Majuli district in Assam, India, is the largest river island in the world and a giant wetland broken only by embankments which house the primary human settlements and is in many ways the communication lifeline of the island. The two key issues faced by the inhabitants are the ever present threat of floods in the monsoon and the erosive capacity of the mighty Brahmaputra and the other rivers which are steadily eroding the island. In a changing world where climate related events are increasingly becoming common place the need of the hour is to increase the adaptive capacity of the inhabitants of such fragile landscapes in a manner which would contribute to their livelihood and preserves the social fabric of these communities. Therefore, the main aim of this project is to carry out activities that would fulfill the above stated need.
The climate smart method used in Majuli owes its origin to the farmers of Barisal, situated in Bangladesh where this has been an age old practice. Also conferred a ‘heritage practice’ by UNESCO, this TEK has been modernized by SAFE into ‘Hydroponic Technology’ for climate resilience.
The objectives of this initiative are outlined below.
• To standardise a stable & farmer friendly hydroponic tray cultivation method for sustainable primary productivity during periods of ecological hazards,
• To identify a set of local cash crops for sustained fail-safe growth in the hydroponic system that can suffice as food, feed and fodder
• To promote PEN & CAGE culture based integrated aqua farming towards wise utilisation of the nature resources and wetland-scape of the island.
• To accentuate process of technology transfer towards skill building in production and maintenance of hydroponic cultivation and as well aqua farming.
• To undertake strategic impact assessment over pilot-run phase in a community based participatory interface for scaling-up implementation.