Newsletter January 2023 CHEZHUMAI
Photos : During Cluster/Node Meetings for the month of January 2023
TIST stands for “The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program.”
TIST started in 1999 when Clean Air Action Corporation (CAAC) -- a US-based company sponsored a seminar for farmers in Small Groups in Tanzania. The members of the Small Groups identified the lack of trees, food insecurity, and disease as long-standing difficulties for their communities. In a joint effort between the Tanzanian farmers and US and UK support staff, a pilot project was created to improve local environmental conditions while helping in greenhouse gas reductions. The Institute for Environmental Innovation (I4EI) joined CAAC to sponsor sustainable development, health, and environmental education to benefit the TIST farmers.
TIST farmers form Small Groups and take action to improve the local environment and the world's climate and decide how to organize the TIST program in their areas. Between 6 to 12, farmers form Small Groups and plant trees around their houses, farms, and other common lands if possible. The trees provide multiple benefits of shade, reduced soil erosion, enriched soil, and growth of native shrubs and grasses. Moreover, the trees produce edible fruit, traditional medicines, fodder for cattle, firewood, and building materials.
ENGLISH VERSION 2
TIST helps farmers participate in the carbon credit business. Farmers receive a 70% share of profits from the sales. Profits are created through participating in the carbon business, which involves planting trees and keeping them alive for the long term. Today, over 150,000 TIST farmers in India, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, are successfully planting trees, protecting and creating biodiversity, developing leadership, improving their health and local environment, adapting farming techniques to meet current environmental challenges, and mitigating climate change.
TIST Values
We are HONEST We are ACCURATE We are TRANSPARENT We are SERVANTS TO EACH OTHER We are MUTUALLY ACCOUNTABLE We CREAT BIG RESULTS WITH LOW BUDGET
Why Small Groups? How are the TIST Farmers different?
Small Groups are the foundation of the TIST Program. Farmers join TIST for the community, the education, the increased farming knowledge, and to participate in the carbon business. The Small Groups meet in their respective Nodes monthly to share best practices, support each other, and hold each other mutually accountable. TIST Farmers share information about conservation farming, forestry, health, nutrition, and other relevant issues that they face in terms of farming and tree planting.
Trained 'Quantifiers' carefully count and monitor the growth of each tree so that CAAC's calculations of the carbon credits are honest and accurate. The results of the work are posted on the www.tist.org website so that people can see the activities transparently from anywhere in the world.
ENGLISH VERSION
Co-benefits
In addition to the pre-payments and benefit sharing that the TIST Small Groups will get over the period, there are other ways that the farmers can benefit and that is called co-benefits. These co-benefits are efforts by the Small Group farmers, apart from planting trees and not harvesting them for a certain period of years. We will talk in detail regarding the co-benefits that a TIST farmer can adopt in later newsletters.
Current Scenario – TIST INDIA
At present, TIST India operates from Tamil Nadu state. Over 8,000+ of our TIST farmers are spread in seven districts including Thiruvannamalai, Vellore, Thirupattur, Thiruttani, Ariyalur, Coimbatore, and Villupuram and we aim to increase in the coming days. Twelve of our TIST Cluster Servants (Quantifiers) take responsibility for 39 Nodes and work on quantifying the information on the trees. These Nodes are in the form of pooling the Small Groups that are located within proximity of each other. This helps the Small Groups within a Node meet once a month regularly at a designated place that is easily accessible to all the groups.
Attending their Node meetings is very important for the farmers, as it provides a platform for them to understand TIST with continued interaction with the Quantifiers and also interact with fellow farmers to get technical clarifications regarding the best species to grow, pest and disease management, availability of seedlings, other Best Practices, etc. Moreover, these Node meetings are the most important link to clarify issues regarding quantification, payments etc.
Currently, we are in the process of consolidating our Small Groups/Nodes and along with this forming new Small Groups of farmers (6 to 12) for planting trees in their farmlands. In this regard, with respect to the existing groups, our work is focused on the quantification of all Small Groups, prepayment for eligible groves/Small Groups, and signing of pending GhG (Greenhouse Gas) agreements.
In the new groups being formed, we would like to encourage smaller landholder farmers, more women farmers, and a more biodiversity-rich tree planting that helps the farmer earn income through multiple sources and also supports the environment. In order to facilitate the same, our directors (Manjula and Vijay) have been on the field visits and attending Node meetings since December 2022 and as such have covered 12 Nodes/qunatifier' thereby effectively interacting with all our TIST farmers and working accordingly to bridge the gaps.
Enhancing income through intercropping Story No. 1: Story prepared by Karthikeyan, TIST Cluster Servant (Quantifier)
My name is Vengitesan. I am from the Chinnakannu Small Group, Puthumallavadi village from the Thurinjapuram Node/Cluster in Thiruvannamalai district. In 2020, we formed a Small Group and decided to go in for planting teak and a few other species on my one-acre land. TIST supported by training us on the process of inter-cropping. Making the best use of the space, sunlight, and nutrients, we decided to plant bananas in between the teak saplings. Within a few months, we were able to realize an additional income of an average of Rs.500 per day through the sales of banana leaves, inflorescence, fruit, and stem. We don't even have to go to the market, as the buyers come to our farms and buy the banana produce directly from us. Today, we are happy to see an additional income of an average of Rs.10, 000 per month. And all this, only from our intercrop of bananas, while our teak and other tree species are intact and thriving well. We are really grateful to TIST for teaching us intercropping with suitable crops for enhancing our income currently while maintaining our trees for long-term income through carbon credits.