in two districts namely Mahabubnagar and Anantapur.

Project Component

• Natural resource management
• Crop diversification
• Drudgery reduction
• Promotion of community based organizations
• Training and capacity building
• Policy advocacy

Achievements

• Treatment of 300 ha of degraded, undulated land for soil and water conservation
• Crop diversification
• Introduction of chickpea as alternative to paddy
• Establishment of ‘Salaha samithis' to implement development issues at village level
• Establishment of ‘Custom Hiring Centers' for improved agriculture implements that are managed by people's organization.
• Developing policy briefs on fodder, livestock, natural resource management, crop diversification and water measuring devices etc.

On-Farm Demonstration and Training

The programme was started in 2004 in association with the District Administration in Mahabubnagar who have made available 17.5 acre of land. The objective is to establish on-farm demonstration for training farmers and government functionaries in natural resource management and allied subjects. The demonstrations that have already been establishes includes watershed development models, cultivation of fodder varieties, dryland horticulture, afforestation, organic composting technologies and research plots on crops such as sorghum, castor, redgram and dryland sericulture etc.

During the last 3 years 1000 farmers and 300 rural youths have been trained in various aspects of natural resource management, on-farm and off farm activities, fodder development, artificial insemination, first aid and dairy cattle management etc.

MSK-Wasteland

This programme was started in 2007 in Nalgonda District in association with ITC to convert 1500 acres of wasteland into productive land by taking up agro-forestry plantation of subabul and other trees. This programme is extended to Mahaboobnagar district to convert another 1000 acres of waste land to productive land by taking up subabul plantation.

Exposures to Bhadrachalam -100 farmers

• 15 village level meetings involving Progressive farmers
• Covered 6 villages for Subabul plantation
• 80 farmers involved
• Covered 82.5 acres
• Introduced addl incentives of Rs.200/ac to the AIT for regular monitoring

NABARD Watershed based Development Project

It is being implemented in 4 villages each in Mahbubnagar and Rang Reddy district respectively, covering an area of 8000 ha and benefiting nearly 3000 families.

Public private partnership ITC LTD is also supporting 40%

• 8 watersheds in 2 districts
• Submitted watershed data sheets for 8 W/s
• Completed QS in 06 villages
• Submitted CBP plan for 05 W/s

Green Watershed Project (Sponsored by ITC)

Project Objectives

• To provide critical irrigation to tobacco crops through conservation of rain water
• To improve the soil fertility to ensure improved quality and quantity of tobacco crop
• To promote on-farm activities for improving the household income of tobacco farmers.

NAIP-Sustainable Rural Livelihood Project
BIRD-AP is the anchoring agency for Mahabubnagar and Anantapur districts for this innovative action research project that began in 2007. In addition to this BIRD-AP also provides technical support for livestock development for all the project villages in the state. The project is implemented by a development consortium lead by CRIDA in 8 districts of Andhra Pradesh.

Project Objectives

• Enhancing productivity of farming systems
• Value addition and processing of rainfed crops
• Promotion of community based organizations and its capacity building
• Policy advocacy and scaling up processes

Project Implementation:
As part of the project implementation BIRD-AP is responsible for:

• Farming systems analysis of the clusters, all technical interventions related to NRM, crop, livestock, micro enterprises in two clusters, on-farm trials on efficient water use and testing ID crops in case of paddy in tank fed-tube well areas, action research on fodder production on PPRs and CPRs, value addition to sheep wool and training of local artisans.
  
• Guiding interventions related to fodder production on PPRs, upgradation of local breeds, mineral supplementations, training of para vets on animal health care etc across all the clusters. Capacity building of farmers and SHGs in organizing sheep and milk cooperatives.