New Delhi, 31 January – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM – UN Migration) have launched a joint programme to increase the resilience of vulnerable migrants to climate change. In this three-year project, alternative plans will be implemented for people facing the triple impacts of migration, agriculture, and climate change in the states of Odisha and Telangana.

In the fishing communities of New Boxipalli (Venkataraipur village) in Ganjam district in the eastern state of Odisha, India, almost half are women. The number of fish in the area is decreasing rapidly, while middle-aged fishermen are suffering from health problems due to long periods of time in the sea, due to which the burden of household has fallen on the shoulders of women. Due to frequent cyclones in these coastal areas, fishing in small boats is becoming risky.

In difficult circumstances, the village youth are adopting the path of migration, due to which the fishing economy is becoming weak. Where both parents migrate to other cities for employment, this impacts the well-being of children – girls in particular often have to leave school to care for their younger siblings.

Under the National Innovation Initiative on Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA) of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), a total of 310 districts in the country have been categorized as most vulnerable to climate sensitivity, with Ganjam being rated as 'highly' vulnerable. 

Foreign migration

At the same time, Metlakunta village of Vikarabad district of Hyderabad city of Telangana will also benefit from it, whose total population is about 5 thousand and about 1,500 families live here. Almost 90% of the families here have at least one member who has been an expatriate, who has spent about 50 years in the Gulf countries for employment.

However, it has increased the social and economic mobility of migrant families, and the remittances they send home have strengthened the Telangana economy. Most of them have bought their own houses or land, and are also able to educate their children. But they say that if there were more employment opportunities in or around their village, they would not have needed to go abroad. 

While working abroad, he is able to come to his country only once in two years, for two months. Due to this, their relationships are being left behind and women have to leave the responsibility of taking care of the house. People are returning to villages due to lack of significant increase in global wages, lack of savings, arbitrary fees charged by agents for the migration process and the Covid-19 pandemic. These people now go to Hyderabad for daily labor, where there is no savings due to the city's expenses. 

Farming is done in the village but only for a short period of time. The total cost of agricultural production is increasing. The cost of growing paddy on one acre of land is approximately Rs 30 thousand; But even after 6 months of hard work, there is not much profit to be made. Crops often get damaged due to unseasonal rains and due to lack of storage facilities, grains get damaged due to drying in the open. 

Objective of the programme

Changing climate brings greater risk and uncertainty to agriculture. People are often forced to migrate for climate reasons due to uncertain rainfall patterns, floods and droughts. 

To address these issues, FAO and IOM, with the support of the Migration Multi-Partner Trust Fund ( MMPTF ), have implemented a three-year programme in the states of Odisha and Telangana. Under this, attention will be paid to issues related to migration, agriculture, climate change and integration of persons migrating or returning to rural communities. 

Under the programme, residents of rural areas affected by climate-induced migration in Odisha and Telangana will increase capacity, skills, knowledge and access to finance to adopt climate-resilient agricultural practices and establish successful climate-resilient agribusinesses. And efforts will be made to create better access to services for the expansion of agriculture.

This will support the specific needs of women, youth, small farmers and marginal farmers, as well as returnee migrants, and make their sources of livelihood more sustainable. 

To achieve the goal, raise awareness of rights, access to services and information about safe migration; Work is being done on issues like improvement in policies, better coordination and cooperation at national, provincial and local levels. These joint efforts for climate resilience will become a factor in building sustainable livelihoods and increasing people's income in the future. 

Even after this, if people want to migrate, they will be provided with adequate information to adopt safe and authentic routes, so that safe migration leads to better results and the children and women left behind get economic benefits. 

Positive effort

Dr Konda Chavva, Deputy Representative of FAO, stressed the significant contribution of this joint initiative to the lives and livelihoods of smallholder farmers, empowering women, youth and marginalized groups, and supporting migrant and vulnerable families. Will help in increasing climate tolerance. 

He said, “FAO believes that migration is an important part of the development of societies and the process of economic, social and human development and change. “FAO will focus on rural migration to and between rural areas, regardless of the duration, direction or reasons for migration.” 

FAO will aim to advance its work on climate-resilient agriculture, while IOM will support migration support services.

Sanjay Awasthi, head of IOM's office in India, said, "There is a need to create interventions that are inclusive and comprehensive, provide effective information, and support international migration governance and management frameworks." 

He expressed confidence that this joint programme will "expand the scope of migration management."

Shamby Sharp, the UN Resident Coordinator in India, described the issues as "ostensibly technical but inherently linked to migration, agriculture and climate change". 

They appreciated the joint programme's "adoption of a human rights approach", noting that more than 35 per cent of the programme's budget has been allocated to gender equality and women's empowerment.