Rural Development Organisation Trust

RDO
TRUST
since
1980

2017 - 2018
SECURING
WATER
FOR FOOD

Gramya Bhavan, Aravankadu - 643 202, The Nilgiris, India

www.rdotrust.org
RDO
TRUST Vision
since
1980

To build the partnership with the rural

poor for positive social change through
improved educational status & economic
upliftment, impacting on health,
sanitation & personal hygiene of
vulnerable communities.

Mission

RDO Trust is committed to serve the

rural community by promoting
innovative solutions and advocate for
collective responsibilities.

page 2
Introduction
RDO
Rural Development Organization Trust (RDO Trust) is a not-for-profit
organisation, registered under Tamil Nadu Societies Act in the year 1980 and
TRUST
subsequently incorporated under the Public Charitable Trust on the 1st Day since
1980
of February 1984.
RDO Trust is committed to serving the rural community by promoting
innovative solutions and advocacy for collective responsibilities. RDO Trust
offers solutions by establishing and reinforcing relationships among
stakeholders, providing capacity building, promoting income
diversification to adapt to climate change, and influencing policy decisions
at district, state, and national levels through proper network systems.
RDO Trust's path-breaking work has penetrated deep into villages and
works with over 250,000 people scattered throughout the steep terrain of
the Blue Mountains. The team of dedicated and competent professionals and
volunteers through their exemplary work in primary education, skills
development, women empowerment, watershed management, total
sanitation, ecology and environmental activities, business capacity
building, advocacy and lobbying, have assisted villages towards
empowerment and self-sufficiency. This work has earned RDO Trust the
respect of the community members and Government. We seek their opinions
work closely with Government and other development organisations on
many projects.
RDO expanded its works in Rajasthan, Bihar, UP, MP, Bengal, Odisha,
Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Maharashtra from 2010 and
working with the collaboration of FINISH, Lucknow.

Saved & Recycled

100,000
Litres of
Household waste water
per household per year page 3
SECURING The Securing Water For Food (SWFF) "Circular economy with black and
grey water recycling for cultivation of exotic vegetables by women farmers
WATER in Tamil Nadu, India" Project was inaugurated on 01.07.2017 at Ketti Palada
FOR FOOD by Mr.Valentin Post Stichting WASTE, Netherlands in the presence of
Mr.N.K.Perumal, Founder Director, RDO Trust, Ms.Geetha Singhal,
Programme Manager, BORDA, Mr. S. Murugesh Project Director DRDA. Ms
Alix Reichenecker Mr. Palat Vijayaraghavan, Managing Director of LEAF, Mr.
Natraj, Executive Officer Ketty Town Panchayath, Mr. K. Arivalagan, Lead
District Manager, Canara Bank, Mr. N. Murali Executive Engineer TWAD
Ooty, Mrs M. Duruga Branch Manager, South Indian Bank, Ooty, Mr.
Krishnan, Branch Manager, CanaraBank Yellanahalli., Mr.Rajkumar,
Executive Director, RDO Trust SWFF Project,
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID),
Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) Ministry Of Science
and Technology, South Africa, DGIS (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The
Netherlands any are playing an active role. They are sourcing, selecting,
and accelerating science, technology, and business model innovation that
has the potential to achieve large-scale development impact under the SWFF
Programme.
Securing Water for Food (SWFF) is not funding projects; they are
"investing" in innovations at the water/food nexus that have high potential to
be brought to scale. While SWFF funding takes the form of a grant than an
actual investment, the SWFF Founding Partners play a similar to that of
investors by offering acceleration support and other forms of technical
assistance through the SWFF Technical Assistance Facility.

SWFF Project Inauguration

RDO
TRUST
since
1980

page 4
Rationale SECURING
Groundwater is used extensively for flood irrigation of vegetables (6,000-
8,000 m3/ha). Climate change resulted in limited water availability for 4-6 WATER
months yearly which discouraged farmers from vegetable farming. Soil FOR FOOD
fertility is declining due to excessive application of chemical fertilisers &
pesticides. In Nilgiris and Kerala, the growing hospitality industry is the
market for exotic vegetables. India is the second largest world vegetable
producer; it raises the demand for innovation to increase water
conservation and use efficiency with a focus on improving productivity. The
change focuses on the women agri- entrepreneurs who traditionally grow
vegetables. The innovation enables them to have a better quality of crops
with competitive price due to compost application and extend crop season
by making water available for irrigation during the dry season.
The need to effectively use and recycle water has been of dire consequence
with the Climate Change affecting the monsoon precipitation pattern in the
Nilgiris. The water requirement for both human consumption and
agriculture comes from the two monsoon seasons June-August and
October- December. The remaining six months are dry months. The average
rainfall during the South West Monsoon in Nilgiris is 759.9 mm and the
expected rain is 691 mm but the actual rain received is 498.8 mm during this
year with a 30% deficit in one rainy season. Similarly the last year’s North
East Monsoon the forecast was 444mm of showers for the Nilgiris, compared
to the average of 367mm and the actual precipitation was 580.9 mm. This
unpredictable pattern lays heavy emphasis for better management of the
water resources and demands for more effective use and recycling of water.
Another critical factor that could be game changing when we treat the black
and grey water since at present most of the waterways and natural
drainages (specifically, Bhavani and Moyar rivers) are being contaminated
as there is a mix of sewage drainage into the regular storm-water drainage
system resulting in massive pollution of the groundwater.
Customers are the resource-poor women farmers. Groundwater is
receiving massive pressure for flood irrigation of vegetable cultivation; it

RDO
3
uses 6,000-8,000 m /ha. Climate change results in limited water
availability for 4-6 months yearly, which discourages farmers from
vegetable farming. Soil fertility is declining due to excessive application of TRUST
chemical fertiliser and pesticides. In Nilgiris and Kerala, there is a growing since
1980

hospitality industry, and international schools also serve as a market for

page 5
exotic vegetables due to their changing food habits caused by Gulf influence.
SECURING Such innovation has not existed in the area. The first significant factor is that
it will serve as a model in looking at the recycling of water for increasing food
WATER production with environmental concern. This innovation is also focusing on
FOR FOOD efficient solid waste management coupled with the black water treatment
which is entirely a new area. As a result of this, waste gets converted into
inputs that improve soil fertility, its water retention and among other things
health of the people. Thus it is an innovative model of how domestic
wastewater both black and grey gets effectively recycled. It also bridges the
gap of deficit water availability during the dry seasons. Since the recycled
water is ploughed back mainly for the increased agricultural production of
food crops, it also enables to provide increased income to the farming
community resulting in the improved economic status of the District.

Objective of the Programme

To enable the production of more food with less water and make more water
available for food production, processing, and distribution in developing and
emerging countries

Innovation
Technical innovation
Ÿ Blackwater recycling for compost production.

Recycling of black water from households for production of market-quality

compost and used as a soil improver for the cultivation of exotic vegetables
and to improve crop quality and soil water retention.
Ÿ Grey water recycling and its storage at farm ponds for irrigation.

Recycling of grey water from households for irrigation of exotic vegetables

in combination with water storage and farm pond management to have
water available during the dry period.

Business model innovation

RDO Ÿ Organization of farmers into Producer Companies
TRUST
Ÿ An advance purchase agreement with LEAF
since
1980
Ÿ Bank loans to procure the innovation.
page 6
Project Duration SECURING
3 years
WATER
FOR FOOD

Activities for 3 years

Grey water
FARM Recycled
filtration systems
at cluster levels 15 PONDS Black water as
covering

300 households
for storage of
recycled
grey water 5 CO COMPOST
UNITS

20
5 PUMPS
Benefit
SOLAR
11,250
Women Farmers’
Producer
Companies with
for Irrigation
2,250 Farmers end - users

Activities accomplished in YEAR 1

Grey water
FARM Recycled
filtration systems
at cluster levels 5 PONDS Black water as

1
covering for storage of CO COMPOST
recycled
100 households grey water UNIT

4
1 PUMP
Benefit
SOLAR RDO
2,250
Women Farmers’
Producer
Companies with TRUST
for Irrigation
450 Farmers end - users since
1980

page 7
SECURING Grey water

WATER filtration systems

at cluster levels
FOR FOOD covering

100 households
Established five greywater filtration units to harvest grey water for recycling
from 97 households and one hostel with 178 students in five locations. The
five greywater filtrations units will collect approximately 8,352 m³ of grey
water to be used by 183 farmers for the cultivation of vegetables in 60
Hectares of land. It is expected to impact on a 15% increase in their vegetable
production and an increased income of 20% to the farmers with better
marketing options.

FARM
5 PONDS
for storage of
recycled
grey water
Five farm ponds were excavated to store the recycled grey water for
distribution, and water stored will be shared by 183 farmers.

Recycled
Black water as
COMPOST
1 CO COMPOST
UNITS UNITS
Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant
The septage treatment is a significant challenge in rural India, where flush
toilets with septic tanks are the most popular form of toilets. Generally, the

RDO
faecal sludge collected from flowing septage gets dumped in open spaces
streams and river surreptitiously by owners and operators of Honey
TRUST suckers, and therefore environment is adversely affected. To protect the
since environment and ecology, RDO established a Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant
1980

(FSTP) under Research & Development at Chamraj Estate since the R & D
page 8
yielded good result RDO has put up two more at Ketti Resource Recovery
Park. The treated sludge is sent to Chennai Testing Lab regularly. The Lab
Report is encouraging, and it is open to the farmers. The students from SECURING
TNAU, Government officials and National and International NGO's are
visiting the FSTP often.
WATER
The Ketty Town Panchayath Solid Waste Management Resource Recovery
FOR FOOD
Park was selected for establishing the recycled blackwater compost unit. As
a first activity, we distributed 200 bins to households in Salamoor, Doddanni,
Krishanapuram, K.Palada and Oranahalli villages for decentralised
management of wet waste at each home. They were provided with training
and microbial solution to hasten the decomposition process.

The Honey Suckers are unloading faecal sludge to RDO Treatment Plant. The honey suckers used to dump the faecal sludge in open area,
rivers and streams before RDO put up the treatment plants.

At the Ketty Resource Recovery Park (KRRP), we have installed a Shredder

machine to reduce drudgery for the labour who have hitherto been manually
chopping wet wastes. Similarly, we have also introduced a Sieving machine
for fast sieving of the compost and packing the same for distribution to
farmers. The male and female labour at the KRRP have been provided with
additional protective gears like masks, gloves, boots, and also with 2
Wheelbarrows for smooth shifting of wet waste and compost. We have

RDO
TRUST
since
1980

page 9
SECURING
WATER
FOR FOOD

constructed a drying yard for the drying of faecal sludge and co-
composting. Two Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTP) have been built at
the KRRP to demonstrate both solid and liquid waste management. One of the
plants is a wet-land reed-bed system and the other a microbial solution
treatment system.
All these activities have been with an expenditure of ` 17,62,000.00 under
our Securing water for food and FINISH Programme.
This year, produced 42 tons of co-compost at the Compost unit, and this was
distributed to 215 Farmers cultivating vegetables in 100 Hectares of land.

1 SOLAR
PUMP
for Irrigation

One solar pump is planned for installation in one of the farmers' field as a
demonstration unit for promoting the use of alternate energy sources. It is
aimed to promote more of such energy efficient farm implements through
the Women farmers' producers' Companies established.

RDO
4
Women Farmers’
TRUST Producer
since
Companies with
1980

page 10 450 Farmers

 Benefit Saved & Recycled
30 MILLION SECURING
2,250
end - users
Litres of WATER
Household waste water FOR FOOD
per household per year
Conclusion
The first year of Securing Water for Food Programme has directly benefited
398 vegetable growing farmers in the Nilgiris. 183 farmers have used
recycled grey water from 5 units for critical irrigation and 215 farmers have
adopted the use of about 42 tons of co-compost produced at the Ketty
Resource Park. A total area of 160 hectars of vegetable cultivation have been
brought under the adoption of recycled grey and black water. The
participants farmers have been brought under the umbrella of 4 Women
Farmers Producer Companies which have been linked with financial
marketing and development institutions like Canara Bank, LEAF and
Horticulture Department and this synergy has enabled them to increase
production and realize better price for the vegetable produced thereby
paving way for improved livelihood of the farmers.

Our Partners in Progress

page 11
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