Building climate resilience through peri-urban agriculture

Creation of new green areas, Protection of natural ecosystems, Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Strategy, plan or policy development

The project aimed toward four interlinked objectives: - To develop a climate resilience strategy to reduce flood risks for Gorakhpur city. - To develop models of climate resiliency and integrated agriculture-horticulture-aquaculture-livestock systems in small, marginal landholdings in the peri-urban context, employing a diversity of water systems. - To enhance the income and food security of poor and vulnerable populations. - To ensure the sustainability of peri-urban agricultural lands through different regulatory and incentive mechanisms - To enhance the flood buffering capacity of the city as it expands through the institutionalization and replication of sustainable management of agricultural ecosystems (Ref 1).

GEAG concluded that to reduce flood risk in Gorakhpur city, promoting the maintenance of open spaces in the form of peri-urban agriculture would be an ideal strategy. It presented a practical mechanism for diversifying urban livelihoods and ensuring the availability of local food supplies while maintaining open areas that can serve as flood buffers. It would also maintain the land-use pattern and ecosystem services in these areas, promoting climate-resilient peri-urban agriculture that uses innovative methods (Ref 1, 2). The project was categorized initially into eight components under implemented activities or also called “work packages”: 1. Farm models 2. Institution building 3. Weather and agro-services 4. Common property resource management 5. Market linkages 6. Awareness and cross-learning visits 7. Research and documentation 8. Advocacy (Ref 1). Later two more components were added as the project put a lot of effort into it: 9. Establishing linkages and networking with government departments 10. Documentation (Ref 1). The typology of the peri-urban interventions (implementation activities) at the farmers’ level has four major components: 1. Farm models with low external input and sustainable agriculture (LEISA) and climate-resilient practices - The project introduced a host of low external input and sustainable agriculture (LEISA) and climate-resilient practices which primarily increased farmer's income including: composting, Trichoderma fungus, bio-pesticides, oil cake, plantation, mixed farming, seed production, integrated pest management (IPM), kitchen gardening, loft farming, bag or “thermocol” farming, low tunnel polyhouse, permanent raised beds, and relay cropping. - The practice of composting, with or without adding Trichoderma to improve the soil, followed by mixed or relay farming with a variety of vegetables and fruits, and the application of bio-pesticides in case of diseases and pests, proved very successful, allowing farmers to harvest three crops a year instead of one or two. - Practices such as thermocol farming and loft farming have helped farmers grow saplings during the flood season that can be planted in the fields once the water recedes. Marginal farmers are now able to rent needed equipment from the agro-service centers to irrigate their fields during water shortages (Ref 1, 2). 2. Local institutions that were formed, such as farmer clubs, farmer field schools, and Laghu Seemant Krishak Morcha (LSKMs) which are farmers' unions that are part of a national LSKM network - The implementation of the LEISA and climate-resilient practices has been further supported by the farmer clubs, farmer field schools, agro-service centers, and LSKMs formed by the GEAG project (Ref 1, 2). 3. The weather and agro-services provided by SMS - Providing weather and agro-services through SMS and using notice boards supported farmers in making informed decisions about their agricultural practices (Ref 1, 2). 4. Established linkages with government line departments and GEAG. - Establishing linkages to line departments and GEAG has helped farmers access better supportive information from experts and also provided access to government subsidy schemes (Ref 1, 2).

• Marginalized groups: Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed)
• Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)