ICA Japan - India 1999

Afforestation and Environment Education in Mulshi Talka May 1999 - March 2000 Tree planting at community land in Mulshi district. Both adults and children join in the activities. Villagers in Mulshi district were encouraged by the afforestation project in Mawal district implemented by ICA and decided to take care of their environment.
Project Overview
Village Life
	1. Malegaon.Kh village. Though the outside appearance of their house is simple, inside is brimming with colors.
	2. A house in Khamboli village. Although farmers were tired from harvesting work, they came to this house as they knew ICA staff were visiting. A discussion of various topics continued for about an hour, such as afforestation, poultry and kitchen garden.
	3. The independence day ceremony was held on August 15th in Khamboli. Mr. Yseshwant Taware, Khamboli village master, gave a congratulatory speech.
	4. The ceremony was held at the Khamboli elementary school. Students and boy scouts also participated.
	5. Rice planting in Khamboli. Preparation starts in the beginning of the rainy season and planting is done in July.
	6. Harvesting is done immediately after the rainy season. Because the rainy season lasted long, it was delayed this year. Farmers share work with their family.
	7. Harvested rice is gathered and left for several days. Threshing will be done after planting the second crop. Finger millets are seen in the background.
Long-Term Planning
	8. The environment event at Khamboli was held in Jan 1999. Villagers and expert from the government agency (soil & water conservation) discussed about the necessity of environmental conservation.
	9. Villagers' meeting (Gram Sabha) which was held in Andhale in May 1999. A five-year plan was created. Mr.Khanekar, a leader of Khamboli, is giving a speech at this meeting. He has volunteered to be one of the coordinators.
	10. Villagers have become aware of the importance of environment conservation activities such as tree planting through these meetings. They selected the direct participants of the project and afforestation sites.
Tree Planting in Mulshi
	11. A view of Katarkhadak village in Mulshi district. Golden lands among trees are rice fields.
	12. A view of agroforestry land. The agroforestry style of Mulshi project is to plant mango trees around the fields.
	13. Agroforestry plot in Khamboli village. The front plant supported by sticks is a mango which was planted this year. Others are green chilli.
	14. A nursery in Khamboli were made for starting the afforestaion project in Mulshi district. Tree seedlings pots were shipped from here in June.
	15. A nursery was constructed in October. Seedlings will be protected by cover on the top from strong sunlight and water evaporation.
	16. Tree planting was started in August, during the rainy season. Children also helped seedlings transportation in the rain.
	17. Teak and bamboo stumps were also distributed. Mr.Khanekar, a leader in Khamboli, is very cooperative with afforestation activities and leads other villagers.
	18. Some tree planting was done in individuals plot, since trees will get good care, planting activities will be sustainable in the long run, and each farmer will learn to be an environment care taker. Even when villagers work in individual lands, they have strong ties and work together which brings success to this project.
	19. Tree planting was also done in two community lands which is about 20ha in total. Farmers planted trees guided by ICA India staff and hired experts.
	20. 12 kinds of trees were planted such as eucalyptus, teak, acacia, mango, and tamarind. Men and women cooperated with each other in tree planting activities.
	21. Some village schools had a special curriculum to experience tree planting. Primary school students of Khamboli are earnestly looking at Mr.Moholkar who is teaching them.
	22. School children planted 250 trees around Katarkhadak school.
	23. In the long term, Children's participation is essential for sustainability of environment conservation activities.
	24. A memorial photo after afforestaion works. We hope that children keep this experience in their heart and will be fostering their natural resources.
	25. Farmers in Katarkhadak learning earnestly from the grafting demonstration of mangoes.
	26. Test planting of medicinal plants, Arovena, in Khamboli village was implemented by ICA: Pune in a community land. Sorting out various plants and establishing a proper cultivation methods will open up a business for farmers, making them less dependent upon wood products for income.
	27. Mr.Naik looking on a kitchen garden in Khamboli. He is establishing a spice business in Khamboli to provide women new employment.
	28. Fencing is made for protecting plants and trees from dogs, livestocks and wild animals.
Leadership Training
	29. Human development training was held in the Environmental Education Center in October for Andhale, Katarkhadak, Khamboli villagers. Many participants came to this training even though they were busy for harvesting. Through enthusiastic participation, positive opinions were shared.
	30. Second day began with meditation.
	31. In the middle of the training, a ball game was introduced to relieve fatigue and tension of participants.
	32. At the end, Ms.Rajda, the Forbes Marshall Ltd. chairperson, gave a speech about her voluntary activities, to convey the significance of the training.
Tree Planting in Maval Talka
	33. A view of Kune village surrounded by mountains in the end of rainy season. There is a waterfall in the middle. Looking at this full greenery, it is very hard to believe that this area has a problem of water shortage.
	34. One and a half month after the end of the rainy season, mountains give us quite another look. The waterfall drys up and all the greenery changes. After another half month, the scenery will change entirely into brown.
	35. Agroforestory plot in Malegaon.Kh with well growing mango trees and crops. Farmers have just harvested the first crop. He will start second cropping, millet, in the end of November.
	36. Afforestation plot in Kune. Eucalyptus have grown well. From now on, the trees will not be influenced so much by the climate. Therefore, the maintenance time by villagers will be less .
	37. Afforestation plot in Kune. ICA staff conducted research on the growth conditions.
	38. A five year old Mango tree.
	39. This fencing, in Ansute village, is made from cactus trees.
	40. Fencing made from thorny shrubs to prevent destruction by animals.
	41. Fencing made from Israel babul which has many prickles. Mr.Kalu Therkude, the owner of this land, and Mr.Jadhav, ICA staff, are talking about the current situation of the tree planting sites.
Environment Education Center
	42. A complete view of the nursery in the Environmental Education Center. The center was established in Maval Talka in 1998.
	43. Black plastic pots have been used since last year, which was proposed by a Japanese expert to prevent roots from hardening.
	44. Tremendous rain during rainy season becomes a menace to nurseries which are located on slopes. Germination and seedling growth are obstructed if the pots are covered with soil.
	45. For the solution, caretakers are building brick walls. Grass will be planted on the slopes to prevent soil erosion, before the next rainy season.
	46. Nursery of sisal hemp. These were planted in Khamboli tree planting sites.
	47. A grafted mango in pots.
Compost Making
	48. Compost making, utilizing a fence made by bricks. We used local soil to make the bricks instead of cement since it gets very hard after being dried.
	49. Stuffing dry grass and then treading hard.
	50. Sprinkling cow dung mixed with water in the ratio of 1 to 3. Some more water was sprinkled on the top later.
	51. A complete view of compost chamber. There are some holes, for air ventilation, to prevent the anaerobic fermentation.
Village Festival
	52. The Krishna festival day to celebrate Krishna God's birthday in October. There are many festivals almost one every month in India.
	53. Children in Kune. They are always full of life.