Grassroots Internship, Farming

GRASSROOTS INDIA TRUST is a nonprofit that aims to strengthen the capacities of the people at the grassroots by mainstreaming their local innovations into popular domains of development and social action. 

Coordinated from New Delhi the organization works mostly in partnership of grassroots NGOs and action groups. Grassroots India Trust principally builds the capacities of participants/ people by imparting on-field training, information, technical know-how and orientation apart from little monetary support, which is a sustainable way of empowering the communities and partners in a bid to overcome hunger, poverty, exclusion, marginalization and abuse of human rights. 

In addition to supporting grassroots NGOs in many provinces of North India, we also execute empowerment-related activities through the Grassroots Media Initiative, Grassroots Institute, GRASSROOTSSPEAK south asia, GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY and GRASSROOTS-in-action. 

DESCRIPTION OF INTERNSHIP 

This Intern will be placed in Seraj Valley of Kullu district in Himachal Pradesh. It lies in Western Himalayas, the part of Great Himalayas. Valley spreads over few tehsils. Interventions of GIT are confined to Banjar tehsil and some parts of Kullu tehsil. GIT's field office is located in Banjar, a small hilly town. It is close to well-known Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP). The area is rich with biodiversity, pristine jungles, wild animals, freshwater rivers/rivulets, lakes, range of vegetations, alpine meadows, etc. Traditional communities have intricate linkages with the nature, and nurture the ecosystems especially agro-ecosystems. People practice natural religion; they have extremely rich culture. 

The Project Action Research on Agrobiodiversity and Organic Foods in Western Himalayas 

Agrobiodiversity is the most potential option for sustainability of the agriculture production system. Since millennia, ancient agriculture practices have, by and large, made significant contribution in maintaining the high genetic resources involving the locally available plant and animal resources. Since ancient times, the marginal farmers of western Himalayas have developed multitudes of indigenous on-farm techniques (the methods by which inputs are powered) and technologies (the application of knowledge to the production system) for optimal production. Such practices have evolved from generations through various trial and errors. The indigenous practices are interlinked with animal-forest-farm resources. As many as seventeen crops are being cultivated, almost all are local breed except wheat. This huge diversity has been maintained through a variety of crop compositions, cropping patterns and crop rotations.

Recent introduction of high yielding variety (HYV) of food and fruit crops has subsequently diverted the farming systems from mixed crop cultivation to mono-crop cultivation leading to the loss of agrobiodiversity. The erosion in agro-biodiversity in the hills is due to a number of factors: (a) degradation of natural forests, which sustained traditional agriculture; (b) changing attitudes towards coarse and fine grains, the latter being considered more "progressive" to produce and consume, (c) supply of HVY seeds and other inputs at subsidized cost by the government, (d) attraction to maximise profits through cash crop monocultures, and (f) lack of incentives for marketing of traditional crops. Erosion of traditional values and knowledge, loss of genetic diversity and inequity in society rapidly imperils the native landraces and overall sustainability of the agriculture systems in western Himalaya.

Conservation strategies related to sustainability of the indigenous farming systems are needed for overall environmental, economic and social development through adopting the traditional and appropriate modern techniques and technologies. 

Under this project both preventive and curative measures will be taken to combat further erosion of genetic resources and to revive the (locally lost) agrobiodiversity. The project comprises 2 distinct stages in implementation: 

(1) Preparation of 'community agrobiodiversity registers' and formation of 'community seed banks' that would be instrumental in a) revitalizing traditional knowledge/skills/techniques; b) protecting traditional/customary rights of local communities by providing proof of resource uses; c) assessing the economic value of community usage and conservation practices; d) priority setting for conserving those landraces/cultivars which are under threat; and e) sharing the local knowledge with other farmers in Kullu district for mutual benefit.

(2) Education of farmers on 'agrobiodiversity preservation & cultivation on-farm' 

Conservation of agrobiodiversity, gene pool and (interwoven) culture in selected villages situated in buffer zone of Great Himalayan National Park (HP) will be pursued in accordance of the following objectives: 

· To prepare community biodiversity registers of agrobiodiversity existing on-farm and earmarking the locally disappeared cultivars/landraces in selected villages of buffer zone of GHNP.
· To form seed banks and promote seed exchange among the farmers through organizing farmer fairs.
· To educate the farmers for growing the organic foods, and to link these foods with ecotourism activities in Kullu valley.
· To promote through public education the following; - traditional crops/cultivars/landraces (agrobiodiversity) cultivation on-farm, - organic farming methods including integrated pest management, - protection of intellectual property rights by collectively maintaining the community biodiversity registers. 

Desired Qualifications: Agriculture; Environment; Development Studies 

Duration 4-12 months 

Special Intern will be placed at GIT but will be attached with its partner organization SHARA at Banjar. 

Compensation:

Each Intern will be given modest accommodation at or in the vicinity of workplace. An allowance of US$ 12 will be provided as contribution towards food expenses. All official travels will be reimbursed as actual. Only second class rail or bus fare is admissible. 

Those who have strong desire to learn and see the real situations in Third World would have incredible opportunity with us through the Internship. We already have received 6 foreign Interns in less than a year who have learnt immensely with us. Of them 5 belong to Europe and US. We give best inputs in field. 

Deadline: 30 March 2007 

To Apply:

Keenly interested Graduates having Bachelors or Masters degree may apply as soon as possible. Early applications will be given priority. One should send full CV, photo and a letter of motivation at: 

GRASSROOTS INDIA TRUST
1st Floor, Rail Reservation Building,
50 A, Street 17, Zakir Nagar Opp.
New Friends Colony A-Block,
Okhla, New Delhi - 110 025