Questions by AID Portland:

•    1) Does Organic cotton sell at premium cost? If yes, what’s the difference in cost (Organic and non-organic). Who are the buyers and where?

– Farmers could get 20% premium price over and above market rate. – Setting up market linkages to save transport (miles)– Eg. Soya bean, tur dal, cotton– Collaboration with hospital to provide organic cotton with a 20% premium price. – Challenges exist but they are trying (urban markets could be next option if local markets

don’t work)

•  2) In the proposal, you refer to ‘200acres’ - Does that include even the farmers' land or is it only for lab testing purposes? If it includes farmers’ land, would you give a break-up in terms of how much is farmer’s land and land for lab-testing?

– Only farmers land. No land for lab testing.• 3) Labour cost is in every budget item – Would it be possible to give a little more

detail for each labor cost item that’s associated with an activity?– Varies between Rs. 200-400/day/person

• 4) For Alternative Marketing system you are requesting Rs. 600,000/- Would it be possible to give a breakup of this and the strategy you propose to undertake for marketing. The 2010-2011 report does not provide much detail in terms of what was accomplished and how.

Breakup for alternative marketing

• Farmer certification (Awareness, training, appraisal forms, monitoring).Rs. 36,000

• Gradation, procurement, travel, transport Rs. 4,86,000

• Storage, processing, selling Rs.78,000

• TOTAL6,00,000

Different Local Groups of Farmers

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) ....

Farmers Committee on Marketing 7 Village leaders of which 3 are Women (one from CV)

Regional Council – Chetana-Vikas

Practising Farming for Self-Reliance,

Follow sustainable agriculture practices, Follow Participatory Guarantee System processes, Fill appraisal forms, Reports to Regional Council.

Pioneer Leaders are drawn from different local groups.

Assesses the quantity and quality of produce, Plans procurement, Assesses grade for payment to farmers, Weighs the produce and is responsible for proper processing and storage. Special care is taken to see that this produce is not mixed with other material since it has to fetch organic price. Discusses and decides on potential buyers, Signs agreement with buyers.

Monitors the working of local group,

Monitors implementation of PGS System, Liaises with National Council on PGS, Facilitates the decision making process of farmers committees. Helps in reaching the buyers.

Questions by AID-Berkley :

• 1) Has there been any impact of this project on the suicide rate of farmers? Is there any way to identify such an outcome? What is the self evaluation of Chetana Vikas after many years of working with the farmers?– No reports of suicides in the villages of CV

project area. – Their model seems to be effective based on

their evaluation meetings.

Questions by AID-Berkley :

• After comparing the intended targets for 2011 (based on the proposal) with the progress report for 2011, it seems like some of the targets are not met. Is there a possible explanation? – Less funding received from AID– Scarcity and drought for 2 years

• How much support do farmers need to continue on the sustainable path after they convert to sustainable agriculture? Is there any way Chetana Vikas tracks whether those farmers are continuing on the sustainable path or not long after the initial support from Chetana Vikas?– Some support is continued in about 50% of the cases– New challenges, Eg. Wild life climate change,

increased cost of labor for farming, migration of agricultural labor

– Regular tracking : discontinued support of farmers and those still receiving.

• How is the average debt of the farmers changing over the years, particularly for those being helped by Chetana Vikas?– Still condition pretty poor– 90 million farmer families (nation wide) , 40

million in debt (bad debt), 3.6 million in maharashtra (bad debt). ½ of 90 million have less than 2 hectare.

– Those following CV farming are doing much better, with no new loan taken for farmin

• Honorarium is listed as one item in the budget. Are there any details about who this honorarium is for or any breakup of that amount? 

•S.No.Honorarium/Salary AND Statutory Staff-benefitsBudget for year 2012-13 Rs.1.Mr. Janrao Gomase : Field Social Coordinator1,10,0002.Ms. Niranjana Maru : Executive Head of Project2,00,0003.Mr. Suresh Kashti : Field Program Manager0,90,0004.Mr. Ashok Bang : Director, Project2,00,000TOTAL6,00,000

• Berkeley chapter is concerned that the project proposals for 2011 and 2012 are identical except for the marginal increase in budget. The intended targets for the number of villagers/farmer families to be covered is also identical between the two years. – Duration of project is 3 years– Difficult to give results in one year.– Get less than 50% from AID every year.

• Is it possible to get access to the financials for last year? Has any other chapter or volunteered reviewed these documents? This is the only way for us to evaluate the budget line items. – Sent regularly