Nabard launches livelihood project for UP tribals

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has launched a novel development project ‘Wadi’ in Bundelkhand region for the welfare of tribal communities in Uttar Pradesh.

It aims at reducing the migration of tribal people to urban centres by providing them livelihood in the form of income and basic necessities like fuel wood, timber and cattle fodder.

In the beginning, the project has been launched in Jhansi and Lalitpur districts for assistance of 1,050 tribal families on cluster basis with total outlay of Rs 4 crore.

Wadi in Gujarati means small orchard. It is tree-based farming system consisting of a fruit tree suitable to the area or a combination of trees with forestry species. Two or more tree crops are selected in Wadi model to minimise biological and marketing risks.

In five years, a poor village of 100 families can get converted into an orchard of a 100-150 acre producing hundreds of tonnes of fruits.

“The programme will assist tribal families in Babina block of Jhansi and Birdha block of Lalitpur by giving assistance to develop orchards and related activities,” Nabard (UP Region) Chief General Manager D P Misra told Business Standard.

Another project in Mihipurva block of Bahraich district will be shortly started and benefit about 1,500 tribal families. Nabard will provide a grant of Rs 4.5 crore for the project.

The interventions in each district are planned over a period of 6-7 years. The fruit trees include mango, Aonla and guava along with forestry species.

The major interventions include horticulture plantation, soil conservation, water resource development, dairy activities, development programmes for women, activities for improving community health and other capacity building activities.

Similar projects are also underway in other states, which have sizeable tribal population, such as Chhattisgarh, where 18 projects had been sanctioned.

As per the 2001 census, UP has tribal population of about 1,08,000. There are five main scheduled tribes — Tharu, Buksa, Bhotia, Jaunsari and Raji. Tharu is the major group constituting 77 per cent of the total tribal population.