The CSIAP commences GIS-based MIS Training for its staff in Southern and Uva

The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) conducts a two-day residential training programme on the GIS-based Management Information System (MIS) for its staff in Southern and Uva Provinces today (21st) at Jade Green Hotel, Hambantota. The MIS is a computerized database that helps the CSIAP to make decisions, coordinate, visualize and analyze information through its activities. Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, CSIAP welcomed all participants and explained the importance of using MIS for the project. Celata Tech (Pvt) Ltd invented the GI-based MIS for the CSIAP.  Mr. Dinesh Denipitiya, Senior Business Manager (Operations), Chamath Ekanayake, Tech Lead and Mr. Pavithra Prabodya, Senior Software Engineer of Celata Tech (Pvt) Ltd explained the new system and provided the CSIAP staff with hands-on experience. The same programme will be continued for the CSIAP staff in North Western, North Central, Northern and Eastern Provinces, and Subject Specialists of the Project Management Unit of the CSIAP also participated. Mr. Nalaka Attanayake, Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist of the CSIAP coordinated this programme.

Dapog nursery method introduces to Uva by the CSIAP

Dapog nursery method, which is used to produce seedlings for transplant paddy seedlings in the field by using either Mechanical or Manual Paddy Transplanters, is introduced to farmers in Buttala located in Uva province by the Deputy Project Director’s Office (Uva Province) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project.

This nursery is established on polythene or in the transplanting trays. At the inception around 3-4 feet, a wide nursery bed is constructed on the field and lay a polythene sheet on it. Subsequently, a ½ inch thickness mud layer is spread on the polythene, and equally, distribute germinated seed paddy on this mud layer.

This nursery is maintained for around 14 days by daily applying water and fertilizer as required. After 14 days, these seedlings can be  used  for planting by removing the polythene sheet and  cutting the nursery into pieces and inserting them into transplanting trays. There are several benefits of the Dapok nursery. It needs less area to produce seedlings and requires less quantity of seed paddy (12 -15Kgs ) to cultivate 01-acre paddy land. In addition, the uprooting cost of paddy seedlings is very low when compared with the manual transplanting system. Hence it is explicit the Dapog system leads to minimising production cost for paddy farmers and increasing farmer family income.  

Over 120 farmers participated in the 03 training programmes conducted  in Buttala ASC (Agrarian Service Center) division to gain experience in preparing Dapog nurseries and around 400 transplanting trays were given to farmers. Agriculture Instructor Mr. K. D. I. Amitha Premalal (Buththala range), Agriculture Research and Production Assistants Ms. R.M.Kanthy and  Mr. J. Gunadasa conducted the training. 

Story and Photographs by R. Dushyanthan (Agriculture Facilitator), Buththala ASC, UP

The first workshop on Hydrological Studies Using Software Applications at NWP

"Hydrological Studies Using Software Applications", the first workshop of the workshop series was conducted for engineering and technical staff of the Department of  Agrarian Development, Department of Irrigation and CSIAP (NWP) in North Western Province by the Design Cell of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) at the Irrigation Training Institute Galgamuwa recently. The workshop's purpose was to equip Sri Lankan engineers with knowledge and skills to use software related to Hydrological Studies and to transfer the knowledge gained by the Design Cell of CSIAP to Implementing Agencies and other authorities related to the Irrigation sector.

This workshop, which was held in two sessions of one week each, was initiated under the instructions of  Eng R.M.B. Rajakauruna, Project Director, CSIAP and was guided by the Senior Engineering Consultant Eng H.G.M.Kulasinghe.  Project Engineering Consultants Eng R.M.H.N Bandara and Eng P.H.S. Rangika made their contribution to the workshop as resource persons.  Mr. W.M.S. Wijesinghe, Deputy Project Director of CSIAP (NWP) coordinated the workshop.

Images of the Farmer Filed School captured by a Drone

Sri Lanka’s first-ever Climate Smart Agriculture School opens at Thirappaney

The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) has built a first-ever Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) School called Farm Field School (FFS) to promote CSA practices in Sri Lanka.  The FFS is used to train farmers and give hands-on experience on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices to address the challenges of building strategies for climate change mitigation, adaptation, and food security (crop productivity),  which are closely related to agriculture and minimize their potential negative impacts and technologies to the beneficiary farmers of hot spot areas in 11 districts of six provinces such as North Western, North Central, Northern, Eastern, Uva and Southern Provinces where the CSIAP is being implemented. This fully pledged farm field school is located at Wagayakulama village of Thirappane, located approximately 30 km South of Anuradhapura town in the North Central Province.

The FFS was declared open by the Ministry of is declared open by Mr. Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister of Agriculture, Wildlife and Forest Resources Conservation on 04^th  at Thirappaney.  The main objective of FFS is to enhance the capacities of support organization officials and farmer leaders to promote CSA technologies and practices in their villages. Subsequently, the project aims to impart their knowledge and skills on CSA practices to village-level potential farmers to respond to the adverse climate impacts in their villages. In addition, the project mobilizes trained leader farmers to organize training activities and disseminate knowledge on CSA practices among peer groups.

Renowned Sri Lankan Film Director/Maker late Mr. Dharmasena Pathiraja’s son Dr. Milinda Pathiraja, Senior lecturer in Architecture, who took responsibility of the architectural design of the FFS has provided service with his team at Robust Architecture Workshop free of charge. Dr. Pathiraja was honoured with a Token of Appreciation for his contribution to the FFS at this ceremony. 

The FFS project costs around Rs 40Mn and the Ministry of Agriculture is the main agency responsible for executing the project.  The CSA is a new concept to the Sri Lankan farming society, even though the farmers apply some traditional CSA practices without a real scientific background. In this scenario, the project wishes to increase and build the capacities of farmers for the use of CSA technologies to combat the climate change impact. The project aims to build a village-level resource person pool with the competencies of CSA technologies & practices from support organization officials and selected leader farmers through the newly established FFS. 

All training programs are conducted with the collaboration of the Extension division of the Department of Agriculture (DOA), Peradeniya, including the allocation of potential resource persons for training sessions. The CSIAP is promoting various CSA practices via FFS  to increase crop productivity and ensure the food security of the project beneficiaries with a contribution to climate change adaptation and mitigation as follows.

1.     Climate-smart Home Garden Development
2.    Crops Diversification
3.    Implementation of Climate Smart Agronomic Interventions
4.    Promote Micro Irrigation
5.     Climate Smart Seeds Production
6.    Interseason Cultivation to increase cropping intensity

Each batch consists of 25 participants, including leader farmers and technical officials from a support organization. The participants are identified by the provincial Deputy Project Director (DPD) offices to represent all Agrarian Service center (ASCs) divisions and make necessary arrangements to transport them to FFS premises on time.

All sessions are to be organized as residential (03 days) intensive, multi-session and multi-activity group learning sessions that use lecturing, group discussions, demonstrations of practical activities, videos, and other audio-visual resources as well as entertainment activities (drams and role play), etc. 

The technology transfer plan for the FFS is developed by 07 modules. Each module consists of thematic areas to be covered and lessons/topics to be discussed and learning objectives to transfer the CSA technologies to the participants. These modules define how the knowledge acquired from training will be used for CSIAP interventions, how knowledge will be disseminated among fellow members, what roles to be played in Farmer Organizations (FOs), Producer Societies (PSs), and Cascade Management Committees (CMCs), and post-evaluation of the training.

The CSIAP is originally planning to carry out 74 training sessions for leader farmers and technical officers during the project period and build capacities of 1850 participants on CSA technologies and practices. Hence, the expected outcome is to establish a CSA knowledge hub within the village and disseminate CSA technologies among beneficiaries residing in the hotspot areas covering all 47 ASC divisions.  Subsequently, CSIAP is planning to disseminate the CSA technology and practices to the whole farming communities, those vulnerable to climate change impact in the country, with the intervention of the Department of Agriculture (DOA) officials.

The FFS is one of the most important assets for the farming community in Sri Lanka. Hence, ensuring its sustainability is important. As we mentioned earlier, all capacity-building programs will be conducted with the assistance of extension divisions of the Department of Agriculture (DOA) and it leads to creating a competent resource person pool in the Department of Agriculture (DOA) on Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices. Also, the training needs on CSA technologies will be increased due to the prevailing scenario. Therefore the project aims to enter into an agreement with the Department of Agriculture (DOA) and to hand over this program, including all assets, to ensure sustainable functions of the center for the betterment of the vulnerable farming communities to build their resilience against the climate change impacts.

Parliamentarian Mr. Duminda Dissanayake, Mr. Gunadasa Samarasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Senior Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture, Provincial Department of Agriculture, Department of Agrarian Development, Field Crop Research & Development Institute, officials related to agriculture field, Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Provincial Deputy Project Directors, Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP attended this event.

The CSIAP could contribute to preserving foreign currency - Minister of Agriculture

Hon. Mahinda Amaraweera, Minister of Agriculture, Wildlife & Forest Resources Conservation assured that Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) could contribute to  preserving Sri Lanka’s foreign currency reserves by increasing local production in the country at  a special Progress Review  Meeting held at the Ministry this morning (21st). The minister advised continuing the ongoing programmes in a very systematic manner to increase productivity furthermore.  It is important to maintain the sustainability of the activities, which are being conducted,
after the project period, the Minister further added. Eng. Rx.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, CSIAP presented the current progress of the CSIAP and future activities.

Mr. Gunadasa Samarasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Senior Officials of the Ministry and Subject Specialists of the CSIAP attended this meeting. 

Photograph by Pathum Rasanjana, Ministry of Agriculture

Around 700 farmers in Puthukudiyiruppu received Rs 6.65m worth of inputs

The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) continually provides farmers with inputs to carry out cultivation without delay in the areas where the CSIAP is being implemented. Under this, around 700 farmers representing producer societies in  Mallikativu, Manakandal and Puthukudiyiruppu East received Rs 6.65m worth of inputs recently from the CSIAP.

Inputs such as 13 types of vegetable seeds, Turmeric & Ginger rhizomes, 50 Grow bags, Plants (Guava, Lime, Murunga, Papaw, Passion) Manioc and Sweet potato cuttings were distributed among farmers. The World Bank Team headed by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP & Mission Leader handed inputs over to farmers with CSIAP staff.

Addressing the audience Mr. Salau said that the World Bank always support improving the productivity and living standards of the farming community. Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan and Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Mr. George Babu, Provincial Deputy Project Director (Northern Province) Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP attended this event.

Story by R. Sanjeepan (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NP, CSIAP

The World Bank opens a Sales Center and Training Hall at Puthukudiyiruppu, NP

The Sales Centre & Training Hall built at the Agrarian Service Center in Puthukudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu under the modernization of Agrarian Service Centers was inaugurated by the World Bank recently. The World Bank Delegations led by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP & Mission Leader along with Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan ceremonially opened the new Center and Hall by unveiling the plague, and the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) spent Rs 10m to modernize the Puthukudiyiruppu Agrarian Service Center. Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Mr. George Babu, Provincial Deputy Project Director (Northern Province) Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP were on this attended this occasion.

Story by R. Sanjeepan (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NP, CSIAP

The World Bank oversees Home Garden, Crop Clinic and Compost Production in NP

The World Bank Team arrived in Koolamurippu village,  Mullaitivu to supervise Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden (CSNSHG), Crop Clink and Compost Production Programmes conducted by the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) recently. The World Bank Officials met members of a Producer Society in the village to find CSISP’s contribution to improving productivity and livelihoods. Farmers in the village highly appreciated the support provided by the CSIAP to improve productivity.

The World Bank Delegations led by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP & Mission Leader along with Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan and Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist, Mr. George Babu, Provincial Deputy Project Director (Northern Province) Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP were on this tour.

Story by R. Sanjeepan (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NP, CSIAP 

A workshop on training the CSIAP staff to use the FMIS

The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) commenced a two-day residential workshop in the Project Management Unit (PMU) this morning (09th) to train the Staff of Accounts Departments working for Provincial Deputy Project Directors’ offices and PMU of the CSIAP to use the Financial Management Information System (FMIS). The CSIAP’s finance and accounts activities will be handled via the FMIS from December 01st onwards. Soft Vision Technologies (Pvt) Ltd designed the finance and account application for the CSIAP. Mr. T.T. Dhayalan, System Analyst and Consultant, Soft Vision Technologies (Pvt) and his team are giving the CSIAP Staff a hands-on experience with the FMIS.

The WB oversees Matamodei Kulam Tank being rehabilitated at a cost of Rs 46m

The World Bank Officials observed the construction of Mathamoddai Kulam Tank in Semankunru village located in Mulankavil  Agrarian Service Center Area in Kilinochchi recently. The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) builds this tank at a cost of Rs 46.32m.

The World Bank Team led by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP & Mission Leader along with  Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan and  Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist met members of the Social Audit Committee and Farmer Organization in the area. The World Bank insisted that the farming community in the project area will be aided. The World Bank advised the contractor of the tank to speed up the rehabilitating process and explain to them the necessity of completing construction as planned.

Mr. George Babu, Provincial Deputy Project Director (Northern Province) Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP were present in this meeting.

Story by R. Sanjeepan (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NP, CSIAP 

The World Bank’s visit to Pallai Kulam Tank being rehabilitated by the CSIAP in NP

The World Bank Officials observed the construction of the Pallai Kulam  Tank which is being rehabilitated by the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) at the cost of Rs 6.52m in  Semankunru village located in  Poonakary, Kilinochchi recently.

The World Bank Delegations led by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP & Mission Leader met the Social Audit Committee & the Producer Society in the village to highlight the importance of rehabilitating tank which leads to the improving productivity. Mr. Salau pointed out the World Bank’s interest in supporting the farming community in the Northern Province to improve their livelihoods.

Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Mr. George Babu, Provincial Deputy Project Director (Northern Province) Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP were on this mission.

 Story by R. Sanjeepan (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NP, CSIAP 

The CSIAP’s Contribution to Climate Change Adaptation & Mitigation in Sri Lanka

United Nations Climate Change Conference ( COP27)
The Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC  from 06th to 18th November 2022

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 27 takes place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt from 6 to 18 November 2022. The Climate Conference of the Parties is held every year since 1995. It provides a platform for stakeholders to discuss the climate crisis on a global level. Annually, the conference brings actions on issues to addressing the climate emergency from reducing Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), helping communities build resilience and adapt to the impacts of climate change, financing climate actions and addressing loss and damage all over the world. This year, the climate conference supposes to assess the progress of the nation toward enhancing resilience and helping the most vulnerable communities.

Sri Lanka, a member county of the United Nations intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is experiencing climate-related natural disasters that resulted in major economic impacts. The damages caused by natural disasters such as floods, droughts, cyclones and landslides are reducing the economic value of the country. The agriculture sector of the country plays a major role in the economy and most of the farmers in the agriculture sector are smallholders, largely depending on rainwater. This has increased the risk of adverse climate change impacts on smallholder farmers.

In this context, it is appropriate to brief on the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) in Sri Lanka which has been designed to improve the productivity and climate resilience of smallholder agriculture in climatically vulnerable hotspot areas. This project is implementing strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the smallholder agriculture sector through the introduction of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices to boost agriculture production and marketing. CSIAP educate the farmers and develop their skills with scientific knowledge on CSA. The newly established Farm Field School (FFS) will launch its operation in a few weeks to provide scientific training to promote CSA practices to mitigate the climate change impact. The concept of Farm Business School promotes CSA practices in hotspot areas to increase resilience and adapt to climate change. Demonstration Villages have been established to multiply CSA technology transfer to uplift the farmer's cultivation practices.

Cultivation programs including Maha Season, Yala Season, Inter-Seasons, Climate Smart Nutrition Sensitive Home Gardens and Cluster Villages are being implemented to promote CSA practices and increase the resilience of farmers. The beneficiaries are able to achieve maximum production from their farmlands using CSA practices and it helped their socioeconomic resilience. The project introduced new institutional arrangements including Producer Society and Producer Associations to strengthen the farmers against climate change.  These institutions are the foundation of a community organization to take collective decisions to promote CSA practices and develop their plan for mitigating climate vulnerability and enhancing climate resilience.

The water for agriculture program is building climate resilience and supporting the rehabilitation of irrigation systems targeting possible future climate changes. It aimed to collect more rainwater and surface runoff to mitigate floods and drought by buffering against climate change. Hydrological assessments and water balance studies have been conducted in 14 river basins to assess effective water availability for the future in river basins, watersheds and cascades of tanks.

Socio-economic well-being is the paramount requirement to strengthen climate resilience in society. Social vulnerability is higher among the elders, women-headed families, differently able people, and economically marginalized people. CSIAP provided safety nets for over 70,000 vulnerable community families in eleven hotspot areas. The community has been strengthened by social and economic capital to mitigate climate change impact and increase resilience.

Climate resilience in biodiversity plays a major role in balancing the production system. As land becomes increasingly scarce and impacts climate change, an effective management system needs to balance conflicting demand or land use in a large landscape. Sustainable management of natural resources will ensure ecosystem resilience. CSIAP is implementing Agro-ecological Landscape Resilience Studies in selected hotspot areas to conduct auditing the landscapes to understand their ecological character both in production and non-production habitat, current issues and challenges and seek opportunities to bring in greater environmental and social resilience through appropriate integration of sustainable agroecological practices to face future climate change risk.

 The above study will provide hotspot area development guiding principles that will address a number of key points including land degradation neutrality and nutritional security; the welfare of the watershed community and economic gains to the farmers; adaptation to climate change; emphasis on secondary agriculture; promoting land use and production systems in sync with climate and soil site-suitability of land resources; scientific planning based on technology inputs, spatial and non-spatial data, hydro-geologic and aquifer characteristics; institutional sustainability; and convergence of programs and resources.

The CSIAP wishes the COP 27 a success!

By Dr. Janaka Jayawardana,
Environmental & Social Safeguard Specialist, PMU, CSIAP

The World Bank reviews the CSIAP's progress in Northern Province

The World Bank Delegations arrived in the Northern Provincial Offices of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) situated in Kilinochchi to review the current progress in the province under the CSIAP recently. The World Bank Team led by Mr. Sheu Salau, CO-Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP met senior officials of implementing agencies Mr. V.Premakumar, Provincial Director of Irrigation, Northern Province, Mr. K. Karunanithy, Deputy Director of Irrigation, Kilinochchi, Mrs. S. Yamini, Acting Deputy Provincial Director of Agriculture, Mullaitivu and Mr. R. Paraneetharan, Assistant Commissioner Agrarian Development, Mullaitivu to discuss ongoing project activities which are implemented and how to move forward to meet the project development objectives. 

 Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan and Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist also represented the World Bank Team. Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Mr. George Babu, Deputy Project Director (Northern Province), Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP attended this meeting. Please click Image to see more photos of the event.

 Story by R. Sanjeepan (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NP, CSIAP 

The World Bank Officials visit Climate Smart Demonstration Village in Mullaitivu

The World Bank Delegations visited the Climate Smart Demonstration Village formed in Keppapulavu village located in the Mulliyawalai Agrarian Center area in Mullaitivu, Northern Province recently. The World Bank Officials discussed with the Keppapulavu producer society, formed in the village by the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP), to Find out how to support furthermore to improve productivity and their livelihoods. The CSIAP provided this producer society with inputs, seeds and technical guidance to carry out cultivation in the village.

The World Bank team headed by Mr. Sheu Salau, CO-Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP visited the village along with Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist represented the World Bank, Mr. George Babu, Deputy Project Director (Northern Province), Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP.

Story by R. Sanjeepan (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NP, CSIAP 

The World Bank assures “ the CSIAP will be the best project in South Asia”

CO-Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) Mr. Sheu Salau says that the CSIAP will be the best agricultural project in South Asia during a special meeting held in the Project Management Unit (PMU), CSIAP, Colombo this afternoon. Representing the World Bank Mr Salau visited the PMU for the first time along with Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan and Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist. Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna warmly welcomed World Bank Officials with the CSIAP staff.

Mr. Salau insisted that all staff of the CSIAP including Provincial Deputy Project Director Offices should work hard to achieve Project Development Objectives that lead to improving the productivity and climate resilience of the farming community where the CSIAP is being implemented. The World Bank stands with the CSIAP staff to support and guide them to move forward with project activities, he further added. Subject Specialists and Officers of the PMU were present in this meeting. Please click Images to see more photos of the event.

Photographs by Gayani Dassanayake, PMU-CSIAP 

The World Bank meets members of the Producer Association in Thanduwan, NP

World Bank Delegations had a discussion with members of the Producer Association in Thanduwan of Oddusuddan Agrarian Service Center area, Mullaitivu to find a way that the World Bank could support farmers in the area furthermore to improve their productivity and livelihood.

The Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) has taken initiative to establish market linkage between farmers and leading retail change to sell agricultural production. 

Mr. Sheu Salau, CO-Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP, Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist represented the World Bank. Mr. George Babu, Deputy Project Director (Northern Province), Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP were present in this meeting.   

Story by R. Sanjeepan (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NP, CSIAP 

Inaugural Ceremony of the Contingent Home Garden Programme in Eastern

The World Bank delegation participated in the inaugural ceremony of the Contingent Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden (CSNSHG) Programme of CSIAP was held in the  Thriyai Conference Hall at Kuchavelli, Trincomalee recently. The World Bank Officials headed by Mr. Sheu Salau, CO-Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist were warmly welcomed by farmers.

The 470 farmers are selected for this home garden programme in Kuchchaveli ASC area and 14 varieties of seed packs, grow bags & 25 Kg of compost have been given per beneficiary at the initial stage.  Farmers expressed their gratitude to the World Bank Officials & the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project for the rehabilitation Agro wells and for improving their livelihood through Yala & Inter Seasonal cultivation. Also, they insisted that more service and support from World Bank through CSIAP Project would be expected furthermore.  

Mr. K. Kunanathan, Divisional Secretary, Kuchchavelli, Mr.S. Vimalathas, Principal, Thriyayi Tamil Maha Vidyalayam,  Grama Niladari, Economic Development Officers,   Trincomalee and Dr. R.M. Ariyadasa, Deputy Project Director (Eastern Province), Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP were present in this event.   

Story by K.Karthiga (Monitoring & Evaluation Officer), CSIAP, EP

The World Bank meets Members of SAC and FO at Pulmodai, Trincomalee

The World Bank Officials led by Mr. Sheu Salau, CO-Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP), met members Social Audit Committee (SAC) and Farm Organization (FO) of Periya Kalillupai Tank & Kattaru Anicut at Pulmodai Agrarian Service Centre in Trincomalee recently during the special tour in Northern and Eastern Provinces to review the progress of the CSIAP. The role of the SAC members in tank rehabilitation work, Grievance Redressal Mechanism and 2022/2023 Maha Cultivation was discussed in this meeting.

Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist joined the World Bank Team. Mr. I.K.G Muthubanda, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Eastern Province, Mr. G. Senthuran, Provincial Deputy Director of Irrigation, Trincomalee and Dr. R.M. Ariyadasa, Deputy Project Director (Eastern Province), Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP attended this event. Please click Images to see more photos of the meeting.

Story by K. Karthiga (Monitoring & Evaluation Officer), CSIAP, EP

World Bank Officials visit Farm Field School at Thirappane, Anuradhapura

 The World Bank Delegation led by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) & Mission Leader visited the Farm Field School, which is being built at Thirappane, Anuradhapura, to inspect the ongoing construction work recently.  Mr. S.M. Seelarathne, Deputy Project Director-North Central Province accompanied the World Bank Officials to the construction site with the CSIAP staff. Instructions were given to complete the construction works in a very successful manner by Mr. Salau. The World Bank Delegation consisted of Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist.

Story and Photographs by Upali Rathnayake (Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist), NCP, CSIAP

Farmers in Giribawa receive over Rs 14.8m worth of inputs for Home Gardening

The Climate Smart Irrigation Agriculture Project (CSIAP) gives Rs 14.8 million worth of inputs to farmers in Giribawa to boost Home Gardening Production in North Western Province (NWP) under the Contingency Home Gardening programme. Inputs such as Seeds, Compost, Electric Fence Energizer and Parachute trays were given to 150 farmers recently at the Divisional Secretariat, Giribawa.

This programme is planned to enhance household food security and nutrition in areas where the CSIAP is being implemented. There are around 3254 farm families in the Giribawa Divisional Secretariat, Kurunegala district and a total of 15,762 farm families are with this programme in NWP.

Mr. H.M.Bandara, Divisional Secretary & 08 Officers of the Divisional Secretariate, Giribawa,  Mr. A.P. Pradeep, Divisional Officer,  Rajanganaya ASC, Mr. W.M.S. Wijesinghe, Deputy Project Director (NWP) & officers of the CSIAP, 15 Grama Niladaries, 15 Agriculture Research and Production Assistants, 10 Economic Development Officers, 13 Samurdhi Development Officers and 150 farmers attended this event.

Story and Photographs by Chamara Basnayake (Agriculture Facilitator), Rajanganaya ASC, NWP

The World Bank observes Pallai Kulam Tank being rehabilitated by the CSIAP in NP

The World Bank Officials visited Poonakary, Kilinochchi yesterday (25th) to observe Pallai Kulam Tank which is being rehabilitated by the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP). This mission was arranged to monitor the activities of the project implementation. Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP & Mission Leader, Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Mr. George Babu , Provincial Deputy Project Director (Northern Province)  Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP were on this mission.

Photographs by A.K.C. Amarathunaga, PMU-CSIAP

The construction work of the FFS at Thirappane is being completed

The Frame Field School (FFS) at Thirappane being built by the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) will be used to train farmers and give hands-on experience on CSA practices and technologies to the beneficiary farmers of hot spot areas in 11 districts of six provinces. The FFS is located at Mannakkulama Village of Thirappane in Anuradhapura District. Direct beneficiaries of the FFS are 2,700 selected male and female farmers and 150 extension staff of the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Agrarian Development. The FFS project costs Rs 117M and the Ministry of Agriculture is the primary agency responsible for executing the project which is financed by the World Bank.

Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, the CSIAP supervised the construction process of the FFS yesterday (24).

Photographs by A.K.C. Amarathunaga, PMU-CSIAP

The WB workshop on the restructuring of the Result Framework of the CSIAP

A special workshop began this morning (21) in the World Bank Office, Colombo to discuss the restructuring of the Result Framework of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) for the rest of the project period. This workshop was chaired by Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) & Mission Leader of the World Bank.

 Mr. John. C. Keyser, TTL  of the CSIAP , Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Senior Officials of Ministry of Agriculture, Department of External Resource and Department of Agrarian Development, Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, Provincial Deputy Project Directors and Subject Specialists of the CSIAP were present in this programme. Please click Images to see more photos of the workshop.

The World Bank Officials review the current progress of the CSIAP

The World Bank assesses the overall development progress of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) and its effectiveness in delivering project development objectives.  The World Bank Team headed by Mr. John. C. Keyser, Task Team Leader (TTL) of the CSIAP arrived in CSIAP’s head Office, Colombo this morning (20^th) to evaluate progress, review and get updated on the current status of the CSIAP. Eng. R.M.B. Rajakaruna, Project Director, CSIAP welcomed the World Bank Officials and presented the overall progress of the CSIAP. This meeting was also an opportunity for Subject Specialists in the Project Management Unit (PMU) to reflect on progress in each of their subjects and the overall performances of the CSIAP.

Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- TTL of the CSIAP & Mission Leader, Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Environmental Consultant Ms. Sithara Athapatthu, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist, Mr. Shanek Fernando, Social Development Specialist, Ms. Nadeera Rajapaksha, Environmental Specialist, of the World Bank, Provincial Deputy Project Directors, Subject Specialists and Officers of the CSIAP attended this meeting. The World Bank Officials outside Sri Lanka joined the meeting virtually too. Please click Images to see more photos of the event.  

Photographs by Gayani Dassanayake, PMU-CSIAP

The World Bank reviews the modernization of Agrarian Service Centers

The World Bank Team headed by Mr. John. C. Keyser, Task Team Leader (TTL) of the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) discussed the current modernization process of 47 Agrarian Service Centers located in eleven districts where the CSIAP is being implemented. The main objective of the modernization of Agrarian Service Centers (ASCs) is to convert the Community Centre into a One-Stop Service Centre that caters for the real needs of the farming community in the area. This is considered as one of the biggest sub-projects, which comes under the CSIAP. It has many components and therefore this project will involve implementing major interventions with a view to developing the ASC as a One-Stop Service Centre, which provides modern services to the farmers to become resilient to the changing climate situation and thereby overcome the issues that hinder their productivity.

The following main areas have been identified as priority basis for the modernization of ASCs in all six provinces. The major 03 interventions are;

• Renovating, expanding and refurbishing existing 47 office buildings of the ASCs within areas of the CSIAP to function as attractive and productive One-stop Service Centers
• Establishing a full pledged ICT unit within each of the 47 ASCs with trained officials and the necessary equipment to provide required data related to weather forecasts, markets, and new technology for farmers under the digitalization of ASCs.
• Establishing a Farm Machinery Hub (FMU) in each of the 47 ASCs managed by the Agrarian Development Committee (ADC) of the ASC to prevent the exploitation of farmers from the middlemen and also to provide an opportunity for the ADC to develop the Agrarian Fund.

The review meeting held this morning (19th) at the Department of Agrarian Development (DAD) was chaired by Mr. A. H. M. L. Abeyrathne, Commissioner General of Agrarian Development. Mr. Vijayakumar Rajaratnam, Commissioner (Development), DAD pointed out the modernization process of 47 ASCs. Mr.  Sheu Salau, CO- TTL of the CSIAP & Mission Leader of the World Bank also commented on the ASC modernization process.

Consultant Mr. S. Manoharan, Dr. Athula Senarathne, Senior Agriculture Specialist of the World Bank, Mr. D.V. Bandulasena, Institutional Development & Capacity Building Specialist, Mr. Samantha Mallawaarachchi, IEC & ICT Specialist and Mr. Christy Perera, Agri-Business & Market Linkage Development specialist of the CSIAP were also present in this meeting.  Please click Images to see more photos of the event.

Empowering women for ensuring the Nutritional Food Security of Household

Empowering women for ensuring the Nutritional Food Security of the Household and increasing farmer income 
under the Prevailing Economic Crisis in Sri Lanka

“Implementing Contingency Climate Smart Nutrition Sensitive Home Gardening (CERCSNSHG) program in climatically the most vulnerable Hotspot areas of 11 districts in Sri Lanka commenced in 2022 with 64, 407 households beneficiaries in 2 phases: for ensuring food & nutrition security and increase farmer income under the prevailing economic crisis in Sri Lanka”.

Background
The basic concept of the home garden system evolved thousands of years ago. The basic structures of the home garden varied from place to place, based on their ecological, socioeconomic, and cultural settings. The structure and crops of the home gardens are almost the same in the dry zone of Sri Lanka. Generally, home gardening is practiced on a small scale of land close to the dwelling premise. The produce from the home garden is usually added to the daily nutrient supplements of the family members. Home garden is a kind of farming technique, which does not involve the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides and therefore promotes nutritional and organic food safety.

Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) aims to enhance climate resilience, crop productivity, and farm income of smallholder agriculture in climatically most vulnerable regions (hotspots) of Sri Lanka by focusing on three core areas: agricultural production, market, value chain development, and water storage and management. This overarching goal is to be realized by promoting: Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices, market-responsive and diversified crop patterns, secure and dependable irrigation systems, proactive input and extension supports, women empowerment for economic decisions and collective bargaining, access to processing, storage, and value chain networks.

Since nutritional food security cannot be divorced from the resilience, productivity, and economic adaptability of agricultural production systems. Although food systems form only a part of agricultural production systems, given their significance for rural livelihoods and national consumption, they have impacts far beyond the agricultural sector. CSIAP does have an underlying, but fundamental, need to equally transform the food systems.

Therefore, Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) is now implementing the 2^nd phase of the Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Gardening (CSNSHG) program as the name of Contingent Emergency Response Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden Programme – 2022 for ensuring nutritional food security of the household and to increase farmer income under the prevailing economic crisis in Sri Lanka. This program is primarily focusing on women who are living in climatically vulnerable hotspots in rural areas in Sri Lanka. 

Opportunities and Challenges for implementing the Contingency  Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden Programme – 2022
Factors within the agriculture sector that impede rural women’s economic and social empowerment include lack of ownership of productive resources such as land, lower wages, limited program focus on female farmers, and poor avenues to engage in the decision-making process in the agriculture sector. Through these home garden activities, women are encouraged to undertake the cultivation of vegetables, fruits, and condiments in their home gardens achieving household food & nutritional security while opening avenues to have a sustainable source of income for the household. By being effectively involved with this home gardening program women can contribute to fulfilling the family’s nutritional food requirements through the home garden, improving the family’s food consumption pattern, and minimizing the cost of food requirements of the family. This subproject is not only a significant milestone of rural women's empowerment in the selected hotspot area but also helps to ensure nutritional food security during the country’s current economic crisis.

At the same time, food & nutrition are very important concepts. The National Nutrition Policy (NNP) in Sri Lanka iterates, ‘The nutritional well-being of a population is influenced by determinants that cut across the areas of responsibilities of different sectors and agencies. Household food insecurity, for example, is influenced by factors such as health, education, employment, food availability, and food affordability, and leads to malnutrition. Therefore, home gardens and nutrition-related subprojects are most relevant to improve the existing situation and conditions of the rural community. Also, this subproject will respond to the relatively low levels of nutrition among children, pregnant ladies, elders, young children, men, and women and ensure higher standards of nutrition for all citizens in Sri Lanka. Nutrition levels of children are a key concern, as well as those of younger women.

Considering all the above facts, the CSIAP is implementing Contingent Emergency Response Nutrition Sensitive Home Gardens (CERNSHG) in 2022 with farm women as a strategy for increasing nutritional food security through women empowerment during the current economic crisis in Sri Lanka. Women who will be involved with the project are familiar with the cultivation of vegetables and other food crops in their home gardens but failed to utilize their resources sustainably.

Interestingly, the disruptions caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the current serious economic crisis in Sri Lanka have exposed some of the challenges and fragilities of contemporary nutritional food systems. These issues include problems of access to affordable, safe, and nutritious food supply under lockdown and closed market situations, food loss from delayed cultivation/harvest due to movement restrictions, the vulnerability of farmers growing high-value, labour-intensive, and perishable crops, and livelihood risks of those engaged in informal food value chains and supply chain networks.

The disruptions in food systems will create opportunities to drive positive and long-term-oriented changes. To begin with, by exposing how responsive or otherwise the different segments of existing food systems are, the crisis did provide an opportunity to identify weak spots and take corrective actions. The uncertainties caused by disturbances in imports and distant supply sources have also underlined the importance of closer and more flexible supply sources and shorter and predictable value chains. There is an impetus to rely more on alternate input sources and localized markets, and create resilient food supply chains through decentralized storage, inventory management, and spaced investment options. The current crisis has also provided a new thrust, ensuring food security and context for protecting agricultural ecosystems and biodiversity as a natural buffer for food systems against diseases, anthropogenic risks, and natural imbalances.

Food Systems Transformation Through Home Gardening: What and Why?
Food systems involve not just food production systems but the entire gamut of ecological, infrastructural, institutional, and policy environments within which they operate. In this sense, the key components of food systems are the production system and its landscape and ecology, irrigation, input and extension infrastructures and institutions, value chain, marketing, and supply chain networks, and overall policy environment. Home gardening is needed to transform these components to make the food systems not only economically efficient & ecologically sustainable but also climatically resilient, nutritionally sensitive, accessible to the needy, and flexible and responsive to emerging changes and uncertainties.

Since the home gardening program is a key part of the overall attempt of CSIAP to transform the entire smallholder agriculture itself there are many operational linkages & functional synergies between the objectives of the home garden and the overall project development objectives of CSIAP.

Further, the current economic crisis and the COVID -19 pandemic limit the future food supply of the country through the limited availability of food items and also owing to the unhealthy financial status of the country. During the field visit, women farmers highlighted the need for home gardens to meet family consumption and minimize the malnutrition problem in rural areas with climatic vulnerability. They have pointed out that the surplus production may give additional income or savings to farming families while supplying reduced pesticide/ pesticide-free fresh fruits and vegetables to the end users for their daily consumption.

In addition to the above fact, based on the country’s current economic crisis, there is a critical need to promote and maintain sustainable home gardens in the most climatically vulnerable hotspot areas to ensure nutritional food security and reduce hunger and malnutrition all over the country. Therefore, CSIAP has already implemented the CSNSHG program in 11 climatically most vulnerable hotspot areas with 5,545 in 2020/21. The second phase of the CERCSNSHGP is currently implemented by addressing lessons learned from the first phase of the HG programs in the hotspot areas.

The beneficiary of CERCSNSHGP – 2022

Table no. 01 indicates the number of households selected for implementing the Contingency Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Gardening Program 2022. It was identified that approximately 82,692 farmer households are located in the climatically vulnerable hotspot areas and out of that 5, 545 households benefitted under the CSNSHG Program in 2020/21. In addition to that considering the prevailing economic crisis of the country 64,407 households were identified for the Contingency Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden Programme – 2022 under the CSIA project. The 1^st phase of the program is being implemented in the early Maha Season of 2022 and 2^nd phase of the same program will be implemented in the late Maha season of 2022.   

Table no. 02 is indicating that conducted awareness/ meetings/ discussions which held with the officials on the Implementation of the Contingent Emergency Response Home Garden Programme – 2022 to accelerate the program in the climatically most
vulnerable hotspot areas. The acceleration and the successful implementation of this program were with 19 awareness/ meetings/ discussions/ progress reviews with the relevant officials of the project and still, it’s going weekly. 

Table n0. 03 is indicating that conducted IEC & ICT Campaigns for the Contingent Emergency Response Home Garden Programs for the Public. The project support increasing agricultural productivity for both men and women sustainably. Therefore, IEC & ICT campaigns build on men's and women's knowledge of local resources and climatic condition/ weather information, awareness on increasing women's access to advisory services, education, and information on sustainable agriculture, by training female extension agents, using specific methods appropriate and accessible for women (announcements, public campaigns, disseminating information leaflets and posters), and planning training and demonstrations in venues convenient for both women and men, Support men's and women's organizations and networks, and strengthen the capacity of women's groups, offering matching grants for enterprise and business development which facts were informed to the public through the IEC & ICT campaign. 268 IEC & ICT campaigns were conducted with the participation of 27854 public out of 18498 (66%) were rural women in climatically most vulnerable hotspot areas. 

Rural women are empowered on the CSA options/ practices which are stress tolerance varieties, conservation agriculture, improved home garden, on-farm tree planting, and composting. Stress-tolerant varieties are bred to be adapted to specific climate challenges, such as droughts, floods, submergence, saline or acidic soils, and pests, so they can be effective in improving food security by reducing the risk of crop failure. However, stress-tolerant varieties are often expensive and require new technologies and more inputs to grow, which could be a challenge for women, who face more constraints than men in accessing resources and knowledge.

 Small-scale irrigation systems, like rainwater harvesting, and agro wells can provide a secure supply of water for domestic use and home gardens, even in times of drought. Such systems enable year-round home garden cultivation and improve nutritional food security for families. They can also reduce the time women spend collecting water, thus allowing them to invest freed time and energy in education and productive work, and giving them access to and control over the additional income and benefits brought by these systems.

In this way, men and women in were received technical training on soil conservation, rainwater harvesting, crop mulching, using grow bags for cultivation, and preparing compost and liquate fertilizer in the climatically most vulnerable hotspot area under this program. 284 technical training conducted so far and 18529 public participated and out of that 11680 (63%) of them are rural women from climatically most vulnerable hotspot areas.

Women’s adaptation ability can be affected by labor requirements from Climate-Smart Agricultural practices. Therefore, the project helps to reduce women’s workload and time poverty. For example: Promote labor-saving technologies and methodologies (such as machinery and tools easily handled by women and children), and adopt household methods to discuss within families on labor concerns of men and women. Therefore the following items are providing to the farmers free of charge in 2022.

Under this program selected all beneficiaries (100%) receive inputs like a variety of vegetable seeds (Chili, Tomato, Brinjal, ladies finger /Okra, Long beans, Capsicum (O.P), Bitter gourd, Snake gourd, Wing bean, Radish, Cucumber, Luffa, Spinach¸ and Grow Bags & Compost bag (25 kg), Planting Materials and Poultry Chicks distribute among 50% of identified beneficiaries, Tool kit (Water spraying can, Wheelbarrow, Mamoty, Hand Fork, Jungle knife) will be distributed 25% of identified beneficiaries in 11 districts which are Kurunegala, Puttalam, Trincomalee, Ampara, Batticaloa, Hambantota, Monaragala, Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu districts and 37 Divisional Secretariat Divisions, 49 Agrarian Service Center Divisions and 256 Grama Niladhari Divisions in the 06 Provinces.

Conclusion
Hotspot Area agri-food systems are threatened by climate change at a time when demand for food is increasing and the country’s markets are disrupted by COVID-19 and the economic crisis. The result is a loss of livelihoods and growing unemployment, hunger, and malnutrition. Women are disproportionally affected yet have limited opportunities to participate in adaptation efforts.

Mainstreaming gender-smart investments in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) presents great opportunities to mitigate risks, amplify impacts, and reduce gender inequality. This can better inform investment decisions and identify market opportunities by focusing on building capacity and increasing access to finance for women-owned and women-led agricultural small and medium enterprises (SMEs), promoting gender equality within agribusinesses and across their value chain partners, and offering products or services which significantly improve the lives of women and girls.

CSIAP has identified four key dimensions for promoting gender equality in the context of CSA: participation in decision-making at the household, community, national and global levels, Access to, control of, and ability to use productive resources such as agro-climatic information, technology, credit, and income, Decreased workloads that free up time and ease physical burdens and collective action is a platform for women to share information and resources, support each other, express their voices, and participate in community decision-making.

Successful mainstreaming of gender-smart CSA investments requires four interdependent actions:
·       CAPACITY BUILDING: Scaling gender-smart CSA options require building capacities of all actors in the food ecosystem, including farmers, SMEs, corporations, financiers, and public bodies – 284 training programs conducted this year.
·       GENDER-RESPONSIVE PRODUCTS AND PROGRAMS: As gender norms and biases exist across societies, organizations, and systems, gender analyses are needed to identify gaps, develop innovative products, and transform processes and value chains to foster gender equality – 198 programs have already been implemented from 2019.
·       PARTNERSHIPS AND ENGAGEMENT: Partnerships to leverage resources and knowledge are crucial for faster collective action.
·       SEX-DISAGGREGATED DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Developing and using sex-disaggregated data is essential to identify new gender-smart CSA business models and investment strategies.

Written By:
Sharmila Shanmuganathan
Gender Development Officer
Project Management Unit, CSIAP