SITUATION Despite India’s rapid economic growth, nearly 354 million of its 1.2 billion population continues to live on less than a dollar a day. Of these, 78% live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods. e Government of India’s National Environment Policy states that “environmental degradation is a major causal factor in enhancing and perpetuating poverty, particularly among the rural poor”. Another challenge faced by the rural poor is the share of long-term investment credit in agriculture which is decreasing as compared to short-term crop loans and hampering asset creation in agriculture and allied activities. Furthermore, there are still insufficient Natural Resource Management (NRM) based projects, applied in agriculture and rural areas, which are economically viable and ecologically sustainable. us to help the rural poor sustain their livelihood, without compromising on natural resources, there is need for greater investments in the NRM sector. UMBRELLA PROGRAMME FOR NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (UPNRM) Objective To address some of these challenges faced by the NRM sector and its financing requirement in India, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), KfW Development Bank and GIZ are implementing the Umbrella Programme for Natural Resources Management (UPNRM) through a tripartite arrangement. e Indo-German programme brings in a paradigm shift from grant to loan based financing in the NRM sector. It aims at supporting financially viable and ecologically sustainable business models to reduce poverty, increasing farm incomes, strengthening agricultural value chains and conserving natural resources, thus leading to sustainable development. APPROACH UPNRM is guided by five principles which ensure that the projects are pro-poor, promote environment sustainability, practise good governance, promote participation of communities and are integrated and need-based. Implemented by
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SITUATIONDespite India’s rapid economic growth, nearly 354 million of its 1.2 billion population continues to live on less than a dollar a day. Of these, 78% live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods.
Th e Governmen t of India’s National Environment Policy states that “environmental degradation is a major causal factor in enhancing and perpetuating poverty, particularly among the rural poor”. Another challenge faced by the rural poor is the share of long-term investment credit in agriculture which is decreasing as compared to short-term crop loans and hampering asset creation in agriculture and allied activities. Furthermore, there are still insuffi cient Natural Resource Management (NRM) based projects, applied in agriculture and rural areas, which are economically viable and ecologically sustainable.
Th us to help the rural poor sustain their livelihood, without compromising on natural resources, there is need for greater investments in the NRM sector.
UMBRELLA PROGRAMME FOR NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (UPNRM)
ObjectiveTo address some of these challenges faced by the NRM sector and its fi nancing requirement in India, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), KfW Development Bank and GIZ are implementing the Umbrella Programme for Natural Resources Management (UPNRM) through a tripartite arrangement.
Th e Indo-German programme brings in a paradigm shift from grant to loan based fi nancing in the NRM sector. It aims at supporting fi nancially viable and ecologically sustainable business models to reduce poverty, increasing farm incomes, strengthening agricultural value chains and conserving natural resources, thus leading to sustainable development.
APPROACHUPNRM is guided by fi ve principles which ensure that the projects are pro-poor, promote environment sustainability, practise good governance, promote participation of communities and are integrated and need-based.
Implemented by
UPNRM has developed an approach that provides a mix of fi nancial and technical support which comprises capacity building, marketing, infrastructure as well as developing risk mitigation strategies.
Th e UPNRM “credit plus” facility provides projects and businesses a loan with an integral accompanying measure or grant. Th e grant component is to build the competencies and capacities of the implementing agencies (channel partners), and to help the benefi ciaries in managing their rural business and livelihoods. Unlike conventional fi nancial products, UPNRM loans are fl exible and can be tailored according to the requirement of projects.
UPNRM’s capacity building programme strengthens the channel partner’s skills and effi ciencies through various types of interventions e.g. training, hand-holding support, fi eld visits and experience sharing workshops etc.
Furthermore, UPNRM promotes convergence with public and private agencies. Th is helps to develop technical and managerial competencies of community based organisations by facilitating partnerships with corporate and governmental agencies to strengthen agri-value chains.
ACHIEVEMENTSBy January 2015, NABARD had supported around 270 projects with investments worth Euro 61 million in 21 states and one union territory.Since its inception in 2008, the UPNRM portfolio
has expanded rapidly. It has ensured the provision of livelihood opportunities to India’s rural poor and has benefi tted more than 300,000 people.
78% of the benefi ciaries whose livelihood have been improved belong to Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC). 44% of the total current benefi ciaries are female and 46% of the total benefi ciaries are extremely poor and belong to the ‘Below Poverty Line’ (BPL) category.
Project name Umbrella Programme for Natural Resource Management (UPNRM)
Commissioned by German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Lead executing agency GIZ
Financial contribution by KfW
Partnerorganisation
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)
Duration 11/2008 – 12/2015 (TC)
Budget Technical Cooperation - Euro 8.5 millionFinancial Cooperation - Euro 73.4 million
Webpage www.giz.de/en/worldwide/16606.html
Drip irrigation projects under UPNRM saved around 2.7 million cubic metres of water per annum.
UPNRM programme is also promoting sustainable agricultural techniques such as sustainable sugarcane initiative (SSI), and the System of Rice Intensifi cation (SRI), aimed at improving resource effi ciency, as well as at increasing productivity. Th ese techniques have been introduced on a large scale.
Th e programme has trained farmers and provided hand-holding support to undertake SRI cultivation. Today, over 20,000 hectares of SRI have saved around 89 million cubic meters of water, conserving almost 50 per cent of ground water which is otherwise used for fl ood irrigation in traditional paddy cultivation practices. All these, along with a 60 per cent increase in paddy yield, have boosted the food and nutritional security of the farmers and their families.
In 2015, UPNRM was awarded the ‘Best Innovation in Financial Services’ for its innovative and sustainable loan fi nancing model at the 5th Global Sustainable Finance Conference held at Karlsruhe, Germany.
NABARD won the Banking Financial Services Insurance (BFSI) Vision award for the category ‘Environmental Sustainability’, for their initiatives in the fi eld of NRM through UPNRM, Tribal Development Fund (TDF) and Watershed Development Fund (WDF) in 2014.
Ms Sabine Preuss Programme Director
GIZ Natural Resources Management Programme
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
A- 2/18, 2nd fl oor, Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi- 110029, INDIA
