Jharkhand government has approved Rs 40 crore for implementation of the World Bank sponsored Project –Jharkhand’s Opportunities for Harnessing Rural Growth(Johar).

The fund is planned to be used for implementation of the project Johar during 2017-18.This decision was taken by the state Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Tuesday.

In fact,the World Bank will support the Government of Jharkhand in enhancing and diversifying household incomes in the farm and non-farm sectors of Jharkhand.

Nearly 200,000 rural households and some 3500 farmer producer groups are expected to benefit from the project with women as principal actors in production, processing and marketing. Women SHG members, including from scheduled castes and tribes, and smallholder and landless households from 17 districts and 68 blocks of rural Jharkhand are expected to benefit.

Sixty percent of farmers in Jharkhand are marginal and small farmers, practicing rain-fed, single-cropped farming and are highly vulnerable to climate change. Recent droughts had resulted in 40 percent crop losses in the state. The $100 million Johar is expected to help the state develop climate-resilient agriculture by focusing on year-round cultivation of vegetables and diversifying into new high-yielding varieties of pulses and oil-seeds.

The project plan is meant to demonstrate resilient technologies for improving productivity and reducing climate risk in paddy, promote community-based micro irrigation and support the producer groups to move into value added sectors like livestock, fisheries, and non-timber forest produce.  

The $100 million Johar was  approved by the World Bank Board on May 26,2017, will support some 3500 collectives of small producers to enhance their agricultural incomes by diversifying and improving farm productivity, strengthening market linkages, building skills, promoting self-employment and increasing access to credit and other formal financial services.