Article under the project “Solar technology for post-harvest processes and sustainable agriculture for income
enhancement of tribal communities living in Cold Desert Region of Ladakh Kargil” NMHS 2020-21_MG80-11
Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

Keywords: Conservation, Ladakh, purification, Chhorpun, Conservation, International water treaty,
Indus, China

Ladakh is the roof of the world and a cold desert region which faces acute scarcity of water and
untimely supply. With rapid development as a result of U.T. creation, there has been an incessant
breaking of mountains, habitat loss which is increasing the degradation of land and causing water
shortage. The use of chemicals in agriculture, livestock rearing is a common cause of water loss.
Ladakh is 17000 feet above sea level, with great divides between eastern and western Ladakh in
terms of landscape and distance. Ladakh has been a victim of water scarcity partly also because of
the International water treaty of River Indus which flows between China and Pakistan but there is little
access to local population of Ladakh. Therefore, the Indus river doesn’t contribute to agriculture but
hydroelectric projects except for shey and Thiksey where they draw water from river Indus. According
to Dr. Enoch Spalbar, 80% of Leh water comes from Indus and in Choglamsar it is extracted through
borewell. Choglamsar has some great places of worship with great monks.

Chhorpun is the traditional water conservation and preservation system it is dependent on glaciers
melted water which is also not getting recharged due to climate change and incessant mountain
breaking. The usage of water was very well defined in terms of who and how people will get water
that led to reducing wastage. Chhorpun also reduces the problem of difference in height of carrying
water in high elevation villages. There is a traditional system in Maharashtra it is known as
Bandharas. The ahar and pyne systems of Bihar where an unlined inundation canal (pyne) transfers
water from a stream into a catchment basin (ahar), also evolved from a riparian doctrine. Unlike
modern sone canals built by the British, which have failed to meet the needs of the people, the ahars
and pynes still provide water to peasants. Early riparian principles were based on the notion of
sharing and conserving water. They were not attached to property rights.
There are huge restrictions on organizations trying to work on the subject; hence water crisis is a
huge impediment to livestock, livelihoods, and agricultural production.
Takmachik is a village on the plateau opposite the road, leading to Kargil via Dah-Hanu belt along the
Indus river. Unfortunately, despite its location on the bank of a river, Takmachik faces shortage of
water for irrigation. The glacier is small and unable to feed the village with enough water, particularly if
there is low precipitation. As such, the limited water available through springs is an important source,
managed carefully.

An artificial glacier, constructed in 2016, is expected to provide some help, however, it is more like a
bandage solution and has attracted great publicity and international attention. I don’t think it is a
consistent and reliable solution. The village was provided by floating water pumps twice in three years
which burnt out, the cost of repair of each pump was 92,000/- and burn out time within a period of one
to two years. Due to the damage in the pumps during COVID-19, the water level is also constantly
rising up and down with no responsible person to monitor it and the pump was not submerged in
water fully, we need a water level indicator to see the flow and timely sensor alarm for switching it on
and off. In Domkhar, which has approximately 60 households, the population is dependent on glacier
water.
Recently in Takmachik, avid social workers climbed ice stupa of height around 85 feet without having
all necessary tools to hoist the tricolor when temperature falls to -15 degrees Celsius during the day.
This stupa stores million liters of water in freezing state during winters when it is of no use. Hence, it
can be used in spring season for irrigation purposes. The principle used here is gravita.

Please find bits about our work in the regions:

Takmachik: Takmachik is a village situated at an altitude of 2980 mt at a distance of around 130 km
from Leh town. The village consists of around 60 families which are mostly dependent on agriculture
economically.

Agriculture in Takmachik: In the past 10 years organic agriculture has been preached by various
NGO’s and government organizations which have been adopted by the villager at large. It is, in fact,
the only village in Leh district which can be called an organic village and their produce is becoming
famous every year. Apricot is a major source of income in the region and every household has an
average of 25 to 30 apricot trees. Apart from apricots recently different fruits like apple, cherry, and
plum have become very popular watermelon being the most predominant one. Usually, in the Ladakh
region, single cropping system is practiced but, in the areas, with lower altitudes, two products are
grown.

Current Scenario of Water in Takmachik: the main source of water for both agricultural practices
and drinking is spring water. Traditionally the village was reported to have three springs, but in recent
time’s two of them have dried off, majorly due to floods which have been happening in the past few
years. With recent development in agricultural practices in the region, and the water sources in the
area depleting, major water stress is being observed in the region. Some major interventions are
being introduced in the region one of which being the lifting of water from the Indus by floating pumps.
Traditionally there are three ponds in the village but at the moment only one is functioning. One of the
ponds was damaged in the 2014 floods and has not been repaired. The pond which is working
supplies water to the entire village. Water is lifted from Indus River and stored in the pond, which is
further used for irrigation. On average two families get to turn to irrigate their fields every 10 days. The
major water stress is observed during the second cropping.

Water Conservation Interventions required:
Ladakh has traditionally always depended on
agriculture economically, and so is the case in Takmachik village. But, in recent years a shift from
agronomic cultivation towards horticultural practices is being observed. People of the village are
growing more and more water-consuming crops like watermelon etc. which is resulting in a huge
increase in demand for water supply, but also at the same time the sources of water are drying up.
Therefore, now to meet the demand of the village, water from the Indus River is being lifted for
irrigation purposes.

Future Interventions required:
During the field visit we found that the motor was burnt due to dry run because of the
fluctuating water level, and suggested that a small reservoir needs to be built near the bay of
Indus where the whole setup is installed, this will prevent the motor from future dry runs and thus protecting the motor from fluctuating water levels otherwise, the villagers need to detail
a person to check the water levels and thus adjusting the submersible motor to prevent
future dry runs.
Therefore, to meet the future demand for water in the village some innovative interventions are being
practiced, but in the next few years the requirement for water will increase. Therefore, to meet those
challenges some innovations are required urgently.

At present there is only one pond out of the three that is functioning. The other two ponds are
damaged due to floods and need repairing. If all the three ponds are functioning then wastage of
water will be minimal and also due to the lifting of water from Indus, the frequency for irrigation which
at present is 2 households per 10 days, it can be brought own to maybe 6 days.
Pond lining in all three ponds should be done to prevent loss through seepage.
The floating pump which has been installed should be of one with higher liters per second.
Mulching is an important and effective technique to prevent water loss. It should be preached, and
also adopted by villagers for vegetable production.

Urbis village: It’s a village situated around 150 km from Leh town. It’s a small village nestled
between the hills. There are a total of 17 to 20 families settled in the area.

Agriculture in Urbis: Urbis village has always stayed away from chemical fertilizers. Traditional
sustainable agricultural practices have been followed and are still being followed. Every household
holds an average of 4 domesticated animals which give them enough manure for agricultural
practices. In horticultural crops, walnut and apples were being grown from lime immortal but in recent
times apricot is also being grown. Apart from barley and wheat, pea, pulses, potato are also being
grown.

Current Scenario of Water in Urbis: the main source of water in the village is the small glacier which
is located about 5 to 7 km from the village in the hills. The amount of water being discharged from the
glacier has been reducing year by year, due to the reduced snowfall which recharges the glaciers.
There are no ponds to store the water which are generally found in most of the villages.

Water Conservation Interventions required: Due to the changes in water availability agriculture is
also being affected. The major problem arises during the springtime when the 1st dose of water is
required.

Future Interventions required:
To cope with the scarcity of water in the village, it is suggested to tap
into the water resources which are available in the village. Apart from the glacial water, a spring
source of water is available in the lower area. This source is not used and the water is mostly wasted.
Constructing a pond near the spring and lifting the water during the time of water scarcity is
suggested.

Water and Crops:
There is very little training and awareness given on the kind of crops and the amount of water they
consuming at the time of sowing, reaping that is given to farmers. For instance watermelon and
eucalyptus requires a lot of water, barley needs more water, vegetables need less water. If we create
awareness and markets for the same like water mark or even a certification that this crop is water and
glacier friendly. Usually, the first harvest is dependent on spring water, melting ice and snow and their
second cycle of harvest is dependent on snowfall. We therefore, need to keep a check on increase in
size of glacier and climate change at the moment we have no alternative.

We should create a robust marketing, measuring and certification that goes beyond organic keeping
water conservation in mind. Ladakh till now didn’t have a weather department or climate change
centre; we have proposed to do both with several ministries. We also suggest a water information
management system that keeps in check the zings i.e. ponds in Ladakh and records the change in
size of artificial glaciers.

There is infestation due to water storage and collection in zings and some water reservoir tanks are
overflooded, very little is done to maintain proper hygiene and cleanliness.
Without water, food production is not possible, water scarcity translated into a decline of food
production and an increase in hunger. Traditionally, food cultures evolved as a response to the water
possibilities surrounding them.

In high altitude regions, pseudo cereals such as buckwheat provided nutrition. In the Ethiopian
highlands, teff became the staple of choice. In Ladakh Buckwheat known as bro is grown rampantly.
The water use efficiency of crops is influenced by their genetic variation. Maize, sorghum and millet
convert water into biological matter most efficiently. Millet not only requires less water than rice, it is
also drought resistant, withstanding up to 75 percent soil moisture depletion. Had agricultural
development taken water conservation into account, millet would not have been called a marginal or
inferior crop.

substituted organic ones , and irrigation displaced rainfed cropping. As a result, soils were deprived of
vital organic material , and soil moisture droughts became recurrent. Massive irrigation projects and
water intensive farming, by adding more water to an ecosystem than its drainage system can
accommodate, have led to waterlogging , salinization and desertification.

In India, 10 million hectares of canal irrigated land is waterlogged and no other 25 million hectares is
under the threat of salinization. When waterlogging is recurrent, it is likely to lead to conflict between
farmers and the state. In the Krishna basin, waterlogging at malaprabha irrigation project led to farmer
rebellions. Similarly, the International water treaty, where river Indus flows from China to Pakistan but
most Ladakhisdoesn’t have access to it causes unrest and fights amongst Ladakhis and Kashmiris.

Salinisation is closely related to water logging. The salt poisoning of arable land has been an
inevitable consequence of intensive irrigation and in arid regions. Water scarce locations contain large
amounts of unleached soil, pouring irrigation water into such soils brings the salts to surface. When
the water evaporates, saline residue remains. Today more than one third of the world’s irrigated is salt
polluted. An estimated 70,000 hectares of land in Punjab are salt affected and produce poor yields.

In the Indian village of Kuru, there is no drinking water available to the 600 residents due to
salinization.

Role of women in conservation:
We mostly find in billboards and advertisements, men creating ice stupas or climbing up ice stupas,
artificial glaciers. However, most of the water conservation-related work is mostly done by women.
Especially all the initial work, like carrying water from the zing i.e a pond from a hill to the field and
home along with carving ice stupas is done by them but there is no documentation and no
representation in images, billboards.

Women face many hill-related accidents while bringing water for their homes and fields due to
distance between the reservoir and their homes, fields. Children suffer due to storage of water for a
long time in reservoirs as there can be contamination and infestation.

Even in the traditional Chhorpun system, water is first offered to deities, then ice stupas are created.
Water is the first form of life following which is fish and they also form lord Vishnu’s two life forms. We
have to believe that water is divine and not a property that can be collected and demarcated in or for
one village. Temperament of villages is to not share water with everyone as there could be shortage in their village, I have always engaged in deep dialogue with community to have an open heart and
share resources with each other.

Therefore, more than any other resource, water needs to remain a common good and requires
community management. In fact, in most societies, private ownership of water has been prohibited.
Ancient texts such as the Institute of Justinian show that water and other natural sources are public
goods: “By the law of nature, these things are common to mankind – the air, running water, the sea
and consequently the shore of the sea.
Water is a moving, wandering thing and must of necessity continue to be common by the law of
nature. Wrote Williams Blackstone,” so that I can only have a temporary, transient, usufructuary
property therein.”

The emergence of modern water extraction technologies has increased the role of state in water
management. With globalization and privatization of water resources, new efforts to completely erode
people’s rights and replace collective ownership with corporate control are underway. The
communities of real people with real needs exist beyond the state and the market is often forgotten in
the rush for privatization.

Since women are the water providers, disappearing water sources have meant new burdens and
drudgery for them. Each river and spring and well, drying up means longer walks for women collecting
water and implies more work and fewer survival options. In Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Madhya Pradesh and implies more work and fewer survival options. In Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu, most villages
are facing new water scarcities created by maldevelopment and reductionist science.
Nature’s work and women’s work in water conservation has usually been ignored by the masculinist
The paradigm of water management has replaced community control by privatization and water
prudent staple food crops by water-thirsty cash crops. Women have had a significant productive role
in food cultivation based on water-conserving technologies. They have been central to food
production, based on sustainable use of water, in arid zones. The maldevelopment model which sees
the agricultural output in terms of cash rather than nutritive value has undermined the efficient
production of nutritive crops like jowar and bajra by seeing them as marginal and uneconomic.
Women’s work in producing staple, water-conserving food grains is only one of the many mechanisms
for water conservation; their work in adding organic matter to the soil – from crops, from the cowshed,
from trees and forests – also contributes critically towards conserving water and preventing
desertification.

Women’s work in traditional agriculture has been an effective partnership with nature which increases
water availability for human survival without disrupting the water cycle. This partnership is now being
substituted by a partnership between chemicals and masculinist science and industry. Instead of
water retentivity and soil fertility being increased by organic matter produced by nature and processed
and distributed by women and peasants.

The recovery of the feminine principle in water management consists of recovering the stability of the
water cycle, and recovering the role of women and poor peasants and tribals as water managers for
the use of water for sustenance and not for non-sustainable profits and growth. The recovery of the feminine involves the recognition that sustainable availability of water resources is based on
participation in the water cycle and is then displaced in its process of purification and treatment. For
centuries, nature’s various products and women’s knowledge of their properties have provided the
basis for making water safe for drinking in every home and village of India.

Results and outcome:
Rainwater harvesting and the traditional chhorpun system are native and understandable by the local
population. Glacier recharge is dependent on the climatic conditions hence ice stupas are effective as
designed by Shri Norphelhowever not very predictable. The best solution so far discussed is floating
water pumps to lift water from the river Indus, Takamchik has three ponds and some fields are close
to the water body. We have to revive the resources’ channeling system and draw the pipeline.
Another solution is sharing of water between Takmachik and Domkhar. We also want to create a
system of community water drainage system so washing clothes in river basins is banned. We will lay
more emphasis on growing pseudo cereals and less water-intensive crops to preserve water. We also
understood deeply that water management and water treatment in the western world is a field
dominated by men, but in tropical developing countries women were the actual pacemakers for
traditional water purification. We must give more thought to role of women in the context of new water
supply projects and not just highlighting drudgery. We have to glorify women as not just victims of the
burden of providing water but also for being the source of knowledge and skills for providing safe
water and hence better health for rural areas.

References:
Vandana Shiva (2010). Staying Alive Women, Ecology and Survival in India.
Vandana Shiva (2002). Water Wars Privatization, Pollution and Profit

With my experience having worked in hilly regions of Ladakh, I have often witnessed that last mile distribution of any kind of technology or even field testing and training when it is done free of cost then it is seldom utilized fully by the communities because they start perceiving it as a token or a charitable initiative, even if it is considered a charitable initiative, our NGO- Vishwadeep Trust has a

vision of empowering women farmers and tribal communities to fully take ownership of everything that has been given to them especially in the time of pandemic or time and againLadakh faces flash floods and several other crises that are often not talked about in the media. As the media only focuses on crime and entertainment, 69% of media space is covered by crime and entertainment, with very little importance given to village development or Gram Vikas. Therefore it is important that we talk about these aspects, specially of community engagement via contribution, via learning, via development of self help groups.

I will take you back to my time in 2017 when my initiative received a global environment
facility small grant programme under UNDP OP5 cycle. Although it was a small a grant
of USD 50,000 we impacted each and every household in Takmachik.

❖ We had two major technologies to be given to women farmers- Portable low cost
indigenous solar cookers and solar dryers because that would greatly reduce indoor air
pollution and reduce drudgery of women farmers in mountain region therefore we
decided to distribute solar cooker boxes completely free of cost to reduce their
drudgery and economic load. Also it was the year of demonetisation, keeping in mind
all these conditions we distributed the solar cooker free of cost.

❖ Upon monitoring in 2018 we found that very few only 30 to 40% of population were
making the judicial use of solar cookers. And that made us think twice because it was
not an easy task to firstly distribute 70 solar cook boxes in remote region of Sham valley that is Takmachik and more so collecting members of household training them
on the uses and benefits in both Ladakhi language and Hindi.

❖ We tried our best to instill a sense of ownership however we did not charge them any
money. And to our surprise only 40% of population was making judicial use of it.
Out of those 40%, 22% turned it into a mini local enterprise and started providing
solar cooked organic bread and biscuits to nearby cafes and resorts. However the rest,
in some households we found that the solar cookers were used like a little suitcase or
they started putting different items in the cook boxes.

So it was a bit heart breaking for me because I was working with deep emotions and I wanted
to provide maximum feminine care to the hardworking organic farmers of Ladakh. It was
then that I decided that any purchase that crosses above 1000 rupees to any household, there
will be a small fee or a community contribution attached to it.

❖ Therefore the next time when we tried to distribute solar dryers in the region we made
sure that there would be a community contribution attached to it. Therefore next time
when we decide to distribute solar dryers in the region we made sure that the
community contribution of atleast 50%. So 50% would be from trust or GEF fund or
trust fund and 50% from the community or Sarpanch.

❖ To our surprise not only the solar dryers were a big hit in the region but there were
repeat orders of solar dryers in the coming years not only from the same village but
also from the adjacent villages.

So this is my conclusion that even in the G.B. Pant granted NMHS project we have given
solar dryers, however there were no restrictions or recommendation from MoEF&CC to take
community contribution as is the case with GEF. GEF always harps on projects sustainability
and ownership amongst community hence they really instill and harp on co-financing. Co-
financing is not a major part of NHMS project but still knowing the region, knowing people
reactions and acceptance towards any innovation whether frugal or modern it is my
recommendation and suggestion that community contribution is definitely a boon. There is
always some negative stereotyping that NGOs make money or this is a lady who is an
outsider to Ladakh and she is here to make money and go back to New Delhi etc. However
the community always showed and instill trust in me and therefore they repeatedly order

dryers, cookers and other things. So therefore my understanding of community contribution always says that community contribution towards technology specially for post harvest management guarantees project sustenance and guarantees a sense of ownership within the community and overall upliftment of women farmers and tribals. However, I truly believe that there should be no added pressure on the organisation or community, in our case, we had conducted a small pilot for the dryers and they were a success in the region, with repeat orders we also reiterated
that contribution is a must. The community was happy to contribute as the innovation has positively impacted their agriculture related practices. In my most recent visit, I noticed great drudgery and workload on women in general in Ladakh, it was painful for me to remain silent. In the absence of labour for loading and offloading of our solar trays, we couldn’t find the usual labour force from Kashmir, Bihar and due to immense need I witnessed old woman shivering in cold and with very rough hands lifting the trays, carrying it on their back towards the truck for offloading. I had to raise my voice at the contractor , he said madam lay no option we have no labour due to corona , here man woman are equal “sab ek hai”.

This is the most cruel form of
equality where women are considered equal when they have
to lift agri stubble, solar trays. I had to be stern and say please let her sit and you boys should do the work, she is in her 60’s. The same way in Takmachik, all the farmers and village dwellers had nice, welcoming things to say about us especially for sending them relief kits in the month of June for COVID-19.

The ladies who always are full of love, seemed tired and had lost weight, with droopy eyes. I asked them the reason to which they said they have had less options to eat as most stores were closed and they had very few food items. I have in my ten years of association with Ladakh never seen the farmers in such a situation, also most hotels, home stays closed but what remained constant was their cheerful greeting of JullayKhamzanglay. In the last decade, I may not have made a lot of money or become very “successful” but I believe I have become a better, lesser harmful person. As a conservationist, I have noticed the shrinking of mountains, rising man animal conflict and divisive attitudes towards local population rising. Ladakh being my karmabhoomi, I strongly believe I learnt from the locals to not discriminate between Hindu / Buddhists and Muslims, they love Iran and never discriminate. There is a presence of Ladakh V/S Tibet which I try to water down with my interaction. It was difficult
for me to find a transcriptor for Bodhi, that also made me think how far we have come from our roots. What was most annoying was the UT restrictions related to COVID-19 that was restricting us to conduct trainings on the ground, the circulars kept changing every 15 days or so. Civil society faces many unspoken struggles even while implementing Govt. projects, we continued to look for alternatives like conducting virtual trainings but they are not as impactful as in person physical trainings. Every trainer and genuine teacher has a presence similar to Guru Shishya relationship, like Lord Rama with one glance and pointing one finger would control, spread his aura and teachings, similar to HH Dalai lama who radiates Panchsheel rays from a very large distance.

Some facts-

• Rural women have more limited access to productive resource, service education and employment opportunities while experiencing, excessive workloads and limited decision making power.

• Climate change impact women and men differently evidence shows that women are more likely to be food insecure than men in every region of the world. Transformative spirit after natural disaster hit in India, girls were more likely started and underweight than boys and in A.P, twice as many women as men reported eating less in response to drought. In Kenya, fetching water may use up to 85% of a woman’s daily energy intake; in times of drought women spend up to 8 hours a day in search by water.

• Worldwide, less than 15% of agricultural land is held by women. Women play a major role in agriculture accounting for 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, a figure that rises up to more than 60% in parts of South Asia and in Africa.

• Plant breeding& conservation:-
Women have played an important role in – Conservation
efforts like-
o  Seed Saving
o  Growing
o  Preserving underutilised Species.

These species also have high value of as potential gene sources in case of collapse of commercially suitable varieties, that helps decrease their vulnerabilities to climate shocks and improve food security.

• Female farmers play important roles in maintaining knowledge about different plants varieties and deciding which crops to plant, particularly as many new migrate away from the farm. There empowerment can significantly contribute to building the household resilience to climate impacts.

• Women’s ownership of productive assets is positively linked to their uptake of climate smart practices and soil conservation techniques. For instance, where women have secured land rights, greater yield and increased food security are also observed.

• Increasing women’s awareness and access to information and knowledge about climate smart agriculture options will lead to greater uptake of these technologies and practices, and enhance the resilience of entire household and communities and food systems to climate related shocks and changes.

We work for upliftment of tribal population and women farmers in remote locations and provide relief during crises

Ladakh (34.0o N 77.5o E) in northern India is a mountainous region, where the mainstay of the economy is agriculture and livestock (Ehlers and Kreutzmann, 2000) and where the temperature ranges from +35 C to -35 C. Despite the harsh climatic conditions, Ladakhis have managed to develop a remarkably productive agricultural system to meet their subsistence needs. Nonetheless, agriculture and livestock production have suffered in the last two decades due to factors such as new alternative livelihood opportunities such as tourism, climatic uncertainties, poor market linkages for local products, etc.

Changes in land use and livelihoods due to these factors may have serious implications for the long-term sustainability of Ladakh (Fox et al., 1994). Through ages, people in Ladakh have survived by practicing indigenous traditional knowledge passed on by our ancestors-be it agriculture, pastoralism or handicraft. However, with the advent of development in the form of infrastructure, alternative livelihoods, jobs and services, technology, etc. dependence on traditional livelihood such as agriculture and pastoralism have reduced significantly and along with this the application of traditional knowledge has come down. If we are to preserve and
promote the cultivation of
indigenous crops and knowledge
associated with these, it is
imperative that we talk, consult and
document the elderly in the villages.
Based on the knowledge shared and
inputs given by the elderly,
participatory plant breeding could
be initiated to bring out the
desirable characters in a particular
crop.

Project area

Takmachik (34.28o N 76.76o E) is village in western Ladakh, situated at a distance of about 110 km from Leh town. The village has 65 households with a population of around 450 people and is situated at an altitude of about 2900 m above sea level. The climate is arid type with scanty and erratic precipitation (80mm per annum) and temperature ranges from +35 to -20 oC. The village is well vegetated with orchards, willow and poplar. The villagers are mostly farmers, growing crops such as barley, buckwheat, wheat, pea, vegetables, and mustard. Takmachik is the first and only organically certified village in Ladakh and its products such as apricots, apricot oil, walnuts and buckwheat are very popular nationally.

Urbis (34.16o N 76.46o E) is also a village in western Ladakh, located in a gorge at a distance of about 130 km from Leh town. The village has 25 households with a population of around 150 people and is situated at an altitude of about 3200 m above sea level. The climate is arid type with scanty and erratic precipitation (80mm per annum) and temperature ranges from +30 to – 25 oC. The village is well vegetated with orchards, willow and poplar. The villagers are mostly farmers, growing crops such as barley, wheat, pea, vegetables, and mustard. The village is also very popular for its high-quality local peas, apricots and walnuts.

Problem statement

A quick review of the literature reveals that there has not been any apparent effort to engage local farmers and value their traditional knowledge to preserve and promote indigenous crops by any agency in Ladakh. Therefore, Vishwadeep Trust under the National Mission on Himalayan Studies funded by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has conducted a baseline survey in Takmachik and Urbis to gather information on the status of farmers understanding and knowledge on local crops, its promotion and preservation, the concept of seed banks, constraints in agriculture production, public and private sector interventions, etc., as an attempt to build a baseline for conducting Participatory Plant Breeding.

Rationale
Participatory plant breeding is important because not only does it help ensure that new varieties are directly meeting farmers’ needs, it also educates and empowers farmers to be part of the breeding process, giving them the tools they need to begin new breeding projects. Moreover, including farmers improves the process because the farmers know what priorities they have for a variety e.g., in case of apricot it is sweetness, kernel oil content, shelf- life, maturity, disease resistance, yield, etc. They know what their markets will accept. Also, involving farmers increases the likelihood that the variety will be adopted when it is released since the farmers are already invested in the project.
Objectives
To understand the socio-economic and demographic context of the farming community.
To understand the traditional knowledge of the area, especially regarding the use of variety, seed, and processing management of these crops. To understand the type of crops (cereals, oilseeds, pulses, fruits, vegetables) under cultivation. To assess farmers’ knowledge and interest in participatory plant breeding and in establishing seed bank. To assess the scope of collaboration with other concerned government and non- governmental agencies. To assess present challenges in production of cultivated crops.
Methodology A semi-structured approach to interview key respondents from the two villages was used to collect primary data. The study population consists of locals-male and female from both the village. Ten key respondents were selected based on their involvement with agriculture and horticulture. However, before starting the interview, consent was sought from each respondent on their willingness on engaging in the interview. Demographic data for each village were gathered from the head/Nambardar of the village. Given the time and financial constraints, 10- 15% of the households in each village were surveyed. Secondary information from related publications, reports and articles were used. We also intended to use Participatory Rural Appraisal tools to understand preliminary understanding of the local context and the information generated from PRA were supposed to be used as a complementary data source to consolidate the baseline findings. However, due to covid-19 related restrictions imposed by government of UT Ladakh, this could not be done. Additionally, to further strengthen the study, focus group discussion at ward-level were planned to collect information regarding the local cropping system, crop diversity, seed management practice, and processing equipment. Survey questionnaire Primary data were obtained through a questionnaire survey carried out in the month of December 2020 (Appendix A). The questions were focused mainly on themes associated with participatory plant breeding such as crops under cultivation, seeds, capacity building training, constraints/challenges in agriculture, dependence on agriculture, acreage under cultivation.

Field work
Considering the great deal of remoteness and time constraint because of challenges
posed by covid-19, we took help from locally hired volunteers. However, prior to the data collection, they were properly trained and oriented, on survey procedures such as how to interact with the respondents, how try not to influence the responses and how to record the responses. Data analysis Since there is no baseline data available to do a comparative study on farmers’ perception, involvement and understanding on participatory plant breeding, therefore the results from this study can be used as a baseline for future studies. Moreover, due to small sample size because of time constraint we could use any statistical tool to analyze the data. Questionnaire preparation and pre-testing The questionnaire survey was prepared by reviewing questionnaires of other similar projects. The drafted questionnaire was shared with the Principal Investigator for reviewing and commenting and accordingly refined by incorporating the suggestions. Administration of the Survey The questionnaire survey was carried out by the Junio Project Fellow along with two locally hired volunteers. The JPF and volunteers were given orientation on the questionnaire content, data recording, sampling, and interviewing method and process by the Senior Research Fellow, who had the experience of already conducted baseline surveys in the field. At the end of each interview day, the survey team jointly cross checked the data collected in the field to minimize the effects of any response and recording errors. Due to the remoteness of the survey site, immediate data entry into a digital spreadsheet in the field was not possible.

Data entry and cleaning
Data entry was completed by the SRF and JPF. Afterward, data were cleaned using Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Results
Family members engaged in agricultural activities: On an average 4 members in Takmachik and 5 members in Urbis in a family are engaged in different phases of agriculture process.

Major source of income: As stated earlier, other than service sector, majority of the respondents from both the village generate some income from agriculture and horticulture. Land and acreage under cultivation: On an average, a household in Takmachik owns 9.7 kanal of land of which more than 85% is used for cultivation, where in Urbis, it is more than 12 kanal per household of which close to 70% is used for cultivation. The land holding in Tkamachik ranges from 2 kanal to 15 kanal, whereas in Urbis it is between 6-20 kanal. Sustenance from own grown foods in a year: From the survey, it became clear that Takmachik being an organic village has more land under cultivation at a household level. This could be a reason for the villagers sustaining for longer months on their own produced foods compared to Urbis where although the land holding is bigger but area under cultivation is smaller than Takmachik. Type of cereals, pulses, fruits, vegetables and oilseeds: owing to their altitudinal difference, the two villages differ slightly in the type of crops they grow. For example, Takmachik being at lower altitude, grows buckwheat, fruits such as peach, cherry, pear, etc., at larger scale, where as Urbis being at higher altitude grows local peas at commercial scale. However, cereals such as barley and wheat are common in both the villages. In terms of oilseeds, both the villages grow mustard for subsistence need. With regard to vegetables, both the villages grow more or less the same vegetables such as cabbage, onion, carrot, tomatoes, leafy, etc. Training and capacity building: With regard to training on breeding techniques such as selection and cross breeding to improve existing varieties, none of the interviewed farmers from both the villages received any training from government or private agency. However, two respondents from Takmachik and four from Urbis did receive training on propagation techniques such as grafting, budding and layering. The respondents from both the villages are of the opinion that capacity building and awareness on breeding and propagation have increased lately. Local indigenous crop that needs preservation and promotion: Majority of the respondents (90%) from Takmachik showed their interest in promoting and preserving buckwheat followed by barley. The reason behind choosing buckwheat could be its short growing season, it is grown as a second crop after barley or wheat coupled with growing demand in the market owing to its health benefits. Whereas in Urbis, a large section of the respondents are interested in promoting and preserving barley followed by local peas. The cultivation of local peas is practiced only in few villages in Ladakh and Urbis is one of them. Considering the long shelf life, high nutritive value and its potential in creating new products of added value, local peas genuinely needs promotion and preservation. Familiarity with participatory plant breeding: ninety percent of the respondents from both the villages have never heard of participatory plant breeding. Whereas, none of the respondents from either village have taken part in participatory plant breeding ever. In Takmachik, the respondents are interested in conducting participatory plant breeding on buckwheat because of its high market demand and health benefits, whereas in Urbis, respondents showed their interest in conducting participatory plant breeding on wheat followed by barley. The reason behind opting for wheat could be that until recently Ladakhis were largely dependent on the Public Distribution System (PDS) for meeting their needs for wheat however lately PDS has started rationing wheat distribution on the basis of per member per family. Since,

wheat is a staple in Ladakh, rationing does not meet the whole demand of a family, hence, growing it in their own fields is the only option left. Community seed bank: A close to 90% of the respondents have never heard about community seed banks and none of the village has one. There could be multiple reasons for this, however, the primary reason could be a lack of awareness on the need and importance of having one. Concerned government departments and private agencies such as NGOs and seed companies can play a key role in mobilizing people on the need of establishing a seed bank at village or constituency level. At present majority of the respondents from both the villages use their self-saved seeds for next season sowing, exchange of seeds with neighbors, relatives or from other villages is also common. Government also help supplement the requirement of seeds especially for new crops. According to the survey, most of the respondents also do not employ good practices for seed storage. Hence, establishing a community seed bank would be helpful to address this constraint as it can improve the local availability of quality seeds of local crops. Crop diversity: We got mixed responses from both the villages on assessing the state of diversity of crops in the villages in the last ten years. However, they were not able to clearly recollect which crop? Additionally, the respondents are not aware of any plans or initiatives by UT Ladakh on assessment genetic diversity of cultivated crops in their villages. Similarly, none of the respondents are aware of any procedures in place to monitor or measure genetic erosion by UT Ladakh. Nevertheless, almost 50% of the respondents from both the villages reported changing varieties of crops such as wheat and potatoes in the last ten years for increased yield. All the respondents from Takmachik tells that the government and local NGOs have taken initiatives in introducing market to their products especially buckwheat, apricots and watermelon. Similarly, the respondents from Urbis mentions that action is being taken by the government in introducing them to new crops such as watermelon and also initiatives to encourage the continued cultivation of local peas. However, they do not know of any documents in the form of data, pictures, videos, etc. that could act as a testimony to the actions and interventions taken for preservation and maintenance of indigenous varieties in the past ten years. Existing production constraints in cultivated crops: At present, the biggest production constraint in both the villages is low external inputs and services such as compost and farm yard manure. This problem is bound to surface because lately farmers have significantly reduced rearing livestock especially goat and sheep, whose manure is considered as the best for Ladakh’s agro-climatic condition. Regarding compost, the preparation know-how knowledge is lacking among many farmers and even if one knows about compost making, not meeting the ideal physical conditions such as optimal temperature and humidity act as hindrances in making compost. The second constraint is shortage of man power as a result of migration. Since, agriculture in still very subsistence, scaling up for commercial purpose comes with lots of challenges such as poor market linkages, subsidized ration from PDS, younger generation not opting farming as a career, etc. All these result in youth and male members of the family migrating to Leh or other metro cities such as Delhi, Chandigarh, Jammu in search of better paying work and to pursue higher education. Additionally, labour shortage as a result of migration has led to a decrease in area of cultivation of local crops and an increased workload on female farmers and non-migrating family members. Introduction of labour efficient cultivation and processing technologies such as solar dryers will help to grow and utilize local crops. Climate change, pest and disease are other constraints in production especially in Urbis village.

Discussion
Majority of the respondents voiced for the need of promotional and preservation work on indigenous crops from both the villages, whereas some do not seem interested in it. Among respondents showing interest in preservation of local crops, majority chose buckwheat in Takmachik and barley and local peas in Urbis. These are also the crops on which the respondents are interested in conducting participatory plant breeding. Buckwheat in Takmachik
and local peas in Urbis have great potential not only in high production as local crops but also in
generating additional income for the farmers especially buckwheat owing to its high market demand and health benefits. On the other hand, local peas, also very nutritive is currently being neglected by farmers because it has not been promoted for the right reasons. Hence, in order to boost demand for local peas, it is important to create market linkages at both local and national level. Despite key role of local crops in meeting food and nutrition security, religious and cultural requirements, their hardiness and resilient to stresses especially cold and low humidity investment in research and development from public and private sector has not been satisfactory. Without involvement of governmental agencies, the conservation and promotion of local crops cannot be mainstreamed. Since a large number of rural families still rely on these crops despite their hardships, it is important for the government research and extension sectors to alleviate the rudimentary constraints that are holding these crops back. Policy advocacy is needed to mobilize changes in regional and national policies, strategies and plans. Potential opportunities There are several good opportunities of promoting of local crops through sensitization, value addition and developing market linkages. For example, in the case of buckwheat, considering its health and economic benefits, there is huge possibility of identification of most promising varieties in terms of production, disease and climatic stress tolerant trait. Moreover, in addition to the existing local recipes that are made out buckwheat, new recipes such as cake, dosa, soup, tea, etc can be introduced as an attempt to develop new products. Since participatory plant breeding is a participatory approach, there is great scope in collaborating with local research centres, farmers, extension workers to develop varieties of preferred traits. For example, in case of apricots, working on traits such as increased shelf-life, sweetness, and oil content of kernels can be initiated. This will help in value addition and accordingly its marketing can be done with local branding. As both the villages are connected with road network up to Leh town, viable renewable technology introduction, local product transportation and developing market linkage is economic, reliable and full of scopes. Since Leh town attracts a lot of tourists during the summer, local products with value addition and branding can have good marketing opportunity by linking with tourism sectors particularly with hotels, home stays and souvenir shops. An awareness raising and knowledge dissemination regarding local crop conservation and marketing can be done via local radio and TV networks and social media for wider dissemination.

Recommendations
Identification, registration and characterization of promising local crops should be a top priority at the beginning of the project. Local crop inventory and archives should me made and properly documented. Rare varieties of local crops should be restored to prevent them from being extinct through community seed banks. Farmer preference for these varieties can be assessed using participatory selection of varieties with desirable traits. Widening seed exchange network and improving technical aspects on seed selection and proper storage should be on priority work of the concerned stakeholders. Awareness raising on seed management along with viable yet renewable technology introduction of drying, cleaning, sorting and storage would be relevant. Product diversification through new product development initiative and value addition should be used to maximize utilization and marketing of local products. Local branding and authentic labeling of value-added products have great potential in attracting loyal customers. Social capital building: Social capital building is the most essential part to sustain project’s intervention for longer term. Capacity enhancement of technical farming, strengthening organizational management skills of local organization and regular technical support are very crucial. Without participation and ownership of the local community, interventions cannot be sustained. Since this project is first of its kind in Takmachik and Urbis regarding conservation and promotion of local crops through participatory plant breeding, it needs to invest significant effort on community sensitization. Along with raising awareness through different local activities like school programmes, farmer visits to experimental trials, organizing diversity fair, providing platforms for farmers to learn and share their knowledge will be helpful. Developing linkage and coordination among local stakeholders: To mainstream the project findings and interventions, effective mechanism of local stakeholder’s involvement and mobilization has to be developed. Also, conducting studies involving volunteers/youth can add value to the project’s outreach and knowledge dissemination. Coordination with local stakeholders is crucial on leveraging resource to support project activity implementation and to create synergic impact. Linking farming community at regional and national level will enable to develop sustainable mechanism to continue project’s intervention even after the phase out of the project. Maintaining data records and documentation are essential in any type project. Internal as well as external sharing of those documents will be helpful for efficient planning and maintaining work accountability. New findings should be shared with community and related stakeholders to demonstrate the relevance of work and maintain transparency. Sharing of knowledge and findings also help in providing motivation and insights for new innovations. Wider sharing of documented materials and findings also help to demonstrate project’s impact/achievements in real ground. In addition, proper documentation of minutes of community mobilization and consultation meetings, field reports and progress reports etc. and timely sharing with concerned stakeholders including farmers is important to maintain accountability and compliance.

References
Bhatia, S. Redpath, S. Suryawanshi, K. and Mishra, C. (2016). The relationship between religion
and attitudes toward large carnivores in Northern India. Human Dimensions of Wildlife 22(1):1-
13. Ehlers, E. and H. Kreutzmann (2000). High mountain ecology and economy: potential and
constraints. High Mountain Pastoralism in Northern Pakistan 132: 9-36. Eyzaguirre, P. and M. Iwanaga. (1996). Participatory plant breeding. Proceedings of a workshop on participatory plant breeding, 26-29 July 1995, Wageningen, The Netherlands. IPGRI, Rome,
Italy Fox, J. L., C. Nurbu, S. Bhatt and A. Chandola (1994). Wildlife conservation and land-use changes in the Transhimalayan region of Ladakh, India. Mountain Research and Development
14(1): 39-60.
Halewood M, Deupmann P, Sthapit B, Vernooy R and Ceccarelli S. (2007). Participatory plant breeding to promote Farmers’ Rights. Biodiversity International, Rome, Italy. 7 pp Pudasaini N, SR Sthapit, D Gauchan, B Bhandari, BK Joshi and BR Sthapit (2016). Baseline Survey Report: I. Jungu, Dolakha. Integrating Traditional Crop Genetic Diversity into Technology: Using a Biodiversity Portfolio Approach to Buffer against Unpredictable. Environmental Change in the Nepal Himalayas. LI-BIRD, NARC and Biodiversity International, Pokhara, Nepal. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and nation/govt-releases-maps-of-uts-of- jk-ladakh-map-of-india-depicting-new uts/articleshow/71868357.cms