Page 19 - Mosaic Sustainability Report 2012

The Mosaic Company, 2012 Sustainability Report
three years, with the aim that the par ticipants
no longer need assistance af ter that period.
In 2011, as the three original villages all
successfully graduated from the program,
Krishi
Jyoti
began an expansion into 15 new villages. By
the time the expansion is complete, the project
will impact 1,856 farm families with 2,891 acres
under management. In Patkhori — one of the
new project sites in the Aravali foothills — there
are significant water scarcit y issues. High gradient
and low retention time for rainwater runof f
and the low permeabilit y of the soil has led to
inadequate recharging of the aquifer. In addition,
excessive pumping for domestic and agricultural
use has fur ther depleted the fresh water supply.
Water is the greatest limiting factor in the
success of agriculture in this dr y region, where it
only rains during the monsoon season. One
of the first steps is to construct a new checkdam
to trap the monsoon rains as they run of f the
nearby hills behind the dam, and let it sink
into the aquifer, replenishing the groundwater
supply. Mosaic and our par tner IRRAD have
built checkdams before, but this project is larger
in scale, with the dam spanning 185 meters
between two adjacent hills. The project will be
completed by the end of 2012 and will provide
agricultural and drinking water for more than
21,000
people.
2,891
acres
1,856
families
20
villages
Program growth
1,426
acres
616
families, 5 villages
736
acres
348
families, 3 villages
2010
2011
Goal
Krishi Jyoti
project
Krishi Jyoti
means “enlightened agriculture” and brings
modern agricultural inputs and practices to farmers with
the objective of improving the productivity of their fields.
25
-
30
%
TOTAL
YIELD
INCREASE
Mewat’s participating farmers have increased yields by
25
to 30 percent in all three major crops — mustard,
wheat and pearl millet.
Food
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