After pursuing Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering, Sandhya, a native of Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, joined a leading car parts manufacturing company in Mumbai and continued working there till 2020 before she learnt that her younger child suffered from a heart related illness.

Around 10 Irular families are living in a tiny land space in the middle of a farming field in Jakkampettai, a village in Villupuram District. It took us 3-4 hours to reach Jakkampettai from one of the core areas in Chennai. Men belonging to those Irular families often travel to other nearby villages and districts to earn a living. Women work as daily wage farm labors in the same village and take care of their kids.

Now-a-days seed markets are flooded with several HYV and Hybrid varieties of seeds.  Likewise the use of inorganic chemical fertilizers and pesticides have also been increased many fold. Farmers are attracted to it for bumper production, more income and profit. In spite of that there are some farmers in Koraput district who still prefer traditional farming practices with indigenous seeds.

Women are backbone of the society. However, rural women today have been suffering a lot due to the feeling of helplessness and lack of decision-making capabilities in financial matters. Women belonging to low socio-economic groups generally face financial crisis to fulfill daily needs which forms a vicious cycle of financial problems, malnutrition, lack of education and poor living conditions etc.

Traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and herb-based home-remedy systems are popular in India. Age-old Ayurveda system of treatment and thousands of folk practices that flourished were well-accepted by the people of Kerala. Wayanad district is well-known for its medicinal plant wealth and community knowledge associated with it. Conversely, the natural population of most of the potential medicinal species and rich traditional knowledge in the region are dwindling at an alarming pace.

Landraces of millets are preferred by farm families since time immemorial not only for their high nutritional qualities, but also inherent capacities to withstand weather changes, and for pest and disease resistant traits. Although, these crops are part of the food culture in Kolli hills (Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu), over the last three decades farmers have moved to cultivating cash crops like cassava, coffee and pepper.

Tribes are from the underprivileged section of society and often live in marginal physical environment. Migration is a significant phenomenon among Malyali tribes. Small land holdings, lack of work, and higher wages prompt them to migrate in search of livelihood. Additionally, growing cash crops abundantly has reduced their access to fruits, vegetables and millets that once grew in their fields.

Koraput district in Odisha is largely a rural, agrarian economy. Declining land-holdings, poor incomes, and threatened nutrition security, combined with the consequences of climate change, pose a serious challenge for sustainable livelihoods. The gradual shrinking of land-holdings can be dealt with by pooling together land-based enterprises like fishery, poultry, duckery, apiary, field and horticultural crops, etc.

Pulses are an important source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals, predominantly cultivated in rainfed agroecology. They are best suited to be cultivated in both Kharif and Rabi seasons in diverse cropping systems as sole crops, intercropping, relay crops, rice fallow crops, mixed crops, etc. India is the largest producer, consumer, and importer of pulses. Tamil Nadu has 4.08 per cent of the total cultivated area under pulses.

Agriculture is the major livelihood in semi-arid agro-ecosystems in Reddiarchatram Block, Dindigul district. Sugarcane, banana, paddy and vegetables were the dominant crops cultivated intensively in all three seasons in the past. But in the recent past, it has been shifted to maize, cotton and vegetables and is reduced to just one season rather than two to three seasons. Groundwater levels have been declining drastically as well.