The New Year 2021 celebration today at PMU, CSIAP, Sri Lanka

Best wishes to all Sri Lankans to mark the New Year 2021

Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) extends its sincere greetings and best wishes to all Sri Lankans to mark the New Year 2021 a meaningful and fruitful one. We are entering a decade during which we must find solutions for combating climate change and building a better future for all. Therefore, CSIAP is making greater efforts in fighting climate change vowing to keep people safe and healthy as COVID-19 which, is spreading in our community, has been remaining an urgent task on an unprecedented scale.

May this year bring new happiness, new goals, new achievements, and a lot of new inspirations on your life. CSIAP encourages its beneficiaries to make 2021 a better year, and overcome challenges. May all Sri Lankans’ dreams come true and all their hopes are fulfilled. Let us all get together and join hands in order to strengthen and uplift our country. CSIAP wishes you a healthy, peaceful, and prosperous new year.

CSIAP is moving forward in 2021 to improve the agricultural economy in Sri Lanka

The climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) is moving forward in 2021 to improve living standards of farmers in CSIAP command areas and boost agroeconomic in Sri Lanka said, Miss. Sharmi Shanmuganathan, Gender Development Officer and Acting Social Safeguarded Officer, Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project, (CSIAP), with an exclusive interview with Tamil National Service of SLBC  on 24th Dec 2020. 

CSIAP is implementing COVID 19/ YALA 2020 Cultivation Programme, Mid-season Cultivation Programme, Maha Season Cultivation Programme, Cluster Village Development programmers, Climate Smart Nutritional Sensitive Home Garden Progaamme, 47 ASC Modernization and Digitalization, Rehabilitation of Agriculture Roads, Construction of Grain Warehouses, Cascade Development through the rehabilitation of minor and medium tanks, Establishment of Farm Field School at Thirappane and CSA Model Villages, She further added. This discussion was broadcasted simultaneously with  Thendral FM and Yaal FM of SLBC too.

Please click to listen to full interview on: Tamil Service at SLBC

The CSIAP Launches Farmers’ Database Training Programme for Project Staff

A special training programme on the Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) farmers’ database was held yesterday (22nd) at the Governor’s Auditorium of the North Central Provincial Council Office in Anuradhapura, under the patronage of Dr. Priyantha Weerasinghe, Project Director of CSIAP. This marks the first occasion on which CSIAP has conducted a dedicated training programme of this nature for its staff. 

Selected staff members from six Deputy Project Directors’ Offices, including Provincial Deputy Project Directors and senior officials of the Project Management Unit (PMU), participated in the programme. The training provided hands-on practical experience on the farmers’ database system, facilitated by Mr. Uvindu Anuradha and Mr. Ajantha Lakmal, Senior Web Developers from SLT Digital Info Services (Pvt) Ltd. The training team was led by Mr. Danushka Gangoda, Team Leader. Mr. Lakshman Premanath, Deputy Project Director of the CSIAP in the North Central Province, was also present at the programme.

Improving the productivity and climate resilience of smallholder agriculture

The climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project is to improve the productivity and climate resilience of smallholder agriculture through long-term sustainability of irrigation infrastructure development. The infrastructure supported under the project will be identified and designed based on projections of climate change including the frequency of drought and flood events both to maximize the availability of water to farmers and also to protect land and assets from potential flooding. Climate resilience is defined as the capacity of agricultural systems to respond to drought and flood by resisting or tolerating the impacts and recovering quickly, through integration of adaptation, mitigation, and other climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices.

Miss. Sharmi Shanmuganathan, Gender Development Officer and Acting Social Safeguarded Officer, Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project, (CSIAP), talks about CSIAP and its current activities on Tamil National Service, Thendral FM and Yaal FM at 7.30am on 16th Nov 2020.

Please click to listen: Tamil Service at SLBC

The International Rural Women’s Day

Recognizing rural women as ‘farmers’ and as ‘leaders’in adopting climate resilience agriculture technology and practices

 Sri Lanka is a lower-middle-income country with total population of 21.8 million of which 77.4% of the population is largely rural.[1] Overall, poverty level of the country is 6.7%, and poverty remains concentrated in rural areas - of the poor, 82 percent are rural residents.[2] While agriculture sector contributes 6.9 percent to GDP, the sector employs approximately 27% of the population, which is mostly rural..[3] While the share of women in agriculture has remained between 30-33% for over two and a half decades[4], women play a key role in agricultural production and processing, both in family and farms outside; though women’s role have been mostly limited to home gardening and small-scale farming activities.

 The World Bank funded “Climate Smart irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP)” targets farmers in climatically vulnerable hotpot areas to improve the productivity and resilience of smallholder agriculture activities.  As part of the project’s strategic and operational design, it seeks to address gender gaps and risks in order to empower women as ‘farmers’ and as ‘leaders’ in their communities for adopting climate resilience practices.

Rural women in farming communities face multiple challenges, 

which risks them of being excluded from benefiting from project activities  

During the project preparation and assessment phase, many issues were identified which limits and prevents women from equitably benefiting from and participating in agriculture activities. These issues include: lack of land and asset ownership which limits women’s ability to engage and grow their agricultural production and livelihoods (e.g. in Sri Lanka, only 16 % of all privately-owned land belongs to women)[1], lack of access to climate smart agriculture production technologies and marketing, lack of decision-making power as most of the farmer organizations are led by male farmers, inability to fully participate in agriculture activities due household and care responsibilities, additional requirements to hire labour, difficulties in traveling to agriculture lands which are generally away from residential locations, greater risks of impact from the Human elephant conflict (HEC) as women mostly engage in cultivation work during day time when HEC is most prevalent and impacts linked to domestic abuse/gender based violence with increased consumption of alcohol by men. With all these setbacks for rural women, the current COVID pandemic situation increases their vulnerability affecting household income, food security and nutrition. 

Rural women benefited from gender informed approaches in climate smart sub projects.

The project has taken multiplicity of actions to ensure the inclusion rural women in project activities. Thus the project has taken measures to:   

1.     reformulate project strategies during COVID19 period to implement several subprojects specially targeting rural women farmers to ensure their food and nutrition security.

2.    assess gender gaps, issues and risks during participatory rural needs assessments and social screening.  

3.    incorporate measures in hot-spot area development plans and social impact management plans to ensure women’s participation and inclusion.

4.    revise beneficiary selection criteria to be inclusive giving priority to women beneficiaries including vulnerable groups (such as women who are living under the poverty level, widows, families with young children and those living with elderly & disable persons)

5.     establish minimum targets for female beneficiaries in project interventions

6.    build capacities of project staff on gender issues and sensitize communities (both males and females) on principals of gender equity in line with the training manual developed.

7.     build capacities of women on climate-resilient agricultural technologies

8.    support to address risks of Human-Elephant conflict

9.    provide support to purchases assets, hire labour and access services (such as credit, childcare facilities, etc.)

10. strengthen links with community-based organizations to receive project implementation support 

11.  implement GBV prevention measures (i.e. Code of Conduct for Communities etc.) and strengthen GRM reporting measures for GBV.

12. increase women's engagement in decision making in Farmer’s Organizations, Producer’s Groups & Social Audit Committees including acting on issues affecting them 

Over 5,500 rural women farmers involved climate resilience agriculture practices

CSIAP strategies that are formulated and are being implemented have generated favorable outcomes for rural women farmers to ensure these groups are benefiting from climate resilience agriculture practices in an equitable manner. Therefore, in addition to increasing participation of women in project activities, the project has exceeded its target of 30% of beneficiaries to be women in all its programs and is also successfully implementing programs targeting 100% women as beneficiaries through its climate smart nutrition sensitive home gardening program. 

By Sharmi Shanmuganathan,
Gender Development Officer and Acting Social Safeguarded Officer, PMU, CSIAP.

[1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/srilanka/overview#1 & RPF of CSIAP.
[2] Sri Lanka Poverty Update 2019 - The World Bank South Asia
[3] PAD of CSIAP
[4] Assessment to develop strategies for promoting gender involvement and increasing nutrition levels of farmer families – CSIAP

The Yala 2020 is designed to promote the OFC cultivation

Mr Sisira Semasinghe, 

Agriculture Extension Specialist 

The Yala 2020 is designed to promote the Other Field Crops cultivation among the farming community in hot spot areas of the 11 districts of the island said Mr Sisira Semasinghe, Agriculture Extension Specialist of Climate Smart Irrigated Agriculture Project (CSIAP) with an exclusive interview with Lakhanda News on 11^th August 2020. 

This Yala 2020 covers the area of more than 3,600Ac of OFC (Groundnut, green gram, cowpea, chilli, maize, soya, red onion, kurakkan, sesame and Blake Gram are grown) cultivating lands of the country. Farmers who will be involving with the project have been familiar with the cultivation of OFCs and involving with the cultivation of OFCs for production purposes. The lessons learned by implementing the project in this season will be applied to correct mistakes in the coming seasons. In order to achieve the objectives of the programme,  many strategies have been planned to be implemented by the CSIAP with implementing agencies.

Please click  Lakhanda Newsto listen