Collective Approach Towards Food Security of Santhal Community
The condition of the environment plays an important role in ensuring
sustainable livelihoods to the community. Soil, water and natural vegetation
are the main resources for the rural community for their sustenance. If these
are degraded continuously, the community would become marginalised in
terms of their socio economic development. The extent and quality of soil
and land resources is the first consideration in planning for the sustainable
management of land resources. The components of land i.e. soils, climate,
water, nutrient and bio-organisms are organised into an eco-system which
provides a variety of services that are essential to the maintenance of the
life support system and the productive capacity of the environment. We
cannot increase the area of land, on the other hand population is increasing
rapidly; therefore, land resource management is essential for ensuring the
livelihood of the rural poor. The productivity and fertility of soil is an aspect
of the soil-plant relationship. Soil fertility depends on the presence of natural
microorganisms, soil retention, no erosion, crop rotation and usage of
organic manure and organic pesticides. The continuous removal of nutrients
by soil erosion, mono cropping, chemical fertilisers, and chemical pesticides
increases the nutrient problems for crops, leading to lower productivity of
available cultivable land. Preservation and conservation of organic matter in
the soil is very important for sustainable agriculture practices and ensuring
livelihood of the small and marginalised farmers.
Gondwar village, Panchayat Ango, Block Churchu, district Hazaribagh,
Jharkhand, is one of the 20 project villages of IGSSS situated around 29 km
from the district headquarter. There are a total of 33 households in Bando
hamlet of Gondwar village. All families belong to the Santhal tribe. The
Santhals are the largest tribal group in Jharkhand among the existing 32 tribal
groups.
Socio-Economic Condition
The Santhal community of Bando Hamlet Gondwar village are still living a
life of simplicity as they did thousands years ago. They are preserving their
indigenous life, livelihood and lifestyle. They have unique traditions and
customs intertwined with their present, past and future life. Their mother
tongue is Santhali but 50% know Hindi and Mundari language also.
The village is home to 172 people, of which 73 are male and 99 are female.
Most of the people are illiterate. The primary and secondary schools are 3-5
km away from the village. There is no higher secondary school near the village
for the students to continue their education. The nearest higher secondary
school is in Hazaribagh, which is 29 km away from the village. However, many
from the community are so poor that they are unable to afford the expenses
of tuition fees and transportation cost.