A People-Centric Approach to Tackling Poverty in India
Nature-based solutions like carbon offsets should prioritize people, encompass entire landscapes, and align with poverty alleviation objectives.
Devaraya* is aghast at his crop yield. Situated in the city of Devadurga, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka, he barely recovered the input costs for his primary crop in the monsoon season (Kharif crops). Spare a few patches where the winter crop, pearl millet (also called Bajra) thrived, large swathes of his two-acre farm faced stunted or no growth.
We met him in January of 2023, and he told us that this poor yield is the latest in a string of setbacks. In June 2022, Devaraya sold all his livestock for Rs. 80,000 (approximately 887 Euros) to buy a pump set to draw water from a nearby canal. This way he figured he would be able to irrigate his fields better and improve yield. However, he still ran into a net loss on his cotton produce –one of the main cash crops in this region of India.
Acknowledgements
Karishma Shelar for Revolve
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