Oxfam’s project works with more than 1,000 marginalised farmers living in poverty in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP) states of northern India. This project helps them to develop new and more viable farming methods to ensure better production, and more secure food supplies and incomes.

Background
Agriculture supports 70 per cent of the Indian population and up to 80 per cent of these are small-scale and marginal farmers. Agricultural growth has been uneven across the country with small-scale independent farmers becoming increasingly vulnerable to global trends and environmental/ weather disruption.

In Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Madhya Pradesh (MP), subsistence farming is the main way of earning a living. However, the poor quality of land, erratic rainfall, lack of rights, frequent droughts and lack of power in the marketplace make farming difficult for communities. This results in inadequate food supplies, insecure incomes,increased debt, and migration to the cities.

Oxfam, with local partners, runs successful livelihoods projects in this area, through which they have already been able to create models of change, based on improving local natural resources. These include helping women, Dalit, landless, and tribal people to assert their rights and to gain control over agricultural lands and supporting them to increase the productivity of their land. Already, Oxfam has supported land development for about 12,000 families, and land rights for 65,000 landless people.

For more information on Oxfam visit:

www.oxfam.org.uk